SEMICON Europa News

05/01/1998

Semicon Europa News

ASM Lithography (ASML), Veldhoven, the Netherlands, will create a Special Applications division. This new business unit will pursue silicon applications outside the domain of its mainstream sub-0.45-micron business. The move was announced at SEMICON Europa in Geneva, Switzerland, on March 31.

The Special Applications division will focus on silicon applications above 0.45 micron and will address photolithography market requirements for gallium arsenide, other substrates and non-IC applications such as micromachining, thin-film and magnetoresistive heads for disk drives. The new division will be run as a stand-alone business, reporting to ASML`s president and chief executive officer, William Maris.

"Special Applications represents ASML`s first move toward business diversification," said Eduard Hoeberichts, managing director of the new division. "We will be serving new customers with different requirements, and this will require a different approach on our part. With special imaging solutions, we will focus on improving our customers` productivity."

The division will be located in separate offices in Veldhoven, and will be supported by the worldwide sales office in San Jose, CA.

Also announced at the SEMICON Europa show:

 Semiconductor300 placed a multiple-system order for Jenoptik Infab`s new 300-mm Wafer Logistic Station for use in its 300-mm pilot project to be built at the Siemens facility in Dresden, Germany.

 The 1998 European SEMI award was presented to Karl Niklaus, founder, chairman and CEO of ESEC, for his contributions to the European semiconductor industry.