Editorial
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Yield Management S O L U T I O N S
EDITOR-IN-CHIEF Roberta Emerson
An Opportunity for Growth
MANAGING EDITOR Judy Dale CONTRIBUTING EDITORS Kern Beare Carol Johnson Kavitha Kannan Robert Mendoza A S S O C I AT E E D I T O R Kevin Clover E D I T O R I A L A S S I S TA N T S Lars Ahntholz Petra Donnelly Janet Ely Holly Nielsen
It is too easy to look at the current state of the industry and see only the economic impact of the Asian financial crisis, the slowing demand for semiconductor-based products, and the resulting closure or cancellation of fabs. But long-time industry watchers and experienced management teams know that this is also an opportunity for the industry. Just below the surface of this “doom and gloom” outlook lies tremendous momentum toward the exciting new technologies and developments required to meet the evolving demands of the semiconductor roadmap and the information age. Now and in the future, yield enhancement strategies and process control improvements significantly impact the success of every fab. Achieving profitability continues to drive fast ramp speeds, reduced costs and higher return on investment. At the same time, technology
developments, such as those discussed in this issue, will be critical to the implementation of new processes and circuit designs. Phase shift masks and other key lithography developments, automatic defect classification, comprehensive yield analysis, and the measurement of new films and materials, will all play an important role.
ART DIRECTOR AND PRODUCTION MANAGER Shirley Short D E S I G N C O N S U LTA N T Carlos Hueso C I R C U L AT I O N Cathy Correia
KLA-Tencor Worldwide C O R P O R AT E H E A D Q U A R T E R S
The most visionary companies will see this period as an opportune time to enhance their technologies, their products and processes. The most savvy individuals will see this as a time to learn new technical skills and gain expertise for when the cycle turns up again. This industry downturn is an opportunity to expand our technical horizons and establish a new platform from which to create again the kind of extraordinary changes that this industry has been responsible for throughout its history.
KLA-Tencor Corporation 160 Rio Robles San Jose, California 95134 408.875.4200 I N T E R N AT I O N A L O F F I C E S
KLA-Tencor France SARL Evry Cedex, France 011 33 16 936 6969 KLA-Tencor GmbH Munich, Germany 011 49 89 8902 170 KLA-Tencor (Israel) Corporation Migdal Ha’Emek, Israel 011 972 6 6449450 KLA-Tencor Japan Ltd. Yokohama, Japan 011 81 45 335 8200 KLA-Tencor Korea Inc. Seoul, Korea 011 822 41 50555 KLA-Tencor (Malaysia) Sdn. Bhd. Johor, Malaysia 011 607 557 1946
Roberta Emerson Vice President, Corporate Communications
KLA-Tencor (Singapore) Pte. Ltd. Singapore 011 65 782 6788 KLA-Tencor Taiwan Branch Hsinchu, Taiwan 011 886 35 335163 KLA-Tencor Limited Wokingham, United Kingdom 011 44 118 936 5700
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Autumn 1998
Yield Management Solutions