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Technology Stocks : Cymer (CYMI) -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Peter Paulissen who wrote (10604)	11/26/1997 6:47:00 PM
From: Jess Beltz	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 25960

Just received the "November Note" from Infrastructure, which has a large section on Cymer. I will not directly quote Carl Johnson, since this is a pay site, but can briefly summarize the key points as follows: (1) Johnson believes that the main problem is that it is much more difficult to get the steppers using eximer lasers and .25 dimensions up and running on the factory floor than it is in Cymer's labs, and this is probably going to continue to depress order flow for the lasers for a while. His source for this information is an analyst (industry I beleieve, not stock) who has noted that ZYGO, who manufactures the interferometers used to allign the stage in the steppper doesn't appear to be moving any product at the moment. Johnson backs out of this that it is possible that stepper manufacturers might indeed have a lot of inventory of Cymer's lasers. (2) Johnson notes that Cymer's sessions at the AEA conferernce were literally packed, and that there is a lot of interest by people in the investment community about whether or not its time to step up to the plate with Cymer. Johnson's take on it is that the dust has to settle more. (3) Johnson notes that Cymer's position in the field is absolutely dominant, and seems to dismiss any thoughts of a real comptitivity threat from Komatsu. (4) Johnson also notes that there are some other interesting areas where Cymer's lasers could be used. (5) Lastly, Infrastructure is looking to add Cymer to their portfolio, but will wait with the rest of the investment crowd for the dust to settle. For those of you expecting a quick pop in the price, that is definitely not the view coming out of this assessment. jess

To: Peter Paulissen who wrote (10604)	11/26/1997 7:07:00 PM
From: Bookdon	Respond to of 25960

A stepper is kind of a "camera" used to project the image of a mask (or reticle) on a wafer. As features get smaller, you run into a problem as the minimum feature size appraches the wavelenght of the light used to expose the resist on the wafer. The lasers are the "light bulbs" used to illuminate the masks. When you change wavelength, however, the lens design in the "camera" (stepper) has to change, as does the emulsion (photo-resist) on the film (wafer). It takes a lot of time to design the new lens system (and buy the special quartz used to make the lenses, and the optical coating on the lenses). Two to five years is the time frame for the design and build of a new generation tool. The laser ("light bulb") goes on as soon as the design of the stepper is tested. Every new tool installed (3 weeks installation time) has a laser on delivery. These "light bulbs" also burn out, and need to be replaced or refurbished every few months. A fab doesn't have to be new to install a new generation of steppers, but often the tighter specs required by the new steppers will involve upgrading the clean rooms and test equipment.