To: Matt Webster who wrote (14809 ) 2/19/1998 12:28:00 AM From: Tulvio Durand Read Replies (2) | Respond to
All these questions have been asked and answered several times, and, it would appear, you haven't taken the time to investigate. Here are the basic facts presented in the same numerical order as your questions.
(1) Cymer's DUV is the lithographic light source of choice for printing sub 0.25 critical dimensions. There is no other technology like software or networking (that you suggest) that will supplant it.
(2) The technology is quite apparent to IBM, et al, and not to just us geniuses. It is very well established and accepted worldwide.
(3) The demand for 0.25 micron tools is accelerating and now accounts for about 50% of all new stepper tools being purchased today.
(4) There are substitutes for Cymer's products. One can buy DUV excimer lasers from Komatsu and Lambda Physik. A couple of dozen lasers have been delivered by those two sources for development type application. But because of superior reliability and throughput of Cymer's products all chip makers, to date, have specified only Cymer DUV lasers be installed in the production stepper tools delivered to them.
(5) The major stepper manufacturers, Nikon, Canon, and ASM have colluded and decided to not start a bidding war over access to CYMI intellectual property. They each invested in 10% ownership of Cymer.
Your other arguments are specious, but I wiil address them anyway:
-- Cymer monopoly? No different than Intel or Microsoft. Do the latter have monopolies? Bill Gates would say there's Oracle et al. Andy Grove would say there's AMD et al. Bob Akins would say there's Komatsu and Lambda Physik.
-- Could we have better research than IBM? IBM is researching some potential competing technologies like XRL. But so is Cymer researching next generation products (including XRL).
-- Stepper customers not ordering 0.25 equipment exclusively? That's correct. They are ordering about 50% DUV and 50% i-line tools. And the ratio is shifting dramatically towards DUV tools. 0.25 micron demand IS explosive. Just read a few hundred posts on this thread and you will get the idea.
-- Is there a substitute? Yes. There's Komatsu and Lambda Physik. Also there's XRL and a few other technologies knocking on the door by year 2010.
-- Is there a cartel? Yes. Four customers call the shots. As explained earlier each of three has a vested interest. But it is the end user (chip maker) that specifies which DUV laser it wants installed in the tools they buy.
-- Monopoly power? Hardly. Cymer provides the end user with the best available technology, best throughput, best reliability, best support, (but maybe not the cheapest price). That, my friend, is called free enterprise.
Regards,
Tulvio
