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

To: FJB who wrote (12609)	1/14/1998 9:52:00 PM
From: James Word	Read Replies (5) \| Respond to of 25960

To All: RE: Usage of Cymer by major Semi manufacturers This whole discussion about Intel and Cymer brought back a point that has been nagging me for awhile. Remember during the last earnings announcement Cymer stated that only Samsung is using its equipment in production? I don't know about the rest of you, but I will be looking for further comment on that point almost as much as the earnings report. I hope they comment further. By now there should be more companies into 0.25um. AMD is getting into it, with limited success. I know they are big ASML customers, and they in turn are Cymer customers. TI and Moto are big Canon customers, and Canon is also a Cymer customer. DUV needs to get out of the R&D labs soon (witness AMD announcement of 0.25um process shipping only from R&D fab). Basically, in the near future, everyone will be a BIG Cymer customer, the question is how soon. James Word

To: FJB who wrote (12609)	1/15/1998 3:36:00 PM
From: Tulvio Durand	Read Replies (3) \| Respond to of 25960

I-line is 0.25um-capable because its light spectrum contains a small amount of DUV, but significantly less than the DUV output from Cymer's KrF laser. I surmise that the wafer print rate is substantially less for i-line compared to Cymer's KrF laser as there would be required a greater exposure time with i-line. Bob, am I correct in surmising this? Tulvio

To: FJB who wrote (12609)	1/16/1998 12:32:00 PM
From: Wayne	Read Replies (4) \| Respond to of 25960

>>Intel is the exception to the rule. As far as I know, Micrascan II+s are the only i-line steppers good for 0.25 photolithography. SVGI has <5% market share in steppers. Thus, 95% of the market uses excimer lasers to acheive 0.25æm resolutions. Intel will be using excimer lasers for their 0.18 process(to begin ramping in '99).<< This discussion of Intel being able to use Hg for .25 production rather than DUV does raise a fairly serious concern for me. Until recently I was under the impression that DUV was required for .25 features. (probably because I wasn't paying attention) I was wondering why the other manufacturers will opt for DUV light sources instead of going the way of Intel? Doesn't the change to DUV require a lot more change of process and new technologies to be successful? If Intel isn't going to switch till .18 why aren't we at least a year away from Cymer's market sweet spot? Isn't going with the Micrascan II a lower risk strategy and if so how many are likely to go that direction? I've been wondering if these kinds of questions are the real reason behind our recent weakness.