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Technology Stocks : Ultratech Stepper -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Justa Werkenstiff who wrote (1944)	12/27/1997 7:21:00 PM
From: Ian@SI	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 3696

Justa, I first noted a reference to UTEK's PGILD R&D in their 1994 Annual Report; tracked down the LLNL research report indicating that the tool was now ready for commercial production (1Q95); and am still waiting to see it's first sale announced. While the Japanese press release sounds impressive, so far that's all they've got - a Press Release. (UTEK has 1 tool in Beta test to my knowledge.) Even if the Japanese tool were ready in 4 years, no chipmaker is likely to have the design tools or expertise; the lithography doesn't and won't exist for those feature sizes; let alone deposition, etch, strip processes and chemistries. Copper is still a dream but will be necessary long before the industry progresses to the feature sizes mentioned. Might it be the greatest thing since sliced bread or flush toilets? Certainly. Is it likely to be commercially viable within 4-5 years? Almost certainly not. Ian.