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To: FJB who wrote (21119)	2/17/1999 10:40:00 AM
From: TechHunter	Respond to of 25960

Thanks Robert! EOM

To: FJB who wrote (21119)	2/17/1999 10:48:00 AM
From: FJB	Respond to of 25960

Cooper continued: "We experienced an improved order rate in the second quarter and customers worldwide are showing increased interest in advanced semiconductor maskmaking capability, especially at the leading edge 0.25 micron and 0.18 micron device rules, as well as an interest in upgrading existing equipment. In addition, merchant customers are reporting a significant shift toward leading device rules and this, coupled with the recent acceleration of the SIA roadmap, is a positive sign for future mask pattern generation system demand," said Cooper. go2net.newsalert.com

To: FJB who wrote (21119)	2/18/1999 4:46:00 PM
From: BillyG	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 25960

Semi equipment growth will be slow this year, except for photolithography.......... eetimes.com Excerpt from article: <<One group of companies expected to benefit from those factors and lead the recovery in the capital equipment sector in 1999 will be the photolithography segment, the largest and fastest growing segment of the $65 billion capital equipment industry. The reason: photolithography is a key enabler in the semiconductor manufacturing industry's ability to move to next-generation line widths of 0.18 micron and below, and 300-mm wafers. Despite the fact that overcapacity may hang on for another 12 to 18 months and capital spending is very tight at the current time, chipmakers and foundries need to move to next-generation technologies to stay ahead of the technology curve and compete on device price and performance. Jay Deahna, semiconductor capital equipment analyst at Morgan Stanley Dean Witter, has his eye on photolithography-related equipment and photomask companies because he believes they will benefit from the shift to new technology more than process tools providers. This segment includes companies which supply the light source, photomask, photomask pattern generation equipment, and photolithography systems. For example, Deahna noted the move to 0.25-micron line widths required a new type of light source with a shorter wavelength of light. Because the features to be imaged onto the surface of the wafer would be too small for the wavelength of light given off by the mercury arc lamp used in older photolithography systems, the industry moved to Krypton Fluoride excimer lasers which have 248 nanometers of light. Companies like Cymer Inc., the leading supplier of excimer laser illumination sources for deep ultraviolet photolithography systems, benefit from that transition. Likewise, Deahna believes the move to 0.18-micron feature sizes, where the features imaged on the surface of the wafer will be smaller than the wavelength of light, presents another problem for chipmakers who will need to employ a combination of new photolithography systems with laser light sources and advanced photomasks. New high-performance mask types such as phase-shift masks and optimal proximity correction masks will be used in combination with new light sources such as Argon-Fluoride lasers to allow chipmakers to print images smaller than the wavelength of light. These new types of masks will also be more expensive, take longer to write, and require more mask-generation systems than current binary photomasks, according to Stephen Cooper, chairman, president and chief executive of Etec Systems Inc. This trend will benefit companies like Etec, the dominant supplier of photomask generation generation equipment. Morgan Stanley's Deahna believes equipment companies should begin to experience meaningful revenues from the sale of 300mm equipment in 2000 and it will accelerate as more 300mm fabs roll out. Lithography suppliers like ASM Lithography NV and Nikon will benefit greatly, Deahna contends, because the average selling price for lithography-related tools will be among the best in the industry.>>