EDITOR'S PAGE

Buzzwords and scuttlebutt

When it comes to trade shows, buzzwords and scuttlebutt can be the difference between "we're having a great show" and "it's been kinda slow." Sure, floor traffic and lead generation are important and signing orders is gravy, but you don't necessarily need an expo presence to expand your business. Still, lively exhibit halls and well-attended conferences provide those rare opportunities to gauge what's hot (and what's not) and to share industry gossip in an up-close-and-personal environment.

Not surprisingly, those recurring buzzwords copper, low-k dielectric materials, and 300-mm fabs dominated the patter at this year's Semicon Europa, both on the show floor and after hours in the watering holes and eateries of Munich. Of course, the topic of possible mergers, acquisitions, and strategic alliances also got its due, with at least one Applied Materials (ASML?) or Novellus (Lam?) rumor likely to emerge. An additional, particularly Eurocentric source of speculation focused on what would become of the Siemens, Hyundai, and other fab "shells" found in various parts of the not-so-United Kingdom.

One bit of shell-related scuttlebutt that I heard from several people did indeed turn out to be true—Motorola's purchase of the Hyundai fab in Dunfermline, Scotland. The Digital DNA company's recently announced plans to sink $2 billion into the project and create at least 1300 more jobs are good news for a local economy that already benefits from Moto's presence. The fate of another shell, the shuttered Siemens facility in North Tyneside, England, was also on many people's minds. Several equipment company exhibitors spoke of a certain Siemens executive making the rounds at the show, asking if the suppliers could deliver tools to the site within five or six months. Although there was no confirmation from Siemens itself, the anecdotal evidence suggests plans are afoot to fit out the 8-inch facility. Who Siemens's partners will be is still in question, but logic dictates a certain major German chipmaker would be part of the mix.

The news also broke that Infineon, formerly Siemens's chipmaking arm, had started the initial construction work for a 300-mm production fab in Dresden. Regarding a construction timeline and additional details, Peter Kücher of SC300 said he couldn't elaborate when asked at the IEEE/SEMI Semiconductor Manufacturing Conference. The company says it will unveil its plans by late May, so the rest of the plans may be known by the time you read this. Also on the 300-mm front, the other "big two" European chip companies, STMicroelectronics and Philips, confirmed show-week rumors with their announcement the following week that they were cooperating on a joint-venture pilot line at ST's Crolles site and continuing their technology-sharing agreement.

The "C" word—copper—certainly livened up the discourse at this year's event. Although there's been little fanfare, it's clear that Europe soon will be on the front line of copper-interconnect chip production. Once AMD's Fab 30 in Dresden and Altis, the IBM-Infineon joint-venture fab in Corbeil-Essonnes, hit their targets in the third and fourth quarters, they will be among the top copper houses anywhere. At the aforementioned manufacturing conference, AMD exec Jim Doran spoke of "outstanding" preliminary yields of the 0.18-µm six-level interconnect process developed by Moto and his company, which he said will be ramping hard at the German megafab this year. Later in the week, Novellus executive vp John Chenault echoed the comments of several other people in Munich, saying that Altis will be the world's second-largest copper fab by year's end.

But there's more to a good show than a steady stream of buzzwords and scuttlebutt. Sometimes the unexpected can surface among the pavilions and pop-up booths. As I rushed to my next appointment one hectic day, I heard the techno-melodic sounds of Moby's "Porcelain" pouring from the Berkeley Process Control booth. I paused to enjoy this sublime application of silicon-based technology, a fleeting moment of beauty nurtured by the microelectronics food chain.

Tom Cheyney
Editor

tom.cheyney@cancom.com
http://www.micromagazine.com

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