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Politics : Formerly About Applied Materials -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Katherine Derbyshire who wrote (23424)	8/27/1998 10:13:00 AM
From: Lone Star	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 70976

I believe your conclusions re: Novellus vs. Applied for the future back-end module are quite wrong. Although Novellus has done a credible marketing job claiming the lead in copper/low k and related processes, marketing doesn't produce chips, do it? Engineers I know scoff at the triad of Novellus, Lam, and IPEC ( IPEC? could they find a worse CMP tool?).Applied of course has the whole enchilada in house, with better products EVERY step of the way.Plus, they have multiple approaches which is the smart thing to do when the roadmap may diverge any of multiple paths. Copper dep- Applied owns the Al dep market, Novellus bought off the a dog tool from Varian. The Endura line of metal dep tools are the single most popular of any tool set and processes, huge >80% market share unheard of because they are taht much better.For all the barrier and liners( Ti, TiN, new stuff like WN, etc. ) Applied wins hands down. Copper dep itself- yes, SMTL and Novellus have a lead, in electroplating, we''ll see who gets the market share in the end. I know my bet. However, if electroplating can't cut it, Applied has PVD/CVD combo at the ready. Copper etch- the simplest intermediate approch if it works. Of course, its only Intel leading the way here. Sole source: applied. Copper CMP- the Mirra cmp is way ahead here. Will SFAM and IPEC even survive the downturn, and if so can they catch up to the Mirra, which now is the market leader and increasing monthly. low k- if its spin on, n/a to either Applied or Novellus. Only Applied however has a deposited film alternative with very possible big advantages over spin-on: mechanical, CMP compatability, etc.something like amorphous carbon film, don't know the details. Damascene etch- the new IPS is definitely ahead of Lam. Applied can provide the whole module, with better individual steps for the most part, but with certain steps as yet unproven or behind time-to-market wise( low k; electroplating). Does anyone think the triad can cooperate like one company can? But the biggest advantage is still the huge installed base of Enduras, the most popular product of any type in the industry. Back end people will want to stay with what they know and love unless they cannot.I don't think Applied will let that happen.