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

To: Math Junkie who wrote (27304)	12/20/1998 6:41:00 PM
From: blake_paterson	Respond to of 70976

CMP process materials grow at 40% a year, says study A service of Semiconductor Business News, CMP Media Inc. Story posted 6:30 p.m. EST/3:30 p.m., 12/17/98 LITTLE FALLS, N.J.--The global market for such consumable materials used in chemical mechanical planarization (CMP) tools is expected to grow nearly 40% a year through 2003, according to a new study by Kline & Co. Inc. here. The use of CMP polishing tools has been spreading in wafer fabs worldwide as device manufacturers push feature sizes into deep submicron territory and the number of interconnect layers grow (see feature form Nov. 1 issue of SBN). U.S.-based logic and microprocessor makers were first to embrace the planarization technology, but DRAM suppliers are eventually expected to turn to CMP once the memory markets recover. "Generally speaking, CMP becomes a necessity below the 0.35-micron design rule," said Todd Harris, business manager at the Little Falls consulting firm. He said many types of ICs have already reached this level and, in the coming years, others will follow. "Global sales of consumable products used in CMP, including slurries and pads, accordingly, are expected to reach nearly $700 million by the year 2003 and could grow to over $1 billion by the middle of the next decade," Harris said. The Kline & Co. report noted that the number of new slurry formulations currently offered or under development is increasing as CMP is applied to more oxide and metal layers of wafer processing. These formulations are based on such abrasive materials as fumed and colloidal silica, alumina, ceria and ceria/silica blends, and manganese oxides. "With these opportunities come significant barriers to entry, however, " said Michael A. Fury, who is director of development and technical marketing at AlliedSignal Inc.'s Advanced Microelectronic Materials division and an advisor to the Kline study. While a number of new players are attempting to break into emerging CMP slurry market opportunities, it remains a difficult business, Fury said. "Success in this industry requires that CMP materials suppliers be continually prepared to meet the changing needs of the evolving semiconductor industry, such as having appropriate supply channels and long-term relationships in place," he added.