Europe

07/01/1997

Europe

ASM Lithography (ASML), Veldhoven, The Netherlands, has opened a new manufacturing facility in Holland, and expects to have a prototype 300-mm stepper by the end of this year. The company hopes to ship a 193-nm machine to its research partner in 2Q98. ASML`s new manufacturing site immediately increased its capacity to 350 steppers/year, and could potentially bring the total to 450/year within six months. It includes 52,000 ft2 of Class 10,000 manufacturing space, a logistics center, and offices. The older Veldhoven facility will house an expanded design and R&D unit.

French wafer producer SOITEC has entered into a long-term alliance with Japanese wafer behemoth Shin-Etsu Handotai (SEH). The deal calls for SEH to set up a production line using SOITEC`s Smart Cut wafer-bonding process, and also market the products worldwide through their existing sales force. By 2000, SOITEC and SEH expect to be able to produce 1 million 200-mm substrates/year.

Macrotron Systems, Munich, Germany, has entered a strategic alliance with TMT Inc., Sunnyvale, CA, to increase availability and support in Europe for TMT`s linear and mixed-signal test equipment, including the ASL-1000 family of testers.

Flowmeca, Lisses, France, a maker of ultra high purity gas fittings, has signed an exclusive distribution agreement with Sang`a International, Seoul, South Korea, for sales in Korea.