Applied Materials' Mirra System Advances CMP Technology With New Next-Generation Polishing Head; New Titan Head Sets Industry Standard for Process Performance and Reliability.

SANTA CLARA, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--June 25, 1997--Applied Materials, Inc. announces a major advancement in polishing head design for its Mirra(TM) CMP system. Called the Titan Head, it brings the performance and economics of chemical mechanical polishing (CMP) to new, industry-leading levels.

"The Mirra's new Titan Head puts the system at the forefront of CMP technology with unmatched process uniformity, high reliability and low operating cost. Based on its performance at key fabs around the world, customers are placing multiple, repeat orders for Mirra systems, especially for advanced applications such as 0.25-micron interconnects and shallow trench isolation," noted Dr. Gino Addiego, general manager of Applied Materials' CMP Division. "We are now ramping production to meet the rapidly increasing demand and expect our installed base to approach 60 systems by the end of calendar 1997."

CMP is a critical process technology required for the fabrication of many advanced semiconductor device designs. By planarizing the wafer surface between certain processing steps, CMP allows more circuit layers to be built vertically onto a device. The Mirra CMP system is currently at many of the world's top chipmakers, including customers in the U.S., Taiwan, Europe, Japan and Korea. One customer now has more than five Mirra systems in production use, with several additional units scheduled for delivery within the next three months.

A key feature of the Mirra's new Titan polishing head is its ability to conform perfectly to the wafer backside, distributing pressure with exceptional uniformity across the front of the wafer, so that all areas are uniformly planarized. In processing the most advanced semiconductors, even very small process uniformity variations can have a great impact on system cost of ownership, die yield, and device speed.

The Mirra's large productivity advantage is the result of its four independent polishing heads and three platens. All four heads are matched for consistent process performance without the need for calibration or tuning. For maximum system uptime and minimum scheduled maintenance, the Mirra CMP has demonstrated that it can process more than 8,000 wafers before requiring any head maintenance (2,000 wafers per head).

Another key advantage of the Mirra CMP is its proprietary In Situ Rate Monitor(TM) (ISRM) which enables the system to precisely stop the polishing process when the desired amount of material is removed, avoiding wafer scrap due to over-polishing. The ISRM is used in production by several key customers for endpoint detection, especially in polishing critical oxide layers such as in shallow trench isolation (STI) structures.

Applied Materials, Inc. is a Fortune 500 global growth company and the world's largest supplier of wafer fabrication systems and services to the global semiconductor industry. Applied Materials is traded on the Nasdaq National Market System under the symbol "AMAT." Applied Materials' web site is http://www.AppliedMaterials.com .

CONTACT: Applied Materials, Inc.

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