Asyst Open-cassette Adapter Broadens Horizons for OEM Suppliers.Business Editors/High Tech Writers FREMONT, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Feb. 27, 2001 New MOCA MOCA Museum of Contemporary Art MOCA Multimedia over Coax MoCA Museum of Chinese in the Americas MOCA Minnesota Ovarian Cancer Alliance MOCA Montezuma Castle National Monument (US National Park Service) Front-End Option Helps Bridge Gap Between Open Wafer Cassettes and Newer Isolation Technology, Allowing Older Fabs to Implement SMIF-Optimized Process Tools Asyst Technologies, Inc. (Nasdaq NM: ASYT), the world's largest semiconductor fab See fab. automation company, today unveiled a new addition to its family of front-end wafer-cassette input/output (I/O (Input/Output) The transfer of data between the CPU and a peripheral device. Every transfer is an output from one device and an input to another. See PC input/output. I/O - Input/Output ) products. The Asyst manual open-cassette adapter (MOCA) is a bolt-on option for Asyst's 200mm class load port tools that, when paired with original equipment manufacturers' (OEMs') process tools, allows fabs to run older-technology open wafer cassettes on new 200mm tools. This creates a bridge to Class 1-quality isolation based on Standard Mechanical InterFace (SMIF SMIF Standard Mechanical Interface SMIF Stream-based Model Interchange Format SMIF Shared Materials Instrumentation Facility (Duke University) SMIF Stanford Management Internship Fund SMIF SMAD4-Interacting Transcription Factor (TM)) technology--for which most current 200mm tools are optimized--thus enabling older fabs to take advantage of modern SMIF designs without having to immediately implement a full-fab upgrade. While the overwhelming majority of new semiconductor fabs use SMIF technology, many of the world's older semiconductor fabrication fabrication (fab´rikā´sh  n),n the construction or making of a restoration. facilities still use open-cassette technology. However, fully SMIF-implemented fabs produce significantly higher yields than open-cassette fabs. While Asyst continues to strongly encourage manufacturers using the less-clean open-cassette technology to transition to SMIF, the MOCA option gives Asyst a unique opportunity to meet the needs of this market segment. With the new adapter added to Asyst front-end tools and ported to their SMIF-ready 200mm process systems, OEMs can offer a more comprehensive set of solutions to their end-user customers. "We know that many companies operating open-cassette fabs would like to use newer-generation manufacturing tools, but aren't yet ready to implement a full upgrade to SMIF," said Tony Bonora, Asyst's chief technology officer. "Now, with the MOCA option, we can offer fabs a newer-class tool that's SMIF-ready, but can also run open cassettes today. Then, when the company is prepared to transition to the SMIF process, they can simply remove the adapter instead of replacing the entire I/O front end. In this way, our I/O tools, due to their full plug-and-play compatibility, can become a true bridge, both backward to the open-cassette marketplace and forward into the realm of 300mm wafers. This is the kind of flexibility that chipmakers need, and now Asyst, working together with our OEM (Original Equipment Manufacturer) The rebranding of equipment and selling it. The term initially referred to the company that made the products (the "original" manufacturer), but eventually became widely used to refer to the organization that buys the products and customers, can provide it." Production versions of MOCA have already begun shipping with the VersaPort(TM) 2200 load port tool to key OEM customers; to date, Asyst has shipped over 230 units. The adapter is fully certified to the Semiconductor Equipment and Materials International Semiconductor Equipment and Materials International (SEMI) is a trade organization of manufacturers of equipment and materials used in the fabrication of semiconductor devices such as integrated circuits, transistors, diodes, and thyristors. (SEMI) S2 standard and the European CE standard for safety and reliability, assuring ease of certification for any OEM that purchases the product for use with its tools. Pricing and Availability The Asyst MOCA load-port option is base-priced at less than $4,900, and is available now for use with the VersaPort 2200 load port tool. By early 2001, the MOCA adapter will be available as a bolt-on production option to Asyst's other front-end products in the SMIF 200mm Load-Port I/O Series, including the SMIF-LPT (Load-Port Transfer) and SMIF-LPI (Load-Port Interface), and the SMIF-INX(TM) (Indexer) Series. The product will also be available midyear mid·year n. 1. The middle of the calendar or academic year. 2. a. An examination given in the middle of a school year. b. midyears A series of such examinations. as a standalone stand·a·lone adj. Self-contained and usually independently operating: a standalone computer terminal. configuration for implementation in the field with existing systems. About Asyst: Asyst Technologies, Inc. is the leading provider of isolation and automation technologies that enable semiconductor makers to protect their valued assets throughout the manufacturing process while increasing manufacturing productivity. Through this "Value-Assured Fab" strategy, Asyst offers a broad range of 200mm and 300mm solutions that enable the safe transfer of wafers and information between the process equipment and the fab line throughout the IC fabrication process, preventing human, environmental, mechanical and chemical harm. Encompassing robotics robotics, science and technology of general purpose, programmable machine systems. Contrary to the popular fiction image of robots as ambulatory machines of human appearance capable of performing almost any task, most robotic systems are anchored to fixed positions , portals, wafer and reticle ret·i·cle n. A grid or pattern placed in the eyepiece of an optical instrument, used to establish scale or position. [Latin r carriers, connectivity and interface products, and transport and loading products, Asyst's modular, interoperable The ability for one system to communicate or work with another. See interoperability. solutions allow chipmakers and original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) to select and employ the value-assured, hands-off manufacturing capabilities that best suit their needs. Asyst's homepage is http://www.asyst.com SMIF, VersaPort, and SMIF-INX are trademarks of Asyst Technologies, Inc. |
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