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Technology Stocks : General Lithography -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Brad Rogers who wrote (877)	3/11/1998 4:18:00 AM
From: Andrew Vance	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 1305

I was just catching up on posts and realized this was not answered. Actually it was but I guess I didn't submit it. So here we go: I like PRIA and it is distinguished in its field of wafer handling for furnaces. As wafer sizes get larger and larger, they get disproportionately much heavier since an increase in diameter is usually met with an increase in thickness. Without proper automated handling equipment you will need to hire professional weight lifters to move wafers from one system or area to another. Therefore, products such as those provided by PRIA will be in good demand as wafer diameters increase. My experience with PRIA has been favorable relative to 6" (150mm) horizontal furnaces. As long as there are horizontal furnaces in use, these systems do provide value to a certain degree. However, there are 2 things worthy of mentioning and worthy of considering. 1. The automated (vs manual) diffusion areas where the PRIA loaders were installed were slower than the throughput of the furnaces. What I mean is: A four stack furnace bank is serviced by an automated loading/unloading system such as PRIA. The physical mechanics of the automation gives a finite number of loads that can be processed per day. In certain cases (fast diffusion processes) the number of loads that can be run in the furnaces exceeds the number of runs that can be handled by the automation. This makes the PRIA systems a bottleneck in certain applications. 2. With the advent of 200mm wafers we have seen the introduction of the verticak furnaces that handle PODs of wafers and do not need the PRIA type automation. I would not go so far as to say vertical furnaces will replace all horizontal furnaces but they will be an impact. In closing, I beleive PRIA has the wherewithall to extend its capabilities into the present and future wafer diameters and have a solid business going forward. In certain respects they could be a competitor to ASYT and BRKS. I have yet to establish a long term position in PRIA and have only traded it on occasion. I think it is only fair that I mention that also. Andrew