Battle brewing for plasma etch turf

July 18, 2003 – Applied Materials (AMAT) and Lam Research are pinning their hopes of regaining market share lost to Tokyo Electron (TEL) on new dielectric etch technology, according to data from The Information Network, New Tripoli, PA.

TEL currently leads the overall plasma etch sector with a 32% share, compared with AMAT’s 30% and Lam’s 27%, and commands more dielectric etch market share than AMAT and Lam combined.

Recently introduced dielectric etch systems from AMAT (the Producer Etch system) and Lam (the 2300 Exelan system) could help even out the market landscape, according to Robert Castellano, president of The Information Network.

The dielectric etch segment is twice the size of the poly etch sector and three times the size of the metal etch sector, and Castellano predicts the dielectric segment will continue to grow at the expense of the others.

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