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Technology Stocks : ATMI-THE NEXT AMAT? -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Donald Kirchner who wrote (239)	1/4/1998 12:02:00 PM
From: Will Lyons	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 677

Thanks Donald MIT group is making smaller bubbles in plastic. Would this mean even more surface and thus a greater absorbing ability? Gadxooks, still seems like magic but I begin to see the light and believe this can be very important both as a cost saving innovation and as a plus for environment and safety and should be designed into all future fabs. Is that too optimistic?

To: Donald Kirchner who wrote (239)	1/30/1998 10:11:00 PM
From: Donald Kirchner	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 677

Will, Interesting article in EETimes about SiGe: techweb.cmp.com "The sudden surge of development in SiGe could be the writing on the wall for GaAs. SiGe designers say that they get all of the individual transistor speed of GaAs, but with far less noise, much higher uniformity of performance across a wafer, much greater thermal conductivity and a far better cost structure. Those comparisons have led SiGe proponents to predict that the technology will eventually drive GaAs into an ultra-high-speed niche. GaAs is still too difficult for many companies to master because of the inherent instability of arsenic, which causes threshold voltages to vary across the wafers, lowering yields. GaAs devices are also generally produced on older, 4-inch-wafer production lines. "Unlike silicon, a high percentage of the cost for GaAs is the wafer itself," said Zieber of Pathfinder Research. "One of the potential promises with SiGe is that you can get the cost down. You can imagine a lot of wireless-communications things if the cost is low enough."" -------------------------------------------------------- ATMI has a small SiGe presence, but nothing big. If this technology takes off like it looks like it will, they are positioned to be able to take advantage of it. Don