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Technology Stocks : Applied Materials No-Politics Thread (AMAT) -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Sarmad Y. Hermiz who wrote (7572)	10/17/2003 10:57:52 AM
From: rhering	Respond to of 25522

Sarmand, Within a given wafer size it is common for Fabs to upgrade their production lines to keep up with technology. Applied made a big splash in the late 80's and 90's with their cluster tool technology which allowed the same mainframe to be upgraded with new process chambers. The mitigating factor here is it takes a lot of time for chip companies to re-qualify their processes after they make a change, so once a process line is set they tend to stay with it for many months. With the shift however from 200 to 300MM almost everything changes. A company can use the same building shell however with 300MM all the material transport from tool to tool is automated. In 200MM lines, and lower, people tended to carry the wafer containers from tool to tool. Wth 300MM, robots move material between tools, typically using overhead monorail type tracks. Once a 300MM Fabs is in place it's tools will be upgraded and/or replaced over time to keep up with process technology just as 200MM Fabs have been. In fact the impetus to do so will be even stronger given the high fixed cost investment in 300MM material handling infrastructure. Regards, Roger