February 12, 2001–Orangeburg, New York–The Materials Research Division of Praxair Surface Technologies, Inc. has increased prices for sputtering targets and evaporation materials by 5% to 13%, depending on materials and configuration.

“This is the first such increase in 5 years,” says Phil Roberts, Praxair’s global director of marketing. “It is required to offset increased costs for labor, raw materials, and energy. We have also alerted customers for our tantalum products that raw material prices had tripled in 2000 due to a worldwide shortage. As a consequence, these products are now subject to special short-term pricing adjustments.”

The Materials Research Division of Praxair makes sputtering targets and evaporative materials for use in advanced technology applications such as semiconductor devices and inkjet printer heads. Headquartered in Orangeburg, NY, the division operates sales offices globally. Capacity expansions for all manufacturing sites currently are underway to meet increased customer demand for semiconductor products and for the transition to 300mm fabs.