Applied materials to equip dresden fab

04/01/1998

Applied Materials to equip Dresden fab

Semiconductor 300, the recently announced Siemens-Motorola 300-mm fab in Dresden, Germany, has placed a large, multi-technology order with Applied Materials, the semiconductor equipment supplier based in Santa Clara, CA. The order, expected to begin shipping early in 1998, includes a number of plasma etch, chemical vapor deposition, physical vapor deposition, and high-temperature film products, as well as wafer inspection equipment and critical dimension scanning electron microscopes.

The joint venture partners hope that the move to 300 mm - the Dresden fab will be the world`s first development line to use 300-mm wafers - will reduce DRAM die costs by 30%. In order to demonstrate the new manufacturing technology, the Semiconductor 300 line will produce 64-Mbit DRAM devices with 0.25-micron design rules, beginning early in 1999. The companies have plans to manufacture 256-Mbit devices at a later date.