Applied Materials Named World's Number One Supplier of HDP-CVD Systems for the Fourth Consecutive Year.

Business Editors/High-Tech Writers

Ultima HDP-CVD(R) Centura(R) System Maintains Leadership with

Continuous Performance and Productivity Improvements

Applied Materials, Inc. has achieved the ranking of the world's number one supplier of HDP-CVD (high density plasma-chemical vapor deposition) equipment for 2001, according to market share statistics reported by research firm Dataquest. Applied Materials' share of the HDP-CVD market, estimated at 57.4 percent for 2001, reflects on the success of the company's Ultima HDP-CVD(R) Centura(R) product family in providing customers with the technology and productivity required for leading-edge chip manufacturing.

"We are pleased the chipmaking industry continues to find the Ultima system to be the best HDP-CVD solution for multiple CVD applications," said Dr. Farhad Moghadam, vice president and general manager of Applied Materials' Dielectric Systems and Modules Business Group. "Achieving this leadership position for the fourth consecutive year is the result of our on-going efforts to advance the performance, flexibility and productivity of this system. Supporting these capabilities will remain our focus as we extend the system's process technologies to enable future device generations."

Featuring a flexible "universal" chamber design and innovative gap-fill technology, the Ultima supports multiple interconnect and front-end HDP-CVD applications, including fluorinated silicate glass (FSG) and undoped silicate glass (USG) for inter-metal dielectric (IMD) deposition, as well as USG for shallow trench isolation (STI) and phosphosilicate glass (PSG) for pre-metal dielectric deposition (PMD). The Ultima system is the industry's only solution that can run both high aspect ratio, advanced STI and PMD applications for 100nm and 65nm technology nodes in the same chamber, maximizing productivity and utilization of fab floor space.

The Ultima system's unique features include a tunable gas injection and the exceptionally reliable BLUE(TM) electrostatic chuk that enable excellent film uniformity and yield. An innovative high-efficiency Remote Clean(TM) plasma source minimizes particle counts and virtually eliminates PFC (perfluorocompound) emissions. These features provide the superior performance and productivity that have made the Ultima system the process tool of record (PTOR) for over 45 customers.

Since the Ultima was introduced in 1996, more than 2,000 Ultima process chambers on over 700 Centura systems have been shipped to customers around the world. The Dataquest report reflects vendor revenue worldwide for various semiconductor equipment market segments for 2001. According to Dataquest, the total market for HDP-CVD systems in 2001 was estimated at $693 million dollars and is expected to grow to $916 million by 2005.

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