Novellus Systems' Victory in Semitool Patent Infringement Case Is Affirmed By the Federal
Circuit
SAN JOSE, Calif., Jun 11, 2001 /PRNewswire via COMTEX/ -- Novellus Systems Inc. (Nasdaq: NVLS), the productivity and innovation leader in thin film deposition and surface preparation technology for the global semiconductor industry, today announced that the company has won another decision in the patent infringement lawsuit filed against it by Semitool Inc. (Nasdaq: SMTL) on Aug. 10, 1998, alleging that Novellus' SABRE(R) and SABRE xT copper deposition systems infringed upon Semitool's U.S. patents 5,222,310 and 5,337,708. In a decision filed on Jun. 8, 2001, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit affirmed the Mar. 17, 2000 decision of U.S. District Judge D. Lowell Jensen, who had ruled that Novellus Systems had not violated the Semitool patents. The Federal Circuit also awarded costs to Novellus Systems.
"Once again, the courts have upheld our original claim, that the Semitool suit has no merit or bearing on our copper electrofill tools," said Novellus Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Richard S. Hill. "Our original SABRE system contained many Novellus innovations and was the first system in our industry to provide our customers with the copper electrofill technology required to build copper interconnects. We have maintained throughout this lawsuit that the Semitool case was frivolous. The courts have, once again, validated our position in this case."
Novellus introduced SABRE, its first-generation copper electrofill tool in, June 1998, and quickly followed a year later with SABRE xT, its second-generation 300 mm tool. Novellus' SABRE systems play a critical role at major chipmakers' facilities around the world, successfully depositing void-free copper in the smallest design features, while providing superior fill and uniformity performance. Novellus is the market share leader in copper electrofill tools and holds a commanding lead in production applications.
"According to industry analyst figures from Dataquest, the demand for copper electrofill equipment is expected to grow at greater than 50 percent compound annual growth rate (CAGR) through 2005. Novellus is well positioned to capitalize on the opportunity from this major change in the interconnect structure, as a result of both the superior performance of our SABRE tools and our production expertise in dual damascene integration issues," noted Hill. |
