USA

06/01/1998

USA

Varian Associates has agreed to purchase Genus Inc.`s high-energy ion implant product line in a deal worth

$25 million initially, plus additional payments if certain revenue targets are achieved. The move takes Genus out of the implant business, allowing it to focus on its thin film equipment line. The move comes about nine months after Varian made a refocusing of its own, by selling its thin film operation to Novellus. The acquisition adds technology in the fast-growing high energy sector to Varian`s line of implant tools. The purchased assets are slated to become part of Varian`s Ion Implant Systems unit in Gloucester, MA.

CMP system supplier Strasbaugh, San Luis Obispo, CA, has set an alliance with NOVA Measuring Instruments and MITEX Solutions to integrate run-to-run control into existing and next-generations Strasbaugh CMP tools. Under the alliance, Strasbaugh has combined NOVA`s NovaScan in-line metrology system with MITEX`s run-to-run control system. The closed loop process control system is said to offer consistent removal thickness and uniformity over long CMP production runs.

Texas Instruments has delayed its plans for a 300-mm production line at its Avezzano, Italy, campus. Construction on the $1.2 billion fab was originally slated to begin by the end of 1997, with volume production of DRAM and flash memory beginning in 2000. Construction has not yet begun, and the company has "extended the project pending an evaluation of market conditions," said a spokesperson.

AlliedSignal Electronic Materials, Sunnyvale, CA, has acquired Nanoglass LLC, supplier of the precursor material that Texas Instruments (TI) has incorporated into its damascene copper and low-k technology for 0.15-?m and beyond. The announcement came during a technical briefing given at TI`s Kilby Center, where a team of R&D engineers developed and continues to work on the copper process development. Neil Hendricks, technology development manager for AlliedSignal Electronic Materials said his firm has been working on low-k materials issues since 1993, and is now scaling up Nanoglass production.

Adding another piece to its inspection and metrology framework, KLA-Tencor will acquire privately held scanning electron microscope manufacturer Amray Inc., Bedford, MA, in a stock swap deal. KLA-Tencor sees the acquisition as a fast-track way of bringing additional defect review and classification capabilities to its operation, said senior VP of strategic business development Sam Harrell. KLA-Tencor plans to port its automated defect classification software to the Amray tools, thus allowing the SEM to quickly locate and image the detected defects.

Nanometrics Inc., Sunnyvale, CA, has completed its acquisition of the Metra semiconductor metrology product line and related assets from Optical Specialties Inc. Transfer of Metra assets includes inventory, product test equipment, and intellectual property, including patents, software, and design information. Nanometrics has already begun engineering programs aimed at improved versions of the Metra.

MetroLine Industries, Corona, CA, has acquired the Branson/IPC line of batch plasma systems from GaSonics, San Jose, CA. MetroLine/IPC will operate as a strategic business unit of MetroLine Industries, adding a plasma equipment dimension to MetroLine`s plasma surface treatment operation. Equipment manufacture, service, process development, and support for the semiconductor industry will be provided from new facilities in Hayward, CA, and Marlton, NJ.

Lam Research Corp., Fremont, CA, has purchased a nonexclusive worldwide license of Trikon Technologies Inc.`s MORI source technology, which offers a high density plasma source. For the license fees, Lam will take a $12.1 million charge during fiscal 3Q98, including $2 million for the purchase of an R&D system from Trikon. The remainder of the fees and royalties, up to $10 million, will be charged to future periods as incurred.

Technical Manufacturing Corp. (TMC), Peabody, MA, a maker of vibration isolation and control products, has acquired Barry Controls` patented Stacis and Electro-Damp line of products for use in semiconductor fabs. TMC has also expanded its Peabody operation from 50,000 to 65,000 ft2 to increase manufacturing capacity and office space.

Space Electronics Inc., San Diego, CA, and Actel Corp., Sunnyvale, CA, will develop and market a new line of high-reliability, radiation-tolerant field programmable gate array (FPGA) products. Space Electronics will combine its patented RAD-PAK package shielding technology with Actel`s commercial FPGA products. The first products are expected in 2Q98.

Mattson Technology Inc., Fremont, CA, and R&D center IMEC, Leuven, Belgium, have entered a development agreement to extend 200-mm capabilities under design rules of 0.18 ?m and below. IMEC will use Mattson`s dual chamber Aspen Strip system to refine dry strip processes upon installation in IMEC`s facility in Belgium.

