WorldNews
07/01/1999
Worldwide highlights
Intel reveals 300mm plan. Intel Corp. is planning to begin equipment installations at its 300mm development facility in Hillsboro, OR, early next year, and expects to bring the larger wafers into production in 2002 at the 0.13µm technology generation. The 300mm, 0.13µm process will be ramped about a year after Intel begins 0.13µm work on 200mm wafers in 2001, and will add copper metallization to Intel products for the first time, said a company spokesman. Intel said it expects to lower per-chip costs by about 30% through the wafer size transition.
TSMC`s 300mm, spending goals. Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. has made a second increase in its planned capital budget for 1999, and now expects to invest about $1.2 billion this year at its facilities in Taiwan and Singapore, and the WaferTech joint venture in Camas, WA. The company also said it will build its first 300mm line, a joint venture with affiliate Vanguard International Semiconductor Co. - next year in Hsinchu, Taiwan. At the start of the year, the foundry was expecting to spend just $500 million on capital improvements; it boosted this to $800 million in April.
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Tool orders hit $1.3B in April. Orders for semiconductor equipment and materials from North American suppliers showed solid gains in April, reaching $1.3 billion in the month, up six percent from March, according to the latest market figures from the SEMI trade association. Three-month average shipments in April ticked up 10% month-to-month, to $1.02 billion, for a resulting book-to-bill ratio of 1.28. While April bookings figures are 18% above year-ago levels, the shipment figures are 28% below those of April 1998.
USA
Applied Materials, Santa Clara, CA, is acquiring web CMP tool developer Obsidian, Fremont, CA, in a stock-swap deal worth about $138 million at recent share prices. Applied said the deal will allow it to supplement its existing rotary CMP technology with Obsidian`s slurry-free system, which is said to have significant advantages for shallow-trench isolation and copper polishing applications. Obsidian has about 57 employees; the startup raised venture capital funding after being spun out as an independent unit in September 1997 from Exclusive Design Co. EDC was a large minority shareholder in the company at the time of the acquisition announcement. Separately, Applied posted record new orders of $1.39 billion in its 2Q ended May 2, up 35% from both 1Q and year ago levels of $1.03 billion. At quarter`s end, Applied had a backlog of $1.36 billion, up from $1.15 billion three months earlier.
SpeedFam-IPEC, Chandler, AZ, has announced that it will add a third platform to its current product lineup, using fixed abrasive pad technology in a web format. Prototypes are expected to be available in 3Q99; a spokeswoman declined to reveal the target date for actual product shipments. Work is being done at the firm`s advanced technology design center in Portland, OR.
EcoSys, the semiconductor environmental division of ATMI, has acquired Delatech Inc., a Milpitas, CA-based supplier of point-of-use gas treatment equipment. ATMI issued 2,347,500 common shares (worth about $51.6 million at recent prices) in exchange for all of Delatech`s shares in a pooling-of-interests deal. Delatech, founded in 1991, has approximately 110 employees, and its 1998 revenues were more than $20 million. In a separate deal, EcoSys has inked an alliance with Applied Science and Technology, Woburn, MA, to develop and market PFC abatement systems.
Gas supply firm BOC Edwards is planning to acquire FSI International`s chemical management division in a deal worth approximately $38 million. A closing is anticipated by the end of this month. BOC also expects to open two production facilities - one in Medford, OR, and one in Taoyuan, Taiwan - later this year. The Oregon site will be the firm`s most advanced facility, and will include a cleanroom designed for the production of high-purity corrosive gases, such as WF6, BCl3, Cl2, and HF. The Taiwan facility, also dedicated to semiconductor specialty gases, will provide cleanroom production of halocarbons and inert gases.
ASM Lithography is acquiring MaskTools, a developer of software for implementing optical proximity correction (OPC) on photomasks. The deal, for cash and stock worth an undisclosed amount, will result in the formation of ASML MaskTools Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of ASML to be based at a new site near MaskTools` facility in Sunnyvale, CA. Doug Marsh, head of ASML`s US technology development group, will serve as president of the subsidiary, while Roger Caldwell, who headed MaskTools during its time as a business unit of MicroUnity Systems Engineering, will be COO. The company has a total of 10 employees; Caldwell declined to comment on revenues, but indicated that the unit is profitable.
SEMX Corp., Armonk, NY, said it will sell its American Silicon Products wafer reclaim business to Providence, RI-based business management firm Harrison Hurley and Co. and said the sale should allow it to pay off all remaining bank debt while giving it cash to pursue other opportunities. A letter of intent has been signed, but a definitive purchase agreement still must be secured. ASP president Gary Heyes is departing from the company in an unrelated move; management from Harrison Hurley is expected to have some type of hands-on involvement in ASP.
