Santa Clara-based Applied Materials Inc has a joint development agreement with Samsung Electronics Co, Seoul, South Korea on advanced plasma etch process development and production support using Applied Materials’ Precision 5000 Etch system: the agreement follows an earlier one in May 1990 between the two on chemical vapour deposition process development with Samsung’s Kiheung Research & Development Center; the new agreement is aimed at meeting Samsung’s current and future requirements in production fabs, and covers virtually all of Applied Materials’ etch technologies, including single-crystal silicon, polysilicon, tungsten silicide and silicon oxide etching.
