Plasma etch equipment manufacturer Plasma-Therm LLC and plasma-based etch solutions provider Trymax Semiconductor Equipment BV have entered into a North American distribution agreement, with Plasma-Therm given the exclusive rights to distribute all of Trymax’s NEO products for ashing applications. Plasma-Therm and Trymax can now address all ashing, polymer removal and dry cleaning applications in served markets and for all wafer sizes. This alliance will provide a full set of stripping technologies to customers in North America, from a low temperature of 50 °C to a high strip rate at a higher temperature. “Partnering with Trymax allows Plasma-Therm to offer resist strip and ashing products which complement well our existing High Density Radical Flux (HDRF) technology which targets polymer removal and low-damage surface treatment,” said Yannick Pilloux, business development manager at Plasma-Therm. “The agreement with Plasma-Therm is a critical component to our North American expansion strategy,” said Ludo Vandenberk, executive vice president of Trymax Semiconductor Equipment. “By combining forces with Plasma-Therm, we are able to better serve U.S. front-end, microelectromechanical systems and back-end manufacturers with solutions that span the ashing and noncritical etch process steps. We are eager to get started serving our customers with the competitive advantages that our technologies can offer.’’ Plasma-Therm is a manufacturer of plasma etch, deposition and advanced packaging equipment for specialty semiconductor and nanotechnology markets. Trymax is a provider of solutions for plasma-based, photoresist removal and surface cleaning, as well as isotropic etch systems that are used in the fabrication of integrated circuits and other semiconductor devices.