ATMI, Danbury, CT, has signed a letter of intent to acquire Milpitas, CA-based Advanced Chemicals Systems International. ATMI has targeted the end of 2Q for a close date. ACSI is a 12-year-old privately held company; the firm has offerings for CVD materials (including PPT TEOS, dopants, and low-k dielectric compounds), CMP (slurries, post-CMP cleaners), and photolithography (strippers, post-strip rinses, residue removers, direct write e-beam products, etchant blends, and edge bead removers). An ATMI spokesman said "there isn`t a huge amount of overlap between the companies." More significant, he said, is that the ACSI acquisition will give ATMI "our inroads, our foot in the door" in the CMP and photoresist strip sectors.
Materials handling firms Fluoroware and Empak have concluded their planned merger, creating a new firm known as Entegris, Inc. The combined 1500-person operation will be headquartered in Chaska, MN, where Fluoroware had been based, with significant operations in Empak hometown Colorado Springs. Initially, Entegris will be organized into five operating businesses: Critical Fluid Management, Electronic Shipping Products, Wafer Management, Test/Assembly/Packaging, and Private Label, which will provide custom-made products for semiconductor production and other sectors.
Intel Corp. will invest $15 million in special preferred stock of Silicon Valley Group Inc. and provide engineering and development assistance for SVG Lithography`s 157nm program. Intel`s investment in SVG will not give it exclusive rights on SVGL 157nm equipment, but the microprocessor giant indicated that it is pursuing the cooperation in order to help ensure that its technology roadmap is met.
Hewlett-Packard is shutting down its ULSI Labs in Palo Alto, CA. The changes come as part of H-P`s plan to spin out its test-and-measurement, components, chemical-analysis, and medical units into a new measurement business while retaining its computing and imaging operations under the H-P name. The closure of USLI Labs also comes as H-P moves toward the foundry manufacturing model, as evidenced by its alliance with Chartered Semiconductor Manufacturing Corp. A spokeswoman for H-P Labs said a small portion of the 50 ULSI employees will move over to new labs being formed under the two new companies, working on IC design and system integration; the remaining employees are being placed in other H-P positions. The corporate restructuring of H-P is expected to take about a year, and an IPO is being planned for the new measurements operation.
National Semiconductor is planning to sell a majority stake in its South Portland, ME, fab and, in an effort to retreat from the PC processor market, a large portion of its Cyrix Corp. subsidiary. National said it is negotiating with foundry firms to sell a stake in the Portland facility, noting that "there is now a fully developed foundry infrastructure available to provide (the company) with leading-edge process technology and cost-effective manufacturing capacity going forward." Although is it is seeking a buyer for the Cyrix PC processor business, National plans to retain the integrated processor line, including the Cyrix MediaGX processor.
Integrated Packaging Assembly Corp., San Jose, CA, has sold a 75% stake in the company for $6.8 million to Taiwan packaging and assembly/test firm Orient Semiconductor Electronics. As a result of the purchase, three of IPAC`s directors will resign, making way for three OSE directors. In the transaction, OSE purchased 4 million shares of IPAC preferred stock, which are convertible into about 55 million shares of IPAC common stock. In addition, IPAC has reached agreements with its secured creditors to restructure its debt.
German vacuum firm Pfeiffer Vacuum Technology AG has acquired Semivac, a 22-year old Milpitas, CA, vacuum service firm. Semivac has become a unit of Pfeiffer, and is retaining its company name and locations in Milpitas and Wilsonville, OR. Owner Peter Catalano will join Pfeiffer as VP of service. The deal is expected to give Pfeiffer a service network to support its growing semiconductor customer base. Financial terms were not disclosed.
Epitaxial reactor supplier Moore Technologies, San Jose, CA, said Japan`s Super Silicon Crystal Research Institute, Isobe, Japan, has accepted its modified MT308 epitaxial reactor and is using the system to grow epi on 400mm substrates. In addition, Komatsu Electronic Metals has accepted the MT308 Discrete Epi Reactor for its R&D program in Nagasaki, Japan.
Silicon wafer supplier Crysteco has ceased operations at its Wilmington, OH, facility and is in negotiations with Finland`s Okmetic for a sale of its epitaxial plant in Allen, TX. Roughly 150 employees from the Wilmington site were laid off in May; operations at the epi plant are also winding down, continuing only until all customer supply is exhausted. A buyer is also being sought for the Wilmington plant.
