Sorry it took a week to respond to this but I was out of town and I wanted to read allposts to this thread. I also see this is a thread that prides itself on brevity which is not one of my traits. However, I will give it my best shot.
1. This is a wonderful thread and the community should be commended. This thread is extremely clean and devoid of hype, scams, spams, etc. It is unique amongst many of the threads on SI.
2. The Electronic News article should not be viewed as a negative. The DUV market is targeted to the most critical photolithographic levels. These systems will more than likely replace the 0.5u and below I-line steppers like the Nikons, Canons, ISI, Micrascans, and ASMLF as more advanced features are defined. UTEK has established a niche for doing the non critical levels in a mix and match mode with the above steppers. While this is just a ballpark figure, I beleive that there will be from 30-50% of the total photo layers that are still capable of being processed on the UTEK steppers in mix-n-match mode. I see some of the existing and installed I-line steppers being retrofitted to DUV, like the ASMLF, ISI, or Micrascan steppers. There will be a larger migration of the critical layers away from these I-line systems to the DUV type configurations. I am sure that as geometries shrink, one or two of the non critical layers may fall outside of the traditional UTEK broad band (gh-line) capabilities but these systems can be replaced with the more advanced UTEK systems that can do i-lime down to close to 0.65u.
My take on this, though slightly biased, is that the retrofitted i-line systems (i-line to DUV) will be augmented with high end UTEK steppers as a matter of cost efficiencies (price, throughput, field size, COO, andfoot print) due to the high cost of DUV processing. Again, those layers that need (key word is NEED) to be processed using DUV lithography, will have to use a DUV resist that is close to 10X more expensive to buy and process.
For new DUV systems that will be purchased (a no retrofit situation), two scenarios exist. The first scenario (and the most probable) is to pay the high price for the DUV systems and let the older I-line systems take care of the non critical levels. This just means no new business at companies that UTEK was not doing business with anyway.
The second scenario, which is probable but less likely, (again based on price, performance, throughput, COO, floorspace) is to sell some of the existing I-line steppers (they have a pretty good resale value) to comapnies that want to upgrade their processes but do not need the most state of the art equipment. Based on the high price of the new generation of DUV steppers and the low cost of the UTEK steppers, you might be able to get a new high end UTEK for close to the price of the old I-line reduction stepper you are selling. This accomplishes 2 things. First, the higher throughput, smaller footprint, and less costly UTEK(Reticle costs are lower also) would optimize the floorspace required for the photo area and reduce wafer costs (less UTEKs would be needed). Second, since most new fabs are photo limited in capacity, the extra floorspace would allow further internal capacity enhancements without new facilities having to be built.
The recent debacle in the DRAM business exhibits how cost competitive and how cost driven all the IC manufacturers have become. Steppers represent one of the most costly pieces of equipment purchased to manufacture ICs. Any time you can reduce COO(Cost of Ownership) here, it is worthwhile.
Also, everyone is forgetting the UTEK stepper that will corner the Polyimide backend of the wafer manufacturing process. I did not see any mention of this tool in all the posts so far. The UTEK system is the largest Depth of Focus (DOF) amongst its competitors that allows this process to be run efficiently. As a matter of fact, there has been literature published on how UTEK will be able to eliminate process steps due to the unique capabilities of this system and a very workable set of process steps(much like the P-GILD which has been mentioned on this thread). The system works and is in production in the Pacific Rim. The US introduction of this equipment and process is being held up until a non-solvent based Polyimide material becomes available (US is shying away from solvent based Polyimides).
Finally, as mentioned many times before, the Fab retrofit business or upgrade business coupled with the TFH business, will nuture UTEK for quite awhile. The micro-maching business is just an added bonus like the EUV and P-GILD offerings in the future.
3. My phone call has not been returned relative to whether APMuses UTEK equipment. I still need to get that information and report back here.
Regards
Andrew |