With a murky outlook for semiconductor capital equipment sales this summer, several companies have resorted to personnel cutbacks in an effort to reduce their fixed costs. Varian Associates, Mattson Technology, and CFM Technologies have all disclosed layoffs, and in some cases other cost-cutting moves.

Unit Instruments, a mass flow controller supplier, is restructuring operations and has closed its Control Systems Inc. (CSI) subsidiary, cut 47 positions, and taken a $4.9 million charge in its 3Q ended February 28 to cover the cost of the changes. Of the job cuts, 35 were taken from the company`s Yorba Linda, CA, base and 12 from the CSI operation in Rio Rancho, NM. Three executive positions were included in the layoff. The CSI high purity gas systems product line has been merged into Unit, and is now considered a Unit product line; production has been moved to the company`s Yorba Linda and Chandler, AZ, facilities.

Photomask supplier Photronics has initiated a reorganization of its North American operations that will result in the closing of its Colorado Springs manufacturing facility. The company will move its operations to other facilities throughout North America, and sell its Large Area Mask division acquired from Microphase Laboratories in 1995. The company plans to retain its sales operation, design center, and recertification operation in Colorado Springs. Most of the 70 employees on the manufacturing end will be offered positions at the company`s other facilities.

Intel will cut its workforce by 3000 and make a 6% cut to its 1998 capital spending plans, but the $300 million spending reduction (to a total of $5 billion) is at the low end of analysts` estimates, and the microprocessor giant is indicating that it will in general stay the course on its fab construction plans. The disclosures are a positive sign for the capital equipment sector, since Intel accounts for such a large percentage of world equipment purchases. A deeper cut would have signified more pessimism in Intel`s mid-term outlook.

In response to lower demand for its crystal puller systems, Ferrofluidics, Nashua, NH, is planning to lay off about half of the workers in its Systems Division over the next six months, and took an estimated $3.5 million charge in the 3Q to cover severance costs, and other charges related to the downsizing. Lower order levels are also affecting the division`s performance. Third quarter revenues will be lower than expected, and the division will likely see lower revenues over the next three to four quarters. The firm is blaming the 3Q revenue shortfall on a rescheduling of crystal puller deliveries by a major wafer manufacturer.

FSI International, which disclosed a number of cost-cutting steps in its recent financial announcement, will also reduce headcount by about 50 through attrition and by not filling some job openings. By the end of the fiscal year, the firm`s employee base will be about 1300. FSI will maintain R&D spending, however, with the line item seen rising from a planned 13-15% to about 18% due to slower than expected sales.

Eaton Corp.`s Semiconductor Equipment Operation (SEO), Beverly, MA, has reorganized in an effort to position itself for offering integrated process solutions combining its ion implant, thermal processing, and photostabilization and resist stripping products. With its recent acquisitions of Fusion Systems and High Temperature Engineering Co., SEO added capabilities on either side of its core implant business. This strategy is in line with Applied Materials` offering of modules for various metallization steps, and reflects a general sense that over the next several years chipmakers will increasingly focus their resources on design and marketing rather than manufacturing process development.

In addition, SEO has received an order for GSD/VHE very high energy and GSD/200E2 high current ion implantation systems developed at Eaton`s Implant Systems Division, and a Reliance 850 rapid thermal processor developed at Eaton`s Thermal Processing Systems. The order, placed by a producer of semiconductor devices and consumer electronics, is valued at more than $7 million.

Citing limited business growth capabilities, software supplier Realtime Performance Inc., (RPI), Sunnyvale, CA, is exiting the fab equipment market. The company has been in operation for the past 10 years, but company president Yoav Agmon said RPI would "cease its operations within the semiconductor manufacturing and equipment market." RPI offered its ControlPRO 97, ClusterPRO 97, MonitorPRO 97 and RPSECS, RPGEM and GEMPRO software products on "a royalty-free basis with the option of purchasing the complete source code at bargain prices."

With a fresh round of funding from a group of about eight investors, CMP waste handling startup CMP Technologies has been renamed Lucid Treatment Systems, and is expecting delivery of a beta CMP waste treatment system. Lucid plans to offer a CMP waste treatment system that could reuse about 50-60% of the waste water, and separate the slurry solid from the liquid for disposal.

