Silicon Investor (SI) -- The First Internet Community

STOCKTALK

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor. We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community. If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.

Technology Stocks : Semi-Equips - Buy when BLOOD is running in the streets! -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: goldsnow who wrote (7039)	9/28/1998 10:45:00 PM
From: Katherine Derbyshire	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 10921

One doesn't actually need minute quantities of metallic platinum. Instead, one needs fairly large quantities of a precursor gas (or liquid), in which platinum is one of the constituents. To coat a 300mm wafer with pure platinum to a thickness of 1 micron (at least twice as much as is actually needed, but it makes the math come out easily) requires roughly 14 mm^3 (=0.014 cm^3) of material. Density of platinum is 21.4 g/cm^3, so that's 0.2996 gm/wafer, or 8.988 kg/month for a 30,000 wafer/month fab. The conversion from kg to troy oz. is left as an exercise for the reader... Katherine