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

To: Donald Wennerstrom who wrote (62818)	4/10/2002 9:28:35 AM
From: Donald Wennerstrom	Respond to of 70976

A win for AMAT. Cypress Selects Applied Materials' Etch System for 90-Nanometer Production Line SANTA CLARA, Calif., Apr 10, 2002 (BUSINESS WIRE) -- Applied Materials, Inc. (Nasdaq:AMAT) Silicon Etch DPS(R) II Centura(R) System Offers Superior Process Control for Cypress' Most Advanced Chip Designs Applied Materials, Inc. today announced that Cypress Semiconductor Corp. will use its Silicon Etch DPS(R) II Centura(R) system to develop and manufacture next-generation devices. Cypress chose the DPS II system based on a comprehensive evaluation that demonstrated superior process control capabilities for etching critical transistor structures for 90-nanometer (nm) process technology. The first system was delivered to Cypress' Fab 1 located in San Jose, Calif. in January. Additional DPS II systems have been ordered for volume manufacturing. Applied Materials' DPS II system will be used at Cypress to etch very advanced tungsten gate structures. The demand for higher speed and smaller geometry devices is driving the move to tungsten from traditional polysilicon material since tungsten is a better conductor of electrical current and can be deposited as a thinner layer. As chip feature sizes decrease, ultra-small transistor gate linewidths have a greater impact on chip speeds and reliability. "The most important etch requirements for our 90nm fabrication process using 193nm lithography are tighter critical dimension (CD) uniformity and low defectivity," said Chris Seams, vice president, Technology Development and Wafer Operations at Cypress. "We used these criteria to evaluate competitive solutions and found that the Silicon Etch DPS II is the best system available. Applied Materials' expertise in other areas such as dielectric etch and metrology additionally creates strong synergies that we can leverage for advanced process development and yield enhancement. This successful association with Applied Materials will help Cypress meet our plan of 90nm process sampling in late 2002." The Silicon Etch DPS II system combines a unique tunable plasma source, enhanced chamber design and precise temperature control that provide excellent CD uniformity and particle performance across the wafer to deliver the highest yields of die with the fastest speed. The tool's wide process window is capable of supporting evolving silicon etch applications, including shallow trench isolation (STI) and gate etch to at least the next four device generations. "It has been a beneficial experience working with Cypress to meet the challenging needs of its advanced 90nm fabrication technology," said Dragan Podlesnik, general manager of Applied Materials' Conductor Etch Division. "This accomplishment involved demonstrating production readiness for the simultaneous challenges of 90nm scaling and etching new gate materials. Our success validates the technical advantages of the Silicon DPS II system's process control capabilities."