BILTHOVEN, The Netherlands, May 15, 2002 -- ASM International (NASDAQ: ASMI and Euronext Amsterdam: ASM), today announced that Soitec has qualified the company's A412(TM) vertical furnace for the manufacture of 300mm UNIBOND® silicon-on-insulator (SOI) wafers in its state-of-the-art mass production facility, located in Bernin, France.
Soitec selected the A412 based on its proven uniformity and high throughput-two critical issues linked to the thermal steps of processing wafers for semiconductor manufacturing. Its dual reactor concept enables the A412 to function as a bridge tool, running both 200mm and 300mm wafer sizes in production concurrently with no additional set-up time, improving throughput and minimizing cost for semiconductor manufacturers.
Soitec Operations Director Emmanuel Arene noted, "As the first SOI manufacturer to have shipped 300mm SOI wafers in any quantity, Soitec is especially focused on achieving quality results, both in terms of uniformity and the ability to support volume production. The A412 vertical furnace has demonstrated excellent results on both of these critical issues, and its thermal oxide quality meets the ultra-thin SOI specifications required for fully depleted CMOS applications-one of the key markets for UNIBOND wafers made using our proprietary Smart Cut® process."
"The A412 furnace has been selected by over half of the 300mm fabs currently operational," said Albert Hasper, ASM's global product manager for vertical furnaces. "As the global leader in SOI manufacturing, Soitec requires the best tools for large volume production of high-quality wafers on demand, and the A412's capability of running eight and twelve inch wafers at the same time, gives them that flexibility. The proven performance of the A412 in terms of quality results has brought all of our customers greater production flexibility, high throughput and a speedy return on investment and we are very pleased to bring this high quality platform to Soitec's thermal processing needs."
The A412 is part of ASM's Advance® 400 Series of 200mm and 300mm vertical furnaces, a comprehensive range of batch furnaces optimized to meet the needs of current technologies and future technologies of 0.1 µm and beyond. ASM sees innovation as a continuous process of reducing the cost of ownership and extending processing capabilities.
About Soitec
Soitec is the world's leading manufacturer and supplier of SOI wafers, providing a broad range of advanced thin-film substrates for IC manufacturing, including bonded SOI (UNIBOND) and silicon-on-quartz wafers. The cornerstone of the company's technology is its proprietary Smart Cut manufacturing process, which Soitec licenses to enable manufacture of SOI wafers, compound semiconductors and other silicon and non-silicon devices. Soitec is traded on the French "Nouveau Marché" of Euronext Paris (Euroclear code 7206.) Additional information is available on the Internet at: http://www.soitec.com
About ASM
ASM International N.V. is headquartered in Bilthoven, the Netherlands. ASM International is a global company, serving one of the most important and demanding industries in the world. The Company possesses a strong technological base, state-of-the-art manufacturing facilities, a competent and qualified workforce and a highly trained, strategically distributed support network. ASM International's subsidiaries design and manufacture equipment and materials used to produce semiconductor devices. ASM International and its subsidiaries provide production solutions for wafer processing, assembly and packaging through their facilities in the United States, Europe, Japan and Asia. ASM International's common stock shares trade on Nasdaq (symbol ASMI) and the Euronext Stock Exchange in Amsterdam (symbol ASM). For more information, visit ASM's Web site at http://www.asm.com
Safe Harbor Statement under the U.S. Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995: All 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 and trends in the semiconductor industry, currency fluctuations, the timing of significant orders, market acceptance of new products, competitive factors, litigation involving intellectual property, shareholder and other issues, commercial and economic disruption due to terrorist activity, armed conflict or political instability and other risks indicated in the company's filings from time to time with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, including, but not limited to, the company's report on Form 20-F for the year ended December 31, 2001.
ASM and Advance are registered trademarks, and A412 is a trademark of ASM International. UNIBOND and Smart Cut are registered trademarks of Soitec.