Xerox Corp.`s display unit dpiX has been acquired by a consortium of its customers. Earlier this year, Xerox said it planned to shut down dpiX by the end of the year. In the acquisition, the customers have acquired an 80% stake in the company. New owners include Trixell (majority owner), Planar Systems, and Varian Medical Systems. Gerard Daguise, Trixell president, has been named chairman of dpiX`s new board.
Brooks Automation, Chelmsford, MA, has received multiple-unit orders for its AquaTran 7 atmospheric robot from Novellus Systems. The order is scheduled to ship in 2H99, and is valued at more than $10 million.
Novellus Systems, San Jose, CA, has shipped its SABRE copper electrofill and INOVA PVD systems to Lucent Technologies Bell Laboratories` Advanced Development and Research Facility in Orlando, FL. The tools will be used to manufacture advanced, production-worthy copper interconnect structures.
Motion control firm Kollmorgen, Radford, VA, is planning to acquire New England Affiliated Technologies (NEAT), Lawrence, MA. Terms of the deal were not disclosed. NEAT has about 100 employees, and logged sales of about $13 million last year.
Sitek Inc., Tempe, AZ, will acquire VSM Corp., also of Tempe, a producer of ultrapure gas panels, horizontal diffusion furnances, and a magnetic film anneal system used in ferroelectric memories. The 18-year-old VSM, which will become a wholly owned subsidiary of Sitek, also refurbishes used equipment. A February SEC filing indicated that the buyout would have a value of about $1 million. VSM has about 20 employees and anticipated current year revenues of $8-$10 million.
Polymer Flip Chip Corp. has selected MRSI, Chelmsford, MA, to provide turnkey automation for its new 40,000 sq. ft. RF-ID tag and Smart Card manufacturing facility in Billerica, MA. The new plant will include the MRSI-375 high volume flip chip bonder, MRSI-170 series of dispensers for underfill and encapsulation, as well as other bumping and assembly equipment.
Amkor Technology Inc., West Chester, PA, has opened a facility in Chandler, AZ, to develop flip chip package technology. The new facility will provide design services and prototype engineering support for on-shore flip chip development programs, concentrating initially on three eutectic bumped flip chip packages: CSP, BGA, and high-performance flip chip BGA.
CyberOptics Corp., Minneapolis, MN, has acquired the assets of HAMA Laboratories, a Palo Alto, CA-based manufacturer of laser wafer mapping and alignment sensors. Under CyberOptics, HAMA has been renamed Hama Sensors. Details of the transaction were not disclosed.
Factory automation firm Adept Technology Inc., San Jose, CA, is planning to acquire BYE/OASIS Engineering, a privately held maker of minienvironments and SMIF interfaces. A letter of intent has been signed; definitive agreements still must be secured. A closing of the stock transaction is anticipated in late summer. Adept said the acquisition will broaden its factory automation offerings in the wafer and microelectronic manufacturing industries.
High Voltage Engineering Corp. said it is negotiating to acquire Redwood City, CA,-based Charles Evans & Associates and merge the network of surface analysis laboratories with Physical Electronics, its surface analysis instrumentation firm. A closing is anticipated this summer.
Wet processing firm Universal Systems, a unit of Trio-Tech International, has moved into a new facility in San Jose, CA. The new 20,000 sq. ft. plant is about twice as large as the company`s original facility, and will include a customer process simulation lab, and a Class 10 automated process tool designed for wet processing of wafers, including 300mm wafers.
Precision motion firm Bayside Motion Group, Port Washington, NY, has acquired brushless DC and linear motor supplier MFM Technology, a 23-year old firm serving the high-end motion control industry. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.
Busch GmbH has merged its Process Vacuum Services and SpectraVac businesses to form Busch Semiconductor Vacuum Group Inc. The new Busch SVG operates facilities in San Jose, CA; Colorado Springs, CO; and Austin, TX, and has about 80 employees.
SGI has sold its integrated circuit operations in Chippewa Falls, WI, to Union Semiconductor Technology Corp., a Minnesota-based semiconductor manufacturing firm. As part of the sale, USTC will take ownership of SGI`s IC operations, property, and equipment. SGI will lease back portions of two buildings from USTC.
Asahi/America, Malden, MA, Entegris (formerly Fluoroware), Chaska, MN, and Agru, Austria, have entered into a three-way alliance for automated IR fusion equipment for use with Entegris` PureBond PFA piping system. The automated fusion equipment will be available through Asahi in North America and through Agru in the European and Asian markets.
