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Politics : RAMTRONIAN's Cache Inn -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Tom Caruthers who wrote (4945)	3/8/1998 6:21:00 PM
From: Mark Willis	Respond to of 14464

Y-1 Unmasked! Warning! The following information may only serve to clutter your mind and cloud your judgement, but if your into that sort of thing, by all means - read on. Y-1 is none other than SBT, that's Strontium Bismuth Tantalate to you and me. It seems the only connection between the two is that Lead and Bismuth are atomic number 82 and 83 respectively on the Periodic Table of Elements and Ramtron utilizes PZT, while Symetrix utilizes SBT. From the July 29, 1996 Issue of Electronic News "Tegal received orders from major Japanese and U.S. semiconductor companies for three Tegal 6540 HRe systems to etch platinum (Pt), lead zirconium titanate (PZT) and SBT (Y-1) for development and pilot production of ferroelectric memory (FeRAMs) devices. Some of the systems will include Tegal's patent pending rinse-strip-rinse module for integrated post-etch strip and residue removal. Shipments are expected to be completed in Tegal's second and third fiscal quarters." sumnet.com March 27, 1995 Fledgling ferro films finally fly "NVRAM/FRAM materials researchers have been debating for two years whether traditional, lead-based ferro films or Y-1 compounds-a family of materials using layers of bismuth-based perovskites-would provide more read-write cycles. Now that Y-1 is emerging a clear winner, the debate has shifted to memory architectures." techweb.com It would be great to have more detail on how Ramtron benefits from the "Ferroelectric Cross License Agreement" with Symetrix, but guess we'll have to read about it in the funny papers. The following is the latest lisencing agreement I could find and it is from the Ramtron 3/27/97 10-K. SYMETRIX. In October 1992, the Company and Symetrix Corporation ("Symetrix") entered into a Technology Agreement. Symetrix is a technology support company that is engaged in the development of high-performance ferroelectric materials using its process called Y-1 for use in memory products. In August 1995, Ramtron and Symetrix entered into a Ferroelectric Cross License Agreement (the "Cross License Agreement") which superseded the 1992 Technology Agreement. The Cross License Agreement provides Ramtron with the right to use Symetrix's ferroelectric technology and certain rights to sublicense that technology, and Symetrix with the right to use Ramtron's ferroelectric technology and certain rights to sublicense that technology, with certain limited exceptions and on a non-exclusive, worldwide basis to make, use and sell Y-1 based ferroelectric integrated circuit memories. Each party must pay the other royalties on sales of ferroelectric integrated circuit memories incorporating the other party's technology, and on sales by sublicensees, and Ramtron is required to pay a technology transfer fee to Symetrix in four equal annual installments commencing 60 days after the effective date of the 1995 agreement. REVENUE RECOGNITION. Royalty revenue is recognized upon the Company's fulfillment of its contractual obligations and determination of a fixed royalty amount, or, in the case of ongoing unit royalties, upon sales by the licensee of royalty-bearing products, as estimated by the Company. I haven't completely checked out which of Ramtron's FRAM licensees are also sublicensees of Symetrix's Y-1 technology, but I did see that Samsung did not receive a sublicense in their agreement with Ramtron. Good luck Mark