Honeywell's Electronic Materials business has been awarded US patents on sputtering target technology (Nos.6,323,055 B1, 6,331,233 B1 and 6,348,139 B1). A new tantalum refining method designed to reduce impurities such as molybdenum, tungsten and niobium is covered by No.6,323,055 B1. A process for fabricating tantalum sputtering targets with a uniform texture throughout the material and no textural banding is covered by No.6,331,233 B1. This patent also covers thin films of tantalum made from the sputtering targets using this method.

A method to manufacture sputtering targets with consistent fine grain size
is the subject of No.6,348,139 B1. The patent covers tantalum sputtering
targets with a purity of 99.95% or higher with an average grain size of less
than 50microns or substantially uniform {100} crystallographic orientation
across the target surface.

Soitec's motions to overturn a jury verdict or to grant a new trial have
been denied by the judge in its patent infringement case against Silicon
Genesis. This leaves just one of six patent infringement claims upheld.
SiGen says the remaining claim is not relevant to its current production
process. Two outstanding motions by Soitec are to be appealed by SiGen.
Francois J Henley, SiGen's president and CEO, comments: "Based on the
Court's decisions, Soitec has definitely lost an important piece of their
intellectual property. This confirms that, despite statements to the
contrary, the major patent claims are invalid and as