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Single-Wafer Leadership Basis for SEZ Market Share Growth in Cleaning Market
Taiwanese Foundries Choose Single-Wafer Market Leader SEZ for Cleaning Tools
VILLACH, Austria, July 29, 2002 - Wet wafer surface preparation leader, the SEZ Group (SWX: SEZN), announced it has expanded its presence in the global wet cleaning market with orders received for its Spin-Processors from two leading Taiwanese foundries during the first half of the year. The follow-on orders include the Spin-Processor 4300 of which SEZ has already sold seven to Taiwan this year, and the Spin-Processor 223 of which Taiwanese customers have ordered six, bringing SEZ's total to 116 tools in Taiwan.
The Spin Processors 4300 target the cleaning market, not backside treatment, which has been SEZ's staple. The cleaning market has traditionally been dominated by batch technologies and is now starting to show signs that it is ready to adopt single-wafer technologies for mainstream cleaning processes.
"We don't expect the cleaning market to make a radical change to single-wafer tools," commented SEZ's chief marketing officer Kurt Lackenbucher. "It requires a change in fab philosophy, layout and chemistries. This may take several years and even then we expect wet benches to still be a viable option."
"Recently, visibility and recognition of the wet etch and cleaning segment has increased and the competitiveness of single-wafer technology in this arena seems to have been exposed," said Kurt Lackenbucher. "This is no news to SEZ. The dramatic order increase we saw last quarter, including multiple orders from Taiwan, Korea, Singapore, Europe and the U.S., is proof that single-wafer processing is gaining across-the-board acceptance."
SEZ's four-chamber Spin-Processor 4300 has been recognized by customers as highly competitive with batch tools in terms of throughput. It outweighs batch tools in production and performance quality through highly accurate process control. But SEZ does not expect batch processes to disappear. Certain processes and applications will continue to be more cost effective using wet benches, which is why SEZ's cleaning market strategy is based on offering complete wet solutions.
SEZ currently has several ongoing projects with partner companies and consortia to complete its total wet solutions portfolio, including a single-wafer high-volume double-sided cleaning tool and an advanced 300 mm wet bench.
With 672 single-wafer tools installed in fabs worldwide, SEZ is the front-runner in single-wafer treatment. This leadership position, combined with more than 10 years of experience with single-wafer tools in fab environments and its expertise in batch technology through the acquisition of HMR last year, will give SEZ a competitive edge in penetrating the cleaning market, which is expected to reach US$2.5 billion by 2005.
About SEZ
The SEZ Group is a leading supplier of wet wafer surface preparation equipment to the global semiconductor manufacturing industry. The company's proprietary Spin-Processor technology (single wafer technology) as well as its wet bench equipment for batch processing forms the basis of a broad equipment solution portfolio for wafer cleaning and decontamination. SEZ maintains development, manufacturing, sales, marketing and service operations in Europe, Asia and North America. Registered in Zurich, Switzerland, SEZ Holding AG is listed on the Swiss Exchange under the symbol SEZN since 1996.
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