A new supplier of wafer-smoothing pads

Applied Materials, the world's leading supplier of chemical mechanical planarization (CMP) equipment, is entering the CMP pad business. In semiconductor fabrication, CMP is the process of making the surface of silicon wafers smooth with the help of disposable polyurethane polishing pads and an abrasive slurry. Applied will market pads manufactured by industrial gas company Praxair, which has a growing business in materials for the electronics industry. Conventional pads are made by slicing thin layers off a "cake" of polyurethane. Applied, in contrast, says its pads are punched out of a continuous sheet of polyurethane, thereby providing better pad-to-pad consistency and a product with 30% longer life. With the new initiative, Applied and Praxair are taking on Rohm and Haas, which is said to command close to 90% of the global CMP pad market. Officials from Rohm and Haas weren't available to comment on the newcomer. However, the company did release an announcement chronicling its recent investments in the abrasive slurries that are used with the pads. The spending includes a $5 million investment in Nanophase Technologies, which supplies Rohm and Haas with nanomaterials for CMP slurries.