Heard on the Beat

More job cuts at Philips Semi

Sad to say, but there are more layoffs at Philips Semiconductors. Citing the downturn in the semiconductor industry, Philips this week reduced its headcount by 10%, or 70 employees, at its Albuquerque, N.M.-based fab, according to the Associated Press.

The Dutch-based company has cut its workforce in Albuquerque by about 50% since spring 2001, according to the report. And that's not all: Philips will also implement a two-week shutdown of the Albuquerque plant starting next week, the report said.

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Who won 193-nm litho order at Intel?

After months of speculation, the big question still lingers in the lithography industry: Which vendor won the highly-publicized, 193-nm tool order at Intel Corp.?

The winner? At least for now, it's a tie between ASML Holding N.V. of the Netherlands and Nikon Corp. of Japan, according to sources. Well...almost a tie.

ASML and Nikon reportedly "split" the 193-nm litho order at Intel, sources said. Under the plan, the microprocessor giant plans to use both ASML's TwinScan 1100 and Nikon's S306 tools to process the "critical" layers for its 90-nm chips, sources added.

It is also widely believed that Nikon grabbed the 248-nm tool order, which will be used to process the "non-critical" layers at the 90-nm node at Intel, according to sources.

On the 193-nm front, Intel will reportedly deploy 15 "litho links" per 90-nm fab. ASML will be used in 8 of the "litho links," while Nikon will be deployed in 7, sources said.

Recently, Intel announced its 90-nm process. As reported at SBN, Intel's 90-nm process, called 1262, will be deployed in 2003. Its first 90-nm chip, codenamed "Prescott," will be shipped in the second half of next year.

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Metrology startup nLine inspects AMD

An emerging chip-equipment startup in Texas is getting some traction. Austin, Tex.-based nLine Corp. announced the installation of its defect inspection tool at Advanced Micro Devices Inc. Under the plan, nLine's Fathom tool will be installed within AMD's Fab 25 in Austin.

This is not the only shipment for nLine. The company has also installed an alpha tool at chip consortium Sematech International in January, said Bob Bryant, marketing manager at nLine.

The company's Fathom inspection tool uses so-called "Direct-to-Digital-Holography" (DDH) technology to detect sub-micron defects on patterned wafers. DDH uses both intensity and phase of light to detect defects.

"DDH offers a fundamentally new way to detect defects on wafers. It adds phase information to the inspection equation. Phase information was never available before. This adds a new dimension to defect understanding that promises to be very powerful," Bryant said.