BILTHOVEN, The Netherlands, April 5, 2001 (PRIMEZONE) -- ASM INTERNATIONAL N.V. (Nasdaq:ASMI) (Euronext:ASM) announced today that its subsidiary, ASM Europe B.V., has been selected as a preferred supplier for its A412(tm) 300mm vertical furnace by SOITEC sa, FRANCE, Bernin (Euro NM code 7206). The delivery of the first system is scheduled for the second quarter of 2001.
The A412 vertical furnaces will be installed for the mass production of 300mm silicon-on-insulator (SOI) wafers using SOITEC's proprietary Smart Cut process. SOITEC will be the first SOI wafer supplier to start full scale 300mm production.
"We selected ASM's A412 because it was the best 300mm vertical furnace to meet our demands for uniformity of the thermal oxide layers with the high throughput best suited to mass production of SOI wafers," said Andre Jacques Auberton-Herve, President of SOITEC.
Dr. Albert Hasper, ASMI Worldwide Product Manager Vertical Furnaces, added: "We are very pleased to be selected by SOITEC and we are particularly proud to be acknowledged as the best supplier offering the capabilities of High Temperature Oxides (HTO) suited for the SOI application that needs uniform layers. The innovative A412 is known for offering high throughput together with a small footprint and has now been selected by many device makers as the tool of choice. Presently, we are seeing a great deal of interest from the wafer makers as well. This recognition by Soitec, in their choice of ASM and the A412, is one of the examples of this."
The A412 vertical furnace from ASM has been selected for more than half of the 300mm fabs operating today. The tool can be equipped for both 200 and 300mm wafers, and it is the first vertical furnace to have a configuration using dual reactors and dual boats. This configuration guarantees uninterrupted processing, optimum throughput, together with the economic benefits of shared resources within a minimized footprint.
Silicon-On-Insulator Technologies (SOITEC) is the world's leading manufacturer and supplier of SOI wafers. SOITEC provides a broad range of advanced thin-film substrates for IC manufacturing, including bonded SOI (UNBOND) and silicon-on-quartz/glass wafers. SOITEC is traded on the French "Nouveau Marche" at the Paris Stock Exchange. Stock index converted into dollars can be consulted on the Internet at: http://www.semindex.org. Additional information is available on the Internet at: http://www.soitec.com. Smart Cut and UNIBOND are registered trademarks of SOITEC.
ASM International is headquartered in Bilthoven, the Netherlands, ASM International's subsidiaries design, develop, manufacture and market equipment and materials used to produce semiconductor devices. ASM International and its subsidiaries provide production solutions for the wafer processing, assembly and packaging segments through their facilities in the United States, Europe, Japan and Asia. ASM International's common shares trade on NASDAQ stock exchange under the symbol "ASMI" and on the Euronext Stock Exchange under the symbol "ASM". More information on ASM can be found on its website at http://www.asm.com.
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