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Technology Stocks : Speedfam [SFAM] Lovers Unite ! -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: SemiBull who wrote (3333)	4/8/1999 9:59:00 PM
From: Mr. Sam	Respond to of 3736

<<Ebara, Strausbaugh, Lam, and Obsidian...Absent SFAM-IPEC, which of the other potential competitors have you listed are pure CMP plays?>> Strausbaugh and Obsidian are private companies. Lam and Ebara both derive only a small part of their business from CMP. <<Since CMP is SFAM's bread and butter, would it be safe to say its swim or drown (or be bought out)?>> That's right.

To: SemiBull who wrote (3333)	4/8/1999 10:09:00 PM
From: Mr. Sam	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 3736

<<Interested on your take on Speedfam latest tools versus Mira, if you get a chance.>> [received in private message, but I will answer here] The SpeedFam Auriga-C is a far superior tool for ILD polishing and for tungsten polishing for the current applications. It has superior throughput, cost of ownership, and manufacturability. For some applications like STI and copper processing, the endpoint capabilities and greater number of platens on the Mirra give the process engineer greater flexibility that may or may not be necessary, depending on the particular technology requirements and the consumables being used. The Mirra has been winning a lot of run-offs over the last year, but many of these have been won due to the flexibility that the Mirra provides and the uncertainty about the technology roadmap for next-generation slurries and pads for STI and copper. For most applications, the SpeedFam will likely turn out to be the best tool for high-volume production, but the limited flexibility means that some early adopters of copper processing will look elsewhere.