Applied Materials Boosts 300mm CVD Productivity With New Producer System; New Addition to Proven Producer Product Line Sets Benchmark for 300mm Processing.

Business Editors/High-Tech Writers

SANTA CLARA, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--June 19, 2001

Applied Materials, Inc. (Nasdaq:AMAT), the leading supplier of CVD (chemical vapor deposition) equipment to the global semiconductor industry, announces the Producer(R) SE system. Based on Applied Materials' highly successful single-wafer Producer CVD design, Producer SE provides the industry's highest level of productivity for the widest range of dielectric CVD applications, making it the most technologically advanced and flexible CVD system in the semiconductor industry.

"In the past three years the Producer has become one of the semiconductor industry's most successful CVD systems," said Dr. Farhad Moghadam, vice president and general manager of Applied Materials' Dielectric Systems and Modules product business group. "The Producer SE builds on the innovative Producer platform to help customers seamlessly transition to 300mm production with advanced deposition technology for sub-100nm geometries. This new system sets the industry standard for throughput, productivity, reliability and overall high-output production capability for all blanket dielectric film applications."

Throughput of the new Producer SE system has been increased up to 45 percent over the original groundbreaking Producer system, depending on configuration and film application. A new loadlock pre-heating design allows the large 300mm wafers to stabilize their thermal expansion before transfer to the process chambers, saving time over methods that heat the wafer while in the process chamber. The system can process up to 130 wafers per hour for thin film applications and up to 100 wafers per hour for thick films.

The Producer SE also offers a new low-flow Remote Clean(TM) system that reduces NF3 gas usage by up to 40 percent over the company's original Remote Clean technology. Distinguished by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency as an exemplary product for global climate preservation, Applied Materials' Remote Clean technology virtually eliminates the emission of global-warming perfluorocompound (PFC) gases from the system.

The system's optional integrated inspection and metrology tools provide the capability for automated process control in 300mm wafer fabs without impacting the system's high throughput. Located within the system's factory interface module, an integrated particle monitor offers high-speed particle detection and the capability to reduce the number of costly test wafers. An integrated metrology unit enables customers to run their processes at very high throughput rates while closely monitoring thickness, uniformity and refractive index of films deposited on product wafers as they enter and/or exit the system. The combination of inspection and metrology technologies maximizes uptime and system availability so customers can operate the systems longer between service or maintenance intervals.

The Producer single-wafer family of products has a unique platform architecture that features a central transfer chamber mounted with up to three Twin Chamber(TM) CVD modules. Wafers are transferred in pairs to each chamber module, allowing up to six wafers to be processed simultaneously. In addition to handling the full range of conventional dielectric CVD applications, the Producer system deposits several leading-edge dielectric CVD materials, including DARC(TM), damascene nitride and low k films such as TEOS FSG, Black Diamond(TM) and BLOk(TM) (Barrier Low k). More than 350 Producer systems have been shipped to chipmakers around the globe.

Dielectric CVD makes up one of the largest semiconductor equipment markets. VLSI Research, a market research firm, estimates that the dielectric CVD system sales totaled $3.7 billion in 2000, with growth projected to $6.2 billion by 2005. Applied Materials is the global market leader in CVD, including dielectric and metal applications.

Applied Materials (Nasdaq:AMAT), the largest supplier of products and services to the global semiconductor industry, is one of the world's leading information infrastructure providers. Applied Materials enables Information for Everyone(TM) by helping semiconductor manufacturers produce more powerful, portable and affordable chips. Applied Materials' Web site is http://www.appliedmaterials.com.