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Politics : Formerly About Applied Materials -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Henry Eichorszt who wrote (31114)	6/22/1999 10:23:00 AM
From: Duker	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 70976

Ebara still leads CMP unit shipments despite Applied's climb, says report semibiznews.com A service of Semiconductor Business News, CMP Media Inc. Story posted 9:30 a.m. EST/6:30 a.m., PST, 6/22/99 NEW TRIPOLI, Pa.--The battle in chemical mechanical planarization (CMP) tools is moving into high gear with Applied Materials Inc. attempting to close in on the unit-shipment leader, Ebara Corp. of Japan, according to a new report from The Information Network here. Ebara shipped 222 CMP tools to wafer fabs worldwide in 1998, nearly double the 112 systems it delivered in 1997, said Robert N. Castellano, president of the research firm. Applied has become the revenue leader in CMP because its polishers have sold for an average price of $1.8 million vs. Ebara's $1.1 million for a one-head tools with integrated cleaning. (Ebara's two-head CMP systems go for an average of $1.6 million with a cleaner attached, he added). Applied earlier this month introduced its first CMP cleaning system for its tools. The new Mirra Mesa system integrates a four-step cleaning process with Applied's polishers, providing dry-in/dry-out processing (see June 10 story). Until now, Applied has been shipping CMP tools with integrated cleaners from the OnTrak Systems subsidiary of Lam Research Corp. and DNS Korea Co. Ltd. Applied will also have to wrestle Asian memory fabs away from Ebara, which "has sold hundreds of systems into Asia for exploratory work on DRAMs and already has its foot in the door when the DRAM industry there fully embraces CMP," according Castellano. CMP tools are becoming essential for many deep-submicron processes because they are used to flatten wafer surfaces to improve lithography yields as devices get smaller. The polishers are also used to wear away material in shallow trench isolation (STI) and copper processing for logic. Applied Materials has moved up quickly in the rankings of CMP suppliers, taking the No.1 revenue spot in 1998 after a sluggish start in the middle of the decade (see story in the June issue of SBN).