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To: Glenn D. Rudolph who wrote (124513)	5/3/2001 9:11:20 PM
From: Victor Lazlo	Respond to of 164684

<<Yes it is. I just do not know what they do<G> >> Glenn one of the things they do is collect money from their customers, including a nice profit margin! " DESTRUCTIVE TESTING. Still, investors who are picking through the ruins on Wall Street might want to take a hard look at Rudolph and its revolutionary technology for a key step of the chipmaking process. Chips are made from several layers of film that consist of different materials fused together. Some of those films are opaque, which means using traditional light waves to measure their thickness doesn't work. Until Rudolph came along, the only way to measure was to stop the production line, take a test wafer out in mid-process, break it apart, and measure it manually. The assembly-line interruption dampened productivity, not to mention that testing the wafer ruined it (often to the tune of tens of thousands of dollars). Rudolph makes a so-called metrology device, using technology patented from Brown University, that points a laser at the wafer while it's still being processed. The laser lightly heats the wafer's surface, causing a sound wave, which is then measured as it passes through the wafer. That allows the manufacturer to measure the wafer effectively without damaging it and without stopping production. ``Running these [assembly lines] at full production is like flying a fighter jet just above the treetops -- you have to be very precise at very high speeds,'' says Robertson Stephens' Billat. ``Rudolph's product allows them to measure the chips without shutting anything down, which is extremely important to them.'' HUGE POTENTIAL. Of course, Rudolph has competitors. Another company, Therma-Wave (NasdaqNM:TWAV), has a rival technology that uses x-rays to measure the films. But analysts say Rudolph has garnered the most interest among semiconductor makers. ``Seventy two factories are testing Rudolph's equipment,'' one analyst says. ``Only a couple are willing to test Therma-Wave's.'' Rudolph's market opportunities are enormous. McLaughlin estimates that 10% to 15% of all semiconductor capital expenditures -- about $6 billion a year -- are for measuring equipment. At least half of that market is for the type of metrology equipment that Rudolph makes. ``We're talking about potential revenues of $2 billion to $3 billion a year starting a couple years from now'' after all the chipmakers have had time to test Rudolph's technology, says CIBC World Markets analyst Ali Irani, who rates the stock a strong buy. ``And that's from a company that had a revenue base of less than $100 million in 2000.'' biz.yahoo.com