Thanks for putting a name to the company for us. Yes, they do make lenses for steppers. As a matter of fact, they make damn good lenses. I have been busy but I think they make lenses for ISI and SVGL. I think Zeiss still is the vendor of choice for ASMLF but do not hold me to it.
MY mind has been on other things so my normal thorough verification process here is more of a mental memory. If things are not correct on verification, I will post the correct info and apologize.
Well, the CYMI bottleneck is not an issue now. It seems as if they are scaling back 3rd quarter production and may have gotten ahead of themselves. It seems now that the comments made by others relative to stretching out the useful life of i-line lithography may be occurring. Remember hearing that INTC might have a way to use the Micrascans down to 0.25u and the comments by others about other masking technologies that might push i-line? Things of this nature might be limiting the transition to DUV slightly. Remember, DUV chemicals, processing controls, and steppers are more expensive than i-line.
As we saw today, the CYMI major drop has rippled over to the stepper manufacturers like SVGI and ASMLF. DUV steppers have a 2-3 million dollar revenue premium over i-line steppers. IT doesn't take too many changes of heart by end users from DUV to more i-line systems to have a dramatic effect on revenues for SVGI or ASMLF. For instance, if SVGI could build 200 systems in the new Conn. plant and all were DUV we would be looking at roughly $1.30-1.40 billion in revenue. If they now turn out to be 50% i-line and 50% DUV, revenue could drop as low as $ 1.0 billion or less. That is, IF all capacity is used up. Quite a revenue shortfall.
BTW-if i-line is extended then the new for replacement systems is no longer there and the current equipment set could be used. Even with a modified mix/match strategy that combines both would result in lower numbers of new units being required for manufacturing sites. Re-vitalizing the older i-line systems for extended life could drop the number of new units purchased across the board.
Andrew |
