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Technology Stocks : Disk Drive Sector Discussion Forum
WDC 152.88-5.9%Nov 18 3:59 PM EST
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To: Gottfried who wrote (5214)1/12/1999 3:20:00 PM
From: Robert Douglas  Read Replies (2) of 9256
 
Does anyone on the thread know much about the application of focused ion beam (FIB) technology in the manufacturing of HDD heads?

There have been two companies (FEI and Micrion) that have been at the forefront of the FIB movement (not to be confused with trends in the White House) and each has been working with several companies in the disk drive field. With the putative merger between the two, we are down to a single player in the field. (80+ share) Now the market is left with the question of whether the application of this technology in head production is valuable - especially as the industry moves to GMR heads and smaller geometries.

As I understand it, Read-Rite, Applied Magnetics, Quantum, Seagate, Fujitsu, and TDK have purchased evaluation equipment over the last few years. IBM is rumored to be looking at adding possibly 24 FIBs to its production lines. Is this an area that is about to take off? I don't know. Is there anyone with some insight that they would be willing to share?

Maybe I'll have to pose the same questions to the Semiconductor Equipment thread, since the application of this technology to semiconductor manufacturing is also in its infancy – presently confined to defect review.

-Robert
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