Hey Sparky. Sorry to see you leave the party. Maybe someone pulled the punchbowl here before the party even got going.<g>
I don't know what the exact impact of the larger chips on FSII or the timing of the transition, but it sure looks like some money will be spent in the next few years to upgrade and refit equipment. FSII can not help but benefit IMO:
Best - Joe
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Copyright 1997 Ziff-Davis Publishing Company
PC Magazine
August, 1997
Larger Wafers, Cheaper Chips; Manufacturers retool for future chips
BYLINE: Hickman, AngelaLevin, Carol
An advance in chip manufacturing has an enormous effect on chip production. The transition to smaller "line widths"--the dimensions of a chip's elements--has permitted smaller chips that have more transistors and run at a higher clock rate. Manufacturers are planning to upgrade their equipment to produce larger wafers. (A wafer is the circular slice of silicon from which chips are produced.)To make the processor of the year 2011, predicts Intel CEO Andy Grove, chip makers will shrink line widths from today's 0.35-micron width to an even more microscopic 0.07-micron width. (Intel's 200-MHz and 233-MHz Mobile Pentium MMX processors, available this fall, will use a 0.25-micron process.)
Another advance is the transition to larger wafers, which will enable the production of more chips from a wafer. Manufacturers of memory chips and logic chips expect the larger wafers to increase productivity by 2 to 2.5 percent, according to Stanley T. Myers, president of Semiconductor Equipment and Materials International (SEMI), an international association representing 1,850 makers of materials and equipment used in developing semiconductors and flat-panel displays. "Consumers get more memory for less money," he adds.
To be sure, the move is no small undertaking. Market research firm Dataquest estimates that the industry-wide cost of converting equipment so it can produce 300-mm wafers will reach $ 30 billion.
By the first half of 1998, chip makers should be able to buy a complete set of tools for building 300-mm wafers, according to George Lee, director of SEMI's 300-mm initiative. Already, several companies--including Intel, Motorola, NEC, and Texas Instruments--have announced plans to install 300-mm equipment. Factories are ramping up for testing the new process and expect volume manufacturing to begin after the turn of the century.
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH
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Copyright 1997 The Hearst Corporation
The San Francisco Examiner
July 15, 1997, Tuesday; Second Edition
Striking change in store for PC chips ;
Larger wafers may allow industry to increase capabilities and lower prices
SOURCE: OF THE EXAMINER STAFF
Call it an evolution or a revolution, but chip makers will soon be using new, larger silicon wafers that could bring down the costs of computers and other electronic goods.
The semiconductor equipment industry will announce standards in San Francisco on Wednesday to speed the transition to the new 300mm wafers.
The news is the buzz of the Semicon West conference, the semiconductor industry trade show at the Moscone Center this week. Semiconductor suppliers and equipment manufacturers are steeling themselves for a change that could transform the chip-making business.
"This has gotten to be a major issue because it's going to be a major transition," said George Lee, director of the 300mm initiative for the industry trade group, Semiconductor Equipment and Materials International (SEMI), in Mountain View.
Silicon wafers, made of refined, melted sand, are the building blocks for computer chips, which run everything from cellular phones to the braking systems in many cars.
Most chip makers now use 200mm wafers, or 8-inch discs. The bigger, 12-inch wafers will allow companies like Intel and Motorola to double the number of chips they can make from each disc.
"The idea behind 300-millimeter wafers is that you can manufacture chips more cheaply so you can drive down the costs of electronics while increasing the capabilities of what the electronics can do," said Paul Shirra, vice president of Fairchild Technologies USA, which makes semiconductor equipment.
Silicon wafers have changed size several times since the 1960s, when the standard disc size was two inches. Intel helped to lead the move to 6 -inch wafers in the late-'80s, while IBM pushed the industry to embrace 8 -inch discs in the early 1990s.
The only problem with the larger discs is that they no longer fit in the old processing machines, forcing chip makers to buy new, larger machines and often expand their plants.
"Every time there's been a changeover to a new wafer size, there's been a large price to pay because you have to redesign your entire factory," Shirra saidThe prices for the new equipment are often sky-high, said Intel spokesman Howard High.
SEMI expects the transition to 300mm wafers will cost chip makers $ 14 billion in new equipment and new plants. At the same time, companies are expected to save 20 to 30 percent on manufacturing costs once they make the switch, Lee said.
Applied Materials Inc. announced Monday that it will spend $ 430 million to update its main plant in Santa Clara, including $ 309 million for equipment to process the 300mm wafers. Intel will phase in production of the larger wafers, High said.
Two industry groups have been working on separate protocols for the new wafers over the past year, one led by Japanese, the other by Americans. The groups differed on some issues, but decided to join forces to set a single standard.
"It didn't make sense to bring to market two different standards," said Intel's High. "They needed to be consistent." |