In an effort to focus resources and reduce costs, Matheson Gas Products will consolidate engineering and manufacturing functions at its Montgomeryville, PA, facility, eliminating an undetermined number of positions at its San Jose, CA, plant. By consolidating the operations, Matheson hopes to achieve better standardization of operations, improved communications and productivity, and better integration of products for turn-key projects. The move is expected to be concluded over the next six months.
Sapphire Software, Fremont, CA, and Germany`s Boin GmbH have formed an alliance to offer a range of software tools for semiconductor manufacturing. The first product to be offered under the alliance is WaferStudio, a suite of Sapphire`s off-line process recipe editor, and WAFERMAP, an off-line metrology editing tool. Separately, Hologenix, Huntington Beach, CA, has been named the exclusive distributor in the US for Boin`s WAFERMAP software.
After signing Hugle Electronics as its distributor to the Japanese and Korean markets, thermocouple wafer supplier CGS Thermodynamics has opened a new manufacturing facility in West Chester, PA, thereby tripling its cleanroom space. CEO Thomas Darlington said CGS is now developing prototype thermocouple wafers for all of Japan`s top 10 semiconductor manufacturers. As part of its work with CGS, Hugle invested $100,000 in the company to help fund the move to a larger facility.
Asia/Pacific
After months of negotiations, Hyundai Electronics Industries is buying a 59% stake in LG Semicon in a deal valued at $2.1 billion. The remaining 41% stake, currently held by shareholders on the Korean stock exchange, will be converted to Hyundai shares when the merger is completed, possibly by 4Q99. The combined operations will have an estimated capacity of 620 million 64Mb DRAM units in 1999. Details about how the two operations will come together are still sketchy. A spokesman for Hyundai said management teams are just beginning discussions on how to blend the two operations; fab line changes and new spending plans have not yet been worked out.
South Korean DRAM maker Samsung has confirmed analysts` estimates that it will invest $1.2 billion in new 0.18?m facilities for DRAM production this year, while the Worldwide Semiconductor Manufacturing Corp. foundry (a joint venture of Winbond Electronics, China Steel, and the China Development Industrial Bank) has decided to invest 35 billion Taiwan dollars (about $1.1 billion) in a second 200mm fab in Taiwan. Samsung`s funding will be focused on lines in Kiheung, South Korea, and Austin, Texas.
Leica Microsystems, Wetzlar, Germany, has opened a new service branch in Hsinchu, Taiwan, to service customers in the Taiwan region. The new site complements Leica`s existing factory in Singapore, and two joint ventures in China.
FPD firm Universal Display Corp. has signed a letter of intent with Taiwan`s Materials Research Laboratories/Industrial Technology Research Laboratories (MRL/ITRI) to partner on the commercialization of UDC`s organic light emitting devices (OLED). Initially, the partnership will focus on developing low information content displays, such as those for cell phones and appliances.
Japan
NEC has disclosed plans to more than double DRAM output by the summer of 2000, in a move designed to vault it back into the top ranks of DRAM production, on par with South Korean producer Samsung. NEC currently produces DRAMs in Hiroshima and Kumamoto, Japan, and in Livingston, Scotland. Total monthly production is the equivalent of 12 million 64Mbit chips/month. In 2000, NEC Group`s total DRAM production will grow to 30 million 64Mbit equivalent chips/month, likely in the form of 10 million 64Mbit chips and 10 million 128Mbit chips. Special emphasis will be on the Scotland Plant, at which DRAM production will be increased from the present 4 million unit/month level to 15 million/month level next summer.
NEC rival Mitsubishi Electric, Tokyo, said it will also increase DRAM production. The firm is planning to raise DRAM output by 25% to the 10 million chip/month level (in 64Mbit DRAM equivalents) by March 2000.
Rohm, Kyoto, has purchased most of Yamaha`s latest-generation Tenryu Semiconductor Plant in Shizuoka Prefecture. Rohm and Yamaha will jointly establish a new firm to operate the facility. Rohm will own 95% of the plant, Yamaha 5%. Yamaha is virtually retiring from the semiconductor manufacturing business, shifting most of its production to foundries. Rohm will manufacture 0.25µm ASICs at the fab, which was completed just a year ago and has a capacity of 7000, 200mm wafer starts/month.
Orders for all Japan-made semiconductor equipment in March rose 30% above year-ago levels and totaled ¥116.8 billion, marking the first year-over-year increase since December 1997, according to the latest report from the Semiconductor Equipment Association of Japan. Japanese customers took delivery of equipment worth ¥68.5 billion (about $556 million), down 22.3% from the same period last year. Sales of Japan-made equipment were ¥139.6 billion, down 18.1%, while Japanese customers booked a total of ¥66.7 billion, up 35.4% from the same period of the previous year.
