Silicon Investor (SI) -- The First Internet Community

STOCKTALK

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor. We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community. If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.

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

To: Lone Star who wrote (31514)	7/20/1999 10:42:00 AM
From: Proud_Infidel	Respond to of 70976

Not specific to AMAT, but IC related: Grinding machine will produce paper-thin semiconductors By Yoshiko Hara EE Times (07/19/99, 3:31 p.m. EDT) TOKYO — Tokyo Seimitsu Co. Ltd. (Mitaka-city, Tokyo) has developed a wafer-grinding machine that will be able to make paper-thin semiconductors 30 microns thick in order to cope with the growing demand for IC cards such as Smart Cards. Tokyo Seimitsu, a 50-year-old supplier of measurement and semiconductor manufacturing equipment with annual sales of about $250 million, demonstrated the chemical mechanical grinder last week at Semicon West 99, and plans to start marketing the equipment in October. A semiconductor as thin as 30 microns acquires a bending flexibility, according to Tokyo Seimitsu. The company expects such a semiconductor to meet a large demand for IC card and IC tag applications, but also for new applications in which semiconductors are pasted on plastics or papers, for example. The wafer grinder, dubbed as CMG 200, holds an 8-inch or smaller wafer and performs rough grinding, fine grinding, and fine polishing processes on the same chuck table without removing the wafer from the table. This approach minimizes the possibility of a wafer breaking during the processes. Toshiba Corp. last month announced 130-micron-thick paper-thin package technology, which involved a grinding technology to make semiconductors 50-microns thick. While Toshiba intends to initially employ the technology internally, Tokyo Seimitsu intends to sell its grinding machine to semiconductor manufacturers. The company expects to sell 10 to 20 units of the CMG 200 in its first year. eetimes.com