Editor's Page

The big dog barks

Editors must sort out newsworthy items from the large flow of information that reaches their desks, a task with parallels to engineers in the throes of analysis who must find relevant signals among a sea of noise. When confronted with the sometimes overwhelming amount of PR noise at a large event such as Semicon West, one must carefully analyze the data stream to isolate the notable news "signals." When the equipment and materials industry's big dog, Applied Materials, is the source of the signal, you take notice: If he barks, you listen. Although a good editor is skeptical of any company claiming an industry "first," or a "unique" and "revolutionary" advancement, one recent announcement from Applied does seem to signal another major step in the evolution of the semiconductor business.

Applied plans to build the equipment industry's first pilot line for process development, a complete minifab in which the company will create prequalified, integrated tool lines (see Industry News story on page 26). As company senior vp Sass Somekh said, "the pilot line will allow us to replicate customer device structures at our site." Translation: A toolmaker practically making chips! Once chipmakers like IBM made many of their own tools, then nascent equipment companies provided basic platforms to their customers, and more recently the toolmakers and semiconductor manufacturers have cooperated on process development, rather than leaving it entirely to the engineering resources of the chipmakers. Applied's move has the potential for the delivery of "plug-and-play" equipment to the customer, greatly reducing fab ramp times. Since it will be able to perform complete wafer-processing cycles, Applied won't have to rely as much on customers for test and other data, long a sticking point in the user-vendor relationship.

An ironic aspect here is that Applied must buy equipment (lithographic and wet process tools, for example) it does not make itself-- one capital toolmaker purchasing capital equipment from another. This has already begun, with Applied's order of a deep-UV stepper from ASM Lithography. An added benefit for both companies should be increased understanding of the interaction between the respective processes their tools perform.

Applied's ambitious plans raise several questions. Will the engineering value added by process prequalification raise the prices of the tools? What will happen to all those engineers at the larger chipmakers whose process development services might become expendable? Does the possibility of plug-and-play tool sets level the playing field somewhat between the small/midsize semiconductor manufacturers and their larger competitors? Will Applied's move pressure its competitors to develop similar pilot lines or enter into cooperative agreements with other toolmakers to do so? No one's pockets are as deep--or product lines as diverse--as Applied's at this point. Who has a few hundred million to invest in a project like this?

Then there's the question of terminology. Applied's Class 10/1 minifab is set to begin occupancy in early 1999. Will we call the line's initial run "first silicon"?

Tom Cheyney

Editor

tom.cheyney@cancom.com

MicroHome | Search | Current Issue | MicroArchives
Buyers Guide | Media Kit