Fabs owned by Texas Instruments, SGS-Thomson, and LG Semicon are being targeted for energy assessment studies under recent agreements with energy service firm Planergy, Austin, TX. Planergy`s VP of engineering Richard Patton said the assessments will target ways to either improve efficiency or reduce energy consumption. Assessments include a measurement of tool energy use. "The fabs typically all have different strengths," Patton said, noting that implementing energy-saving measures could cut energy costs by up to 10%, depending on what condition that fab is in.

The EUV LLC consortium developing extreme ultraviolet lithography has ordered a pair of deposition tools from Veeco Instruments for production of optical coatings, and expects to sign contracts for exposure tool development with other suppliers. The EUV LLC includes Intel, Motorola, and AMD as members, along with several US national laboratories. The prospective contractors include non-US companies. Stepper vendors ASM Lithography and Nikon appear to be leading candidates to join existing contractor SVG Lithography in the group.

GaSonics International, San Jose, CA, has shipped a Millennia 300-mm system to the International 300mm Initiative (I300I). The system will be used for 0.18-?m demonstration and marathon testing of photoresist removal, implanted resist removal, post-etch clean, and isotropic etch applications. The systems will be installed in a Class 1 cleanroom in I300I`s Process Support and Metrology Center in SEMATECH`s Austin, TX, facility.

Novellus Systems Inc., San Jose, CA, has shipped the first in a series of its new Concept 3, 300-mm chemical vapor deposition systems to Semiconductor 300, Dresden, Germany. The tool will be evaluated for advanced applications requiring a variety of oxide films for devices using 0.25- to 0.18-?m design rules.

Silicon Valley Group Inc., San Jose, CA, has shipped multiple 200-APS next-generation photoresist processing tools. The systems will be used in the production of logic devices by a manufacturer in the US, and for ASIC and logic devices by a manufacturer in Europe.

Applied Materials Inc., Santa Clara, CA, has received orders from Align-Rite Ltd., a European-based subsidiary of Align-Rite International Inc., for multiple RT-8000-series systems to perform photomask defect inspection at Align-Rite`s facility in Bridgend, Wales; from Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd., for the WxZ Centura tungsten CVD system, which Samsung will use to form contacts on leading-edge devices; and from SGS-Thomson for an Ultima HDP-CVD Centura system to deposit dielectric films used in advanced logic devices. The system will be shipped to SGS-Thomson`s production fab in Phoenix, AZ.

Asyst Technologies Inc., Fremont, CA, has received an order for SMIF systems from a fab scheduled to open in the northwestern US. Valued at more than $9 million, the order includes SMIF load port transfer systems, SMIF-Enclosures minienvironments, SMIF-Pods, and SMART-Traveler systems. The systems will be used in a foundry expansion that will produce ICs with 0.35- and 0.25-?m design rules.

AG Associates, San Jose, CA, has received follow-on orders for several Heatpulse 8800 RTP systems from a Japanese chipmaker. The order totaled $2.5 million. Shipping in 2Q and 3Q, the systems will be used for annealing and salicidation applications in volume production of DRAM and logic devices with 0.35- and 0.25-?m geometries.

MEGA Systems & Chemicals Inc., Chandler, AZ, has shipped a total CMP system to National Semiconductor. The order includes two MEGAflow IIIC high-flow systems, a MEGApure 100, a MEGAview supervisory system, and a MEGAlink interface system. MEGA Systems will ship the order to National`s South Portland, ME, facility.

Agency founder Joe Clark dead at 61. Joseph Clark, founder and executive VP of Sunnyvale, CA, communications agency Mathews and Clark, passed away on March 24, 1998 after an illness. He was 61. A memorial service was held at the Los Altos Lutheran Church, in Los Altos, CA.

Clark, who started his career as a comedy writer in Los Angeles, co-founded Mathews & Clark Communications in 1975 with Walt Mathews. Since Clark`s death, Mathews stated that the agency will continue as an independent company operating globally under the Mathews & Clark name.

Memorial donations may be made in Clark`s name to the Hospice of the Valley, 1150 S. Bascom Ave., San Jose, CA 75128; ph 408/947-1233.