Cabot Debuts Lustra 2090 Ultra Polishing Slurry for Advanced Rigid Disk Substrates.

SAN JOSE, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Sept. 22, 1999--

Cabot Corporation's (NYSE:CBT) Microelectronics Materials Division (MMD), the leading global supplier of chemical mechanical planarization (CMP) slurries for the semiconductor industry, today unveiled its new Lustra(TM) 2090 ultra polishing slurry for rigid disk substrates.

The Lustra 2090 slurry, which is being debuted at this week's DISKCON '99 in San Jose, was developed to improve surface finish and decrease defectivity--virtually microscratch and micropit free--on advanced rigid disk substrates.

The advent of memory-intensive computer operating systems and multi-media application software is driving the need for increased data storage capacity. The hard disk drive industry continues to meet this challenge by delivering ever increasing drive capacity at a decreasing cost per megabyte. With rigid disk media areal densities increasing 60 percent annually and manufacturers targeting a capacity of 10 GB per square inch by next year, the disk drive components sector continues to evolve to meet these challenges. As a result, rigid disk substrate manufacturers continue to adopt innovative and cost-effective manufacturing processes to remain competitive in today's market.

Rigid disk substrate polishing is one such critical manufacturing process with significant impact on ultimate media storage capacity. In developing its highly engineered Lustra 2090 rigid disk substrate slurry, Cabot leveraged its expertise in the semiconductor industry. According to Cabot MMD General Manager Matthew Neville, "Cabot's strategy always has been to provide superior process solutions to its customers. Cabot is applying its technical competencies from the chip industry to the rigid disk industry and is committed to working closely with customers to improve substrate performance while lowering overall costs."

To increase storage capacity, most disk manufacturers today use a second polishing step, called "super polish," to achieve a well-controlled, high-quality surface finish on plated nickel phosphorous (NiP) substrates. However, with emerging technology requirements, this super polish step is inadequate for achieving ultimate surface smoothness and required defectivity levels on the most advanced substrates. As a result, some substrate manufacturers have resorted to using a third polishing step, which increases the total process cost. In response, Cabot's Lustra 2090 product was developed to provide an "ultra-polish" slurry to meet these complex requirements--allowing high yield production of advanced substrates and eliminating the need for a third polish step. The Lustra 2090 slurry achieves outstanding surface finish as measured by both surface roughness (less than 0.2 nm) and surface defectivity. Substrates polished with Lustra 2090 slurry are virtually microdefect free due to Cabot's advanced abrasive and chemistry technologies.

Cabot Corporation's Microelectronics Materials Division (www.cabot-corp.com/mmd), Aurora, Ill., is the leading global supplier of CMP slurries for polishing oxide, tungsten, copper and aluminum used in semiconductor manufacturing processes. Cabot MMD is a division of Cabot Corp. (www.cabot-corp.com). Headquartered in Boston, Mass., Cabot is a global chemical manufacturing company that specializes in production and handling surface chemistry of fine particles for the automotive, industrial, construction, semiconductor, coatings and inkjet colorant markets. The company also operates a liquefied natural gas business. Cabot had revenues of $1.67 billion in 1998. Its common stock is traded on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol CBT.

Lustra is a trademark of the Cabot Corporation.