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

To: etchmeister who wrote (12270)	12/2/2004 8:48:44 AM
From: Proud_Infidel	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 25522

IBM claims to make first processors with immersion litho Silicon Strategies 12/01/2004, 9:55 PM ET SAN JOSE, Calif. — IBM Corp. on Thursday (Dec. 2) claimed to be the world's first company to use immersion lithography to produce commercial chips. IBM claims to have made processors built around its Power architecture, based on immersion lithography techniques. The announcement was part of a big splash by IBM in China. Fifteen companies, including chip designers and manufacturers, unveiled an open standards initiative in Beijing on Thursday, centering on IBM's Power microprocessor architecture (see Dec. 1 story). Meanwhile, preparing for the next wave of devices, IBM recently added immersion lithography to its chip-manufacturing roadmap (see Aug. 27 story). In immersion lithography, the space between the projection lens and the wafer is filled with a liquid. Immersion technology could offer better resolution enhancement and higher numerical apertures (NA) over conventional projection lithography. The technology could potentially extend 193-nm tools down to 45-nm and possibly below--thereby pushing out extreme ultraviolet (EUV) tools, according to analysts. At the event in China, IBM officials were bullish about this technology. "This advancement holds great promise for continuing progress in chip manufacturing technology well into the future," said Bernard Meyerson, chief technologist, IBM Systems & Technology Group, in a statement. Some observers were skeptical about IBM's claims, however. At present, there are no production-worthy, 193-nm immersion scanners on the market. ASML Holding NV and Nikon Corp. are working on systems, but those machines are prototypes at best. Immersion is still in the R&D stages. For example, one research organization, Albany NanoTech, in August said that it has begun processing 300-mm wafers using the world's first 193-nm "pre-production" immersion lithography system from ASML Holding NV of the Netherlands. The College for Nanoscale Science and Engineering (CNSE) within the Albany-based R&D organization is processing 300-mm wafers, based on ASML's Twinscan AT:1150i immersion scanner, and Tokyo Electron Ltd.'s Clean Track Lithius coater/developer system. Researchers from CNSE, ASML, IBM and TEL will work jointly to demonstrate and optimize materials and processes for 193-nm immersion lithography on a clustered 300-mm wafer scanner-track platform. In addition, Advanced Micro Devices Inc. and Infineon Technologies AG will also work with the CNSE in the development of immersion lithography processes and applications (see Aug. 26 story).

To: etchmeister who wrote (12270)	12/2/2004 10:38:19 AM
From: Cary Salsberg	Respond to of 25522

RE: "anybody home?" A smaller share of a larger market and real R & D and product development capability is probably why NVLS has a sales history of a growth company, while the other does not.