FWIW post from Yahoo Msg. on GGNS:
in the next 6-12 months will be critical. They are trying to position chemical vapor deposition (CVD) of tungsten nitride (WN) as the superior technique for placing copper on wafers below 0.18. They do this better than anyone right now.
In the past, everyone typically used aluminum with titanium films on larger wafers. Smaller wafers and the cost of aluminum make copper with tantalum or tungsten films the choice.
-IBM is currently using tantalum nitride (TaN) and Physical Vapor Deposition (PVD) for their copper. Tantalum does not become a gas well, thus PVD must be used to deposit the film on the silicon surface. This results in a huge loss in the resistivity benefits of copper over aluminum, and limits wafers to LARGER sizes. Also, TaN cannot be cleaned off the wafer with the same chemicals as the excess copper, requiring 2 cleaning steps/wafer.
-Tungsten vaporizes very well, thus CVD can provide a clean film, even on the smaller wafers. WN can be cleaned with the same chemicals as copper, thus one step and cost savings.
The Lynx2 from Genus applies a WN coating to a wafer, then permits copper to be deposited with one cleaning step. According to Genus, their system does this better than anyone else's. If Genus can hook Micron, they all but corner a huge part of the DRAM market. If they ever partnered (or were absorbed) by someone like Big Blue, hold on for a major stock jump. If WN becomes the clear way to shrink wafers and use copper, Genus is the cheapest way to purchase 10 years of R&D data...
It is important to note that the new smaller wafers are coming very soon. The first company to shrink them successfully has a corner on a huge market niche.
Will Genus survive? They have $30 million dollars or so of Varian money which they are burning up on R&D and marketing. The trick is going to be convincing potential customers that they are going to be around for service and support. I think Genus is a prime company to partner with or absorb, but it will not survive as the individual company it is now for more than a year. If Varian did films, Genus would be gone right now.
Hope this helps...
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