This is a most interesting article but for us laymen.... what
is the implication , if any, for CYMER in the information
contained therein..
Too soon to tell. As the article implies, this could be a ploy by Intel to keep their secrets under wraps, or these barriers could be overcome as past ones have been. I've heard somewhere that an early study of the telephone industry concluded that by the 1940s, every woman in America would have to be employed as an operator to connect all the calls. Clearly, technology avoided that problem.
It's pretty much a consensus that the semiconductor industry must ultimately go to a technology other than photolithography to keep shrinking the sizes. If that happens sooner than expected, as the article says, it could be a blow to Cymer. However, as the article notes, the industry has an enormous investment in photolithography, and will avoid moving to other techniques as long as possible.
This is pretty much my way of saying that there's no telling just yet what may happen. |
