These agreements provide for Trikon to supply ASM with sputter etch modules and for ASM to supply Trikon with Atomic Layer CVD™ (ALCVD™) modules for integration onto cluster tools. The first shipment of Trikon’s sputter etch modules to ASM took place in December 2000.
“We are very pleased to enter into this agreement with Trikon,” said Daniel Queyssac, President and COO of ASM’s Front-End Businesses. “This supply agreement offers us an opportunity to speed up the introduction of our atomic layer deposition technology in the semiconductor market. We expect that this agreement will enhance our leadership position in ultra-thin films through our patented ALCVD processes by offering integrated sputter etch functionality, thereby supporting more applications for a broader customer base. The integration of the sputter etch cleaning step with atomic layer deposition in one cluster tool is yet another example of ASM’s ability to offer unique production solutions to its customers.”
Dr. Henk de Waard, ASM’s Thin Film Products Business Unit Manager, added: “The combination of Trikon’s superior Soft Sputter Etch® technology with ASM’s unique atomic layer deposition capability on our successful Polygon™ cluster tool enables the manufacture of a new generation of advanced devices in several important fields of application. Our Polygon cluster tool is rapidly gaining industry-wide recognition as the tool of choice for sub-0.1 micron gate stack applications”, continued Dr. De Waard, “and this agreement with Trikon facilitates an early entry with our atomic layer deposition technology in additional growth markets, such as in barrier/ seed applications for copper dual-damascene. Furthermore, our ability to add sputter-etch functionality to our cluster tool rounds off our product offering to customers in the magnetic head manufacturing market, where the Polygon is already in use in commercial production lines.”
About ASM
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 National Market under the symbol “ASMI” and on the Euronext Amsterdam 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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Safe Harbor Statement under the US Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995: The statements regarding orders, earnings development and the effects of research and new products on ASM’s future, and other matters discussed in this statement, except for any historical data, are forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements involve risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those in the forward-looking statements. These include, but are not limited to economic conditions in the semiconductor industry, currency fluctuations, the timing of significant orders, market acceptance of new products, competitive factors, risk factors related to litigation and other risks indicated in filings from time to time with the SEC and Stock Exchange Authorities.