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

To: Will Lyons who wrote (30671)	5/27/1999 3:06:00 PM
From: Duker	Respond to of 70976

OT**Will, I was just kidding! That's why I used the <G> ... You are more than welcome here ... please don't take me seriously in <G> Mode ... you are probably wise not to take me seriously at all! Sorry for the misunderstanding. --Duker

To: Will Lyons who wrote (30671)	5/27/1999 3:17:00 PM
From: Duker	Respond to of 70976

Fujitsu to use Applied's copper tools for advanced MPUs A service of Semiconductor Business News, CMP Media Inc. Story updated 2:30 p.m. EST/11:30 a.m., PST, 5/27/99 SANTA CLARA, Calif.--Applied Materials Inc. here today said Fujitsu Ltd. has ordered a copper electrochemical plating system for the creation of interconnects on advanced microprocessors. The copper deposition tool will be delivered to Fujitsu by the end of June. Applied's Electra Cu ECP tool will be integrated with an Electra copper barrier and seed system, which has been in use by Fujitsu in Japan for more than a year, according to the Santa Clara equipment supplier. "Copper represents a critical technological transition that must be carefully managed to ensure its successful implementation," said Naomichi Abe, director of Advanced Process Technology for Fujistu's ULSI Device Development Division in Japan. Applied formally introduced its copper electroplating system last month after demonstrating prototypes to chip makers for nearly a year (see April 8 story). The Electra copper plating platform uses multiple twin processing cells and dual wafer handling to reach throughputs of up to 70 wafers per hour, according to Applied. Applied's Electra Cu Barrier & Seed system was introduced in late 1997. Applied said the system has become the industry's leading copper barrier and seed tool with about 75 process chambers being used by chip makers around the world. The system uses ion metal plasma (IMP) physical vapor deposition (PVD) technology to deposit thin films of tantalum or tantalum nitride barriers followed by a copper seed layer.

To: Will Lyons who wrote (30671)	5/27/1999 3:19:00 PM
From: Duker	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 70976

NEC hikes 64-Mbit production; DRAM recovery could stall, warn analysts A service of Semiconductor Business News, CMP Media Inc. Story updated 1:30 p.m. EST/10:30 a.m., PST, 5/27/99 TOKYO--NEC Corp. here said it will match the huge DRAM production ramps at Micron, Samsung and Hyundai by boosting its own 64-megabit output 150% to 30 million units a month by mid-summer 2000. The steep increase in NEC production will pour more DRAMs into the saturated memory market , said analyst Mark Edelstone, who tracks the semiconductor industry at Morgan Stanley Dean Witter & Co. in San Francisco. As a result, Morgan Stanley has pushed back its forecast for a recovery in DRAMs, and it now says that won't occur before the end of the year. Until this week NEC had maintained it was holding down 64-Mbit production at the current level of 12 million chips a month because of the low selling prices. The about-face means NEC is joining Micron Technology Inc. and its Korean DRAM rivals in driving up production rates. A glut of DRAMs during the past several years played a major factor in the stalled growth of the chip industry. The glut seemed to be working itself off until recent weeks, when Korean suppliers began responding to Micron's aggressive ramp of production. Now NEC is joining in the DRAM market share battle. "The DRAM market will come down to four major suppliers, with everyone else scrambling for specialty or niche products," said analyst Sherry Garber with Semico Research Corp. in Phoenix. Many industry and financial analysts have said the overall semiconductor recovery appears to be on track, but DRAMs remain an area of concern, especially if an intense market share fight erupts in the second quarter. An NEC spokesman today stressed that the Japanese firm will accomplish its sharp production growth through die shrinks and manufacturing efficiencies in existing fabs. NEC has no plans to add any new fab capacity, he said. The die shrinks and technology advances will allow NEC to increase its bit growth up to 80% a year, according to the spokesman. This is similar to the 80% bit growth rate that Micron has been projecting. Analysts said Micron's target will bring the U.S. firm to a production level of between 45-to-60 million 64-Mbit DRAMs a month in the year 2000. --Jack Robertson