Another encouraging 300mm milestone passed...
Ian.
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300-mm era starts with first DRAM shipments from Infineon/Motorola venture
Semiconductor Business News
(10/13/99, 01:04:49 PM EDT)
DRESDEN, Germany --The first shipment of products made on 300-mm wafers has begun at the Semiconductor300 joint venture between Infineon Technologies AG and Motorola Inc. here.
The two partners today announced that the Dresden fab completed qualification of 64-Mbit DRAM products for customer shipments nine months after it began running 300-mm wafers early this year. The fab is now producing 64-Mbit DRAMs for Infineon's customers and the open market using a 0.25-micron process.
"The perception in the industry has been that 300-mm is the Holy Grail and a long way off," said Bill Walker, senior vice president of the Order Fulfillment Organization for Motorola's Semiconductor Products Sector, based in Austin, Tex. "The fact that we're generating revenue puts that notion to rest."
"By being early in the game, we're gaining an intimate familiarity with the tool set that will provide us competitive advantages," Walker added.
In February, the 300-mm joint venture announced fabrication of its first 64-Mbit DRAM test chip (see Feb. 11 story), and about four months later, the operation reported that its production yields had exceeded the maximum potential from 200-mm wafers (see June 9 story). The joint venture was formally launched in January 1998. Some industry observers have suggested that as soon as the joint venture begins producing products, other chip makers will begin to accelerate their own 300-mm (12-inch) production plans.
The 64-Mbit production on 300-mm wafers comes at a time when DRAM capacity is beginning to fall short of user demand. The start of 300-mm production of DRAMs could be hitting at just the right time.
"This achievement allows us to add volume to our 64-M production," said Andreas von Zitewitz, chief operations officer for Infineon and president of the company's Memory Products Division, based in Munich. "Our stringent qualification procedures have proven that 300-mm products are equivalent to products produced on 200-mm wafers."
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