- 4 March 2005 -

"Lights out" for Cabot Supermetals

Cabot Supermetals, a business unit of Cabot Corporation has opened of its new Thin Films manufacturing facility at Etna, OH. The new 90,000sq.ft. state-of-the-art facility produces tantalum sputtering targets for use in semiconductor, optics, magnetics and flat panel display applications.

Cabot invested approximately $12m to build the site that currently employs 20 people. Kennett Burnes, chairman and CEO said, "As a leader in the production of tantalum, Cabot's new Thin Films facility assures a source of high-quality materials for our customers worldwide."

Thin films of tantalum metal enable the use of copper metal interconnections between transistors in electronic devices. Cabot's new sputtering target manufacturing facility is a hands-free, "lights out" environment combining robotic material handling, dynamic scheduling and automated process control.

This enables Cabot to produce a high volume of consistent targets on time and at lower costs. Construction of the new facility included the installation of daylighting panels filled with Cabot's Nanogel translucent aerogel material.

The new Etna location manufactures complete target assemblies for use in thin film deposition systems. Processes at the facility include metal joining, shaping, machining and surface finishing steps, designed to prepare the materials for use in ultra-clean environments at leading semiconductor and other technology manufacturers around the world.