quote.bloomberg.com
TSMC RECEIVES APPLIED MATERIALS' 100TH TAIWAN SHIPMENT OF THE
Mirra CMP System; Mirra System is CMP
Production Tool of Record at the World's Largest Semiconductor Foundry
Business Editors/High-Tech Writers
SANTA CLARA, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Nov. 11, 1999--Applied
Materials, Inc. announced today the shipment of its 100th Mirra(R) CMP
(chemical mechanical polishing) system to Taiwan. This milestone
system was purchased by Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Corp.
(TSMC), the world's largest semiconductor foundry company, for its Fab
6 in Tainan. This shipment adds to an already large number of Mirra
systems in use throughout TSMC's advanced fabs. With more than 350
systems installed worldwide, the Mirra system is the industry's
leading CMP solution.
"TSMC chose the Mirra CMP system as our production tool of record
because it delivers the high productivity and superior performance
required for our competitive volume manufacturing business," commented
Steve Tso, senior vice president of Operations at TSMC. "For years,
Applied Materials has provided the advanced systems and technologies
that help us meet our latest and most stringent process requirements.
The Mirra system continues this history with its proven process
reliability."
The Mirra system, which is available for 200mm and 300mm wafer
sizes, utilizes a unique multi-platen architecture, Titan Head(TM)
wafer carriers and precise endpoint detection technology to deliver
superior process performance and throughput. In addition to extending
the Mirra system to sub-0.18 micron device geometries, these features
make it a highly flexible CMP system that is currently used to
planarize a variety of films including copper, oxide, polysilicon and
tungsten for interconnect, STI (shallow trench isolation) and new SOI
(silicon on insulator) applications.
Chris Smith, vice president and general manager of Applied
Materials' CMP division said, "Over the past several years, our
position has steadily increased as valued customers in Taiwan such as
TSMC have chosen the Mirra system as their CMP production tool of
record. We understand TSMC's demanding production requirements and are
pleased that our CMP technology meets their needs for exceptional
reliability, quality and productivity. This acceptance is very
important to us, and is a major factor in our achieving this milestone
in Taiwan."
According to market researcher Dataquest, Applied Materials was
estimated to have 37 percent share of the CMP equipment market in
1998, making it the CMP market share leader. Dataquest forecasts the
CMP market to grow from $632 million in 1998 to $1.9 billion by 2004,
representing a 20 percent compounded annual growth rate.
Mirra CMP systems are currently installed at nine of the world's
top ten chipmakers. Innovations that continue to provide chipmakers
with a Total Solutions(R) approach to address a wide range of CMP
applications include copper and a new tungsten-plus process in
addition to the Mirra Mesa(TM) CMP, a dry-in dry-out solution that
integrates advanced wafer cleaning capability.
Applied Materials, Inc. is a Fortune 500 global growth company
and the world's largest supplier of wafer fabrication systems and
services to the global semiconductor industry. Applied Materials is
traded on the Nasdaq National Market System under the symbol "AMAT."
Applied Materials' web site is appliedmaterials.com. |
