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Westech played a key role in the introduction of copper film processing and the advancement to sub-micron processing. By the mid 1980s it had become clear that aluminum films would not permit the high conductivity needed for sub-micron circuits. IBM had already solved the problem using the ancient damascene process but the process required blanket deposition of copper followed by a polishing step to remove copper everywhere except in the pre-etched patterns. Sematech supplied the funding and the support for Westech to produce the first commercially available CMP (chemical-mechanical-polishing) machines that could successfully remove copper.
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