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Article: 300 mm automation: perfection or dead end?(Brief Article)
- Article from:
- Semiconductor International
- Article date:
- July 1, 2002
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2002 Reed Business Information. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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Despite all the focus on 300 mm, rumors of the demise of 200 mm wafer processing are greatly exaggerated. The 200 mm sector is very much alive and well and serving industry needs. That's more than can be said for 300 mm technology today.
With more than five years of aggressive 300 mm tool development and more than 100 SEMI standards almost exclusively focused on 300 mm factory and tool automation, real 300 mm strides remain elusive. And the debaters are lining up. Many feel 300 mm standardization efforts have caused tool prices to rise, while driving compatibility and integratability downward. Others point to the fact that almost every 300 mm fab still ...