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Politics : Formerly About Applied Materials

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To: Proud_Infidel who wrote (13878)	12/29/1997 12:07:00 AM
From: Big Bucks	Read Replies (1) of 70976

Brian, Interesting article and probably feasible on a small scale basis. This exerpt is probably accurate about the short term possibility: ''There is so much more that has to be developed in order to build transistors at that size that you wonder what the Japanese are doing,'' Wilson said. ''The question needs to be asked is if they intend to bring the other technologies needed to support that process to market within four years as well.'' Wafer fabrication is a very meticulous and tedious business which requires that nearly perfect integration has to exist, in order to make reproducible product. A fab and semiconductor equipment need to be ultra-clean and free of any external or process generated contamination that might have a detrimental effect on devices and product yields. Currently there is no one or group of manufacturers that can produce all of the hundreds of different pieces of equipment required to produce at this level in a production environment. In order to bring new equipment onto the market requires several years of development time, as-well-as an infrastructure to support the manufacturing, engineering, service, and parts required to support the product. Another necessity is a consumer market which is ready to accept new products. There has to be a need for such products that makes them a requirement or "must have" to improve the quality of life or improve convenience or performance over existing technology. Another issue is that current fabs won't change overnight but over the course of years to implement new technology that is that radical. It is a whole new paradyme which will require new rules and new methods of doing things in order to do them right. I could see new specialty fabs manufacturing such small devices for military or space age uses within 4-5 years, but I think the consumer market is likely 6-10 years away. You never know, I could be wrong but radical change is difficult to accept and more difficult to implement. Just my opinion, BB

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