UTEK Places Repeat Order for Applied Materials` Producer System; High-Performance, Cost-Effective Technology Key to Multiple System Repeat Buy
SANTA CLARA, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Aug. 26, 1999--Applied Materials, Inc. announced today that UTEK Semiconductor Corp. of Taiwan, part of the UMC (United Microelectronics Corp.) Group and one of the world's largest foundry companies, has placed a multiple-system, repeat order for Applied Materials' Producer(TM) CVD (chemical vapor deposition) technology. Shipments of the Producer system began to UTEK's facility in Hsin-Chu, Taiwan, early this year.
Eric Hsu, manager of Thin Film Process at UTEK, said, "Applied
Materials' Producer system is ideal for foundries like ours, because
it combines extremely high productivity with outstanding technical
performance and process flexibility. Installation and qualification of
the Producers has gone very quickly, so we've been able to move the
systems into production in a short time. These systems are now running
in production with excellent reliability." UTEK will use the systems
to deposit TEOS (tetraethylorthosilicate), silane and dielectric
anti-reflective coating (DARC(TM)) films for manufacturing DRAM and
logic devices.
Introduced by Applied Materials in 1998, the Producer system
features a revolutionary new platform architecture that combines the
throughput benefits of Twin Chamber(TM) wafer handling with the
advantages of single-wafer process technology in a simple and
exceptionally reliable system design. The system offers a major
improvement in productivity as well as reduced facilities cost and a
small system footprint. Configured with up to three Twin Chamber CVD
modules, a maximum of six wafers can be processed simultaneously,
achieving system throughput of more than 120 wafers per hour. To
simplify system design without sacrificing the flexibility and control
of single-wafer processing, each Twin Chamber set uses the same pumps,
mass flow controllers and gas delivery components.
Each Twin Chamber module uses Applied Materials' Remote Clean(TM)
technology to remove deposited byproducts with minimal damage to
process kit hardware, resulting in drift-free processing. This unique
"soft" clean process creates virtually no global-warming
perfluorocompounds (PFC) and enables significant reduction in chamber
clean frequency for very high equipment uptime and availability.
"UMC and UTEK have aggressively advanced their technical
capabilities and are in the top tier of semiconductor companies in the
world. This repeat order demonstrates their confidence in the
cost-effective, advanced technology the Producer system offers for
their foundries, where higher yields, lowest cost and maximum asset
utilization are key requirements, " said Kevin Fairbairn, general
manager of Applied Materials' PECVD Product Unit.
According to Dataquest, a market research firm, the market for
(non-high-density) plasma-enhanced CVD (PECVD) dielectric films
totaled $426 million in 1998, and is projected to grow to $656 million
by 2003. Dataquest reports that Applied Materials the leading supplier
of both dielectric and metal CVD systems.
Applied Materials, Inc. is a Fortune 500 global growth company
and the world's largest supplier of wafer fabrication systems and
services to the global semiconductor industry. Applied Materials is
traded on the Nasdaq National Market System under the symbol "AMAT."
Applied Materials' web site is http://www.appliedmaterials.com.
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CONTACT: Applied Materials, Santa Clara
Betty Newboe, 408/563-0647
Carolyn Schwartz, 408/748-5227 (IR)
KEYWORD: CALIFORNIA INTERNATIONAL ASIA PACIFIC
INDUSTRY KEYWORD: COMPUTERS/ELECTRONICS COMED PRODUCT