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


To: Ian@SI who wrote (31164)6/25/1999 9:19:00 AM
From: miklosh  Respond to of 70976
 
Applied Materials' Ultima Centura System Named
Leading High Density Plasma CVD Product Worldwide

Applied Materials More Than Doubles Its HDP-CVD Business In One Year to Achieve 58
Percent Market Share Worldwide According to Dataquest

SANTA CLARA, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--June 25, 1999-- Newly released 1998 market share data from
industry research firms Dataquest and VLSI Research rank Applied Materials as the world's leading supplier of
HDP-CVD (high density plasma-chemical vapor deposition) equipment. Applied Materials attributes its top position
to increasingly strong customer demand for the Ultima HDP-CVD(TM) Centura® system to support a wide range of
dielectric CVD gap-fill applications.

''Throughout the past year, most major chip manufacturers have selected the Ultima for their advanced chip designs,
due to its exceptional flexibility and extendibility,'' noted G. Dan Hutcheson, president of VLSI Research. ''For
example, while initially targeted for traditional intermetal dielectric materials, this system has been successfully
extended to support emerging first generation low k films like FSG and shallow trench isolation applications. We
expect the Ultima to maintain this momentum and continue to deliver leading-edge solutions to the industry.''

Clark Fuhs, vice president and director at Dataquest said, ''Applied Materials experienced the strongest growth
among the HDP-CVD vendors in 1998 and took the number one position in most regions, obtaining a 58 percent
market share worldwide.''

Introduced in November 1996, the Ultima system has achieved rapid industry acceptance by providing a
high-productivity, cost-effective HDP-CVD solution for advanced sub-0.25 micron designs. Optimized for
intermetal dielectrics and STI (shallow trench isolation) applications, the Ultima is also the only system being
utilized by semiconductor manufacturers in high-volume production for FSG (fluorinated silicate glass) low k
films. Applied Materials shipped its 200th Ultima system in early May, testimony to the strong worldwide
acceptance of this breakthrough technology.

''We are pleased by the strong customer acceptance for the Ultima HDP-CVD Centura,'' said Dr. Farhad Moghadam,
vice president and general manager of Applied Materials' Dielectric Deposition Division. ''The Ultima continues to
enable the cost-effective manufacture of leading-edge chip designs with its high productivity support for a range of
complex gap-fill applications and advanced processes that include low (kappa) films.''

In addition to its advanced film deposition capability, the Ultima features Applied Materials' Remote Clean(TM)
technology, which reduces operating costs by eliminating chamber consumables and significantly extending system
uptime. Using this technology, the Ultima emits virtually no global warming gases.