Silicon Investor (SI) -- The First Internet Community

STOCKTALK

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor. We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community. If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.

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

To: Tulvio Durand who wrote (11336)	12/10/1997 6:24:00 PM
From: Yakov Lurye	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 25960

Tulvio, Technical specialists on this thread may be able to shed more light on the question. In short, I do not know an answer to your questions and I do not want to mislead you. My gut feeling is that for relatively simple DRAM designs, mixed production line (i-line and laser) will not be an optimal solution. Either pure i-line or pure DUV production line will be more economical. Again, I know very little about lithography and may be way off. The only reason for venturing a guess is that I'd done a few production line optimization studies before.... 1. both 64M and 256M DRAMs could be produced using either .35nm or .25nm line-width equipment; I have no data on tradeoffs in terms of yield per 8" wafer. 2. "mix and match" should not affect the throughput if measured in wafers per hour: production line of two sequential machines with 80 wafers/hr throughput theoretically yields 80 wafers/hr, not 40wafers/hr (of course, if you take into account downtimes, the throughput will be lower). However, it may affect yield per wafer (pure .25nm could yield a smaller chip). 3. Prices for steppers with laser and i-line light source may be close, considering that laser reportedly accounts for less than 10% of the stepper cost; on the other hand, maintenance expenses may differ significantly (AMD article said 250k vs. 25k per stepper) 4. besides the equipment cost/maintenance data, there are many other parameters that determine the optimal production line design, including duration of the production run, possible reuse of equipment, etc. Regards, Y.