Fujitsu Limited, Tokyo, has disclosed plans to complete construction of a semiconductor development center on the outskirts of Tokyo (in Akiruno City) by spring of 2000, and to consolidate its advanced semiconductor R&D operations at the new facility. Construction on the facility began in April, 1996, but DRAM pricing pressures caused the company to delay the project just six months later. In the first phase of the project, Fujitsu will resume interior construction on one of the three buildings at Akiruno; the building will house administrative offices and laboratory facilities.
Nikon estimates that its wafer stepper sales for FY 1999 will be 260 units, up more than 10% from FY98. Mature i-line steppers are seen accounting for 20% or 30% of the total, down from 45% in FY98, with excimer laser-based tools accounting for about 70-80%. This will result in a sales increase of some 30% in yen terms because excimer steppers` prices are much higher than i-line prices.
Europe
French wafer reclaim house Picopolish is making plans to re-establish temporary operations in an empty wafer fab, and to re-build a new facility of its own by next year, after a suspicious fire completely destroyed its year-old manufacturing facility in May. No one was injured in the blaze. Police are investigating. Picopolish president Gerard Gilles said the fire spread very rapidly, and "destroyed everything. The building is down, the machines were destroyed - we can`t reuse a nut or a bolt."
Krantz-TKT Cleanroom Technology GmbH, Bergisch Gladbach, Germany, and Ortner c.l.s. GmbH, Dresden, have merged their cleanroom operations. As a result of the deal, Krantz took a 25% stake in Ortner. Together, the firms plan to develop and commercialize a "sea of lots" wafer transport system, which utilizes the space of above the cleanroom ceiling for lot distribution and buffering.
Oxford Instruments Plasma Technology is establishing a new cleanroom for its Bristol, UK-based applications lab. The facility will be equipped with a number of leading plasma and ion beam systems, including the Plasmalab System 100 with a large-area ICP380 inductively coupled plasma source.
MARKET BRIEFS
After suffering through one of the worst periods of overcapacity and pricing drops, silicon wafer suppliers may see the scales begin to tip back their way. A new report ("Semiconductor Wafers & Substrate Materials - World Markets 99") from Allied Business Intelligence, Oyster Bay, NY, says that there may be a shortage of wafers next year. "The turnaround in the semiconductor market could see manufacturers outsourcing 10% of their IC production to foundries as they try to rush dormant lines to production," ABI said, adding that the result "could not only create a shortage of wafers by 2000 but also a steep increase in wafer prices."
The market for spin-on low-k materials is forecasted to grow to a $750 million business by 2003, according to a new report from market researcher The Information Network, New Tripoli, PA. Robert Castellano, Information Network president, said first generation copper devices will be integrated with standard SiO2. "While in part this is because a clear winner has yet to emerge from a variety of low-k candidates under evaluation, it is mainly because there are enough risks in trying to implement copper, let alone copper and low-k," Castellano said, adding that the transition to low-k materials will not fully take hold until 2001.
WORLD WIDE WEB BRIEFS
Picopolish, Rousset, France, a supplier of reclaimed GaAs and silicon wafers, has a web site at www.picopolish.com. The site provides a company profile, corporate and financial information, and technical and quality policies.
Oxford Plasma Technology has launched a web site at www.oxfordplasma.com. The site includes information about the company`s plasma and ion beam equipment, market applications, contact information, press releases, and job vacancies.
Zellweger Analytics, Lincolnshire, IL, has restructured its web site, and now offers online applications information, its Y2K compatibility status and data about its product offerings, including its toxic, corrosive and flammable gas detection equipment, and water/wastewater analysis equipment. The site can be accessed at www.zelana.com.
FINANCIAL BRIEFS
Wafer probing firm Cascade Microtech, Beaverton, OR, has secured $3 million in equity financing from minority stakeholder Hewlett-Packard Company and Maristeth Ventures Fund, Tacoma, WA. The funds will be used to expand manufacturing capacity and for working capital. Separately, it will supply Belgian research organization IMEC with a number of PS21 automatic wafer probers and Summit RF and DC probe systems. The order is valued at $1.4 million. Cascade and IMEC also will collaborate on product improvements and R&D efforts for measurement tools.
Robotic Vision Systems Inc., Canton, MA, has renegotiated the terms of its credit agreement with a consortium of banks led by the Bank of New York. The new agreement sets the facility at $35.4 million, and includes new covenants for the balance of the term agreement, which expires in March, 2000.