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To: Oeconomicus who wrote (166739)	9/4/2001 12:42:44 PM
From: D.J.Smyth	Respond to of 176387

fyi (good for PCs too) Motorola Says It Invented Way to Fuse Semiconductor Materials By Scott Lanman Schaumburg, Illinois, Sept. 4 (Bloomberg) -- Motorola Inc., the largest maker of communications chips, said it invented a method of fusing two widely used semiconductor materials that may reduce the cost of making mobile phones and other gear. The company said it found a way to attach gallium arsenide, the main compound used in some chips critical to cellular phones and optical-networking equipment, to silicon, which costs one- tenth as much. Semiconductor makers will be able to reduce the amount of gallium arsenide they use, from the entire chip to an ultra-thin layer above the silicon, Motorola scientists said. That would provide the benefits of gallium arsenide without the high costs, Motorola said. The process won't immediately jump- start Motorola's struggling semiconductor business, since such chips won't be in production until late 2003, Chief Technology Officer Dennis Roberson said. Still, Motorola expects to license patents for its unnamed technology to many companies. ``I'd hesitate to use the words `Holy Grail,' but it's pretty close,'' said Richard Cunningham, an optical-networking analyst at researcher Cahners In-Stat Group. ``I'd ride it hard if I were in their shoes with that kind of patent protection.'' Previously, chips had to be made entirely from silicon or gallium arsenide, Roberson said. Motorola, which also is the No. 2 mobile-phone maker behind Nokia Oyj, will use the material in its own chips. The Schaumburg, Illinois-based company said it has applied for more than 270 patents related to the discovery. Motorola said it is one of the biggest advances in the history of the chip industry. ``I see this technology as becoming absolutely fundamental to all of the semiconductor industry, where you will only rarely find semiconductors that don't deploy some element of this advancement,'' Roberson said. The technology ``will literally change everything and find its way into all of the devices out there.'' Motorola shares rose 20 cents, to $17.40, on Friday. They have declined 51 percent in the past year. U.S. markets were closed Monday for the Labor Day holiday. How It's Done Motorola scientists achieved the feat by using a compound called strontium titanate, known as STO, as a sort of jigsaw- puzzle piece that fits between the silicon and gallium arsenide. They have used the code name ``Jaguar'' internally for the technology and are working on an official name, Roberson said. While silicon is cheaper than gallium arsenide, silicon conducts electrons at one-fifth the speed and thus can't typically handle the higher radio frequencies and speeds required of chips that amplify signals in mobile phones and fiber-optic networking equipment. A 6-inch diameter silicon wafer costs about $25 to $40, while a gallium arsenide wafer of similar size costs $200 to $400, Roberson said. ``We have been searching worldwide to try to find anyone else who is working in this area,'' Roberson said. ``Research in this area dates well back into the (19)70s. Fundamentally, everybody gave up in about 1995 from what we can tell. It is really not an area that people have been working on very heavily.'' Bob Merritt, an analyst with Semico Research Corp., said that while Motorola's invention won't apply to the personal-computer microprocessors made by Intel Corp., it may spur increased demand for PCs -- especially those with faster processors -- because the cheaper cost of building fiber-optic networks will enable speedier Internet connections. ``It's a very critical part of that link to stimulate more demand,'' Merritt said. Motorola makes chips for wireless phones, telecommunications equipment and computers. Its semiconductor revenue in the second quarter fell 38 percent, to $1.25 billion, representing 17 percent of Motorola's sales. The division had a loss before taxes of $518 million. ``Over time, we believe this will have a huge impact on our semiconductor operations, but also on all other semi operations that are out there,'' Roberson