FSI International (ticker:
FSII, exchange: NASDAQ) News Release - 9/14/04
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FSI International Surface Preparation Products Gain Momentum in Asia
Customer Collaborations Contribute to “Best Known Methods” for Nano-Scale Surface Preparation
MINNEAPOLIS (September 14, 2004) -- FSI International, Inc.
(Nasdaq: FSII) today announced that its surface preparation
technology platforms are experiencing broad adoption in Asia,
with sales to customers in the region accounting for nearly
40 percent of all orders in the first nine months of fiscal
year 2004, up from 11 percent in the first nine months of fiscal
2003. The significant increase is a result of the company's
Go Direct initiative, which FSI launched in March 2003 to provide
direct sales, service and applications support to customers
throughout the Asia Pacific region.
During fiscal 2004, Asian order activities included two MAGELLAN® Immersion
Systems and the sale of ANTARES® CryoKinetic Cleaning Systems
to five new Asia-based customers. In addition, there are now
six leading-edge Asian IC manufacturers as adopters of FSI's
latest generation spray technology, the ZETA® Spray Cleaning
System.
“We are definitely seeing the benefits of our Go Direct investments.
By providing a full portfolio of support services directly in
Asia , we're developing stronger customer relationships,” said
Don Mitchell, president and CEO of FSI. “As a result, our customers
are now showing great interest in expanding beyond their use
of FSI traditional spray cleaning technologies to include new
back-end-of-line and wafer bumping applications for spray as
well as employing our advanced immersion and CryoKinetic technologies.”
The Go Direct initiative, coupled with the company's m·FSI
joint venture in Japan , has enabled FSI to provide more comprehensive
support to customers in Asia . In addition, FSI's increased
responsiveness on the local level has resulted in more productive
collaborative efforts and joint development programs with IC
makers in Japan , Korea and Taiwan for both 90nm production
and 65nm development projects. From these collaborative projects,
FSI has developed a suite of BKM (Best Known Methods) Solutions
for nano-scale surface preparation that will be introduced at
SEMICON Taiwan . These proven solutions address various challenges
relating to pre-diffusion clean, FEOL PR strip and post-ash
clean, BEOL post-ash clean and particle removal. FSI expects
these BKM Solutions to benefit customers with faster, easier
and more affordable paths to implementing 90nm and below processes.
FSI International Inc. is a global supplier
of surface conditioning equipment technology and support services
for microelectronics manufacturing. Using the Company's broad
portfolio of cleaning products, which include batch and single-wafer
platforms for immersion, spray, vapor and CryoKinetic technologies,
customers are able to achieve their process performance, flexibility
and productivity goals.
The Company's support services programs provide product and
process enhancements to extend the life of installed FSI equipment,
enabling worldwide customers to realize a higher return on their
capital investment.
FSI maintains a web site at http://www.fsi-intl.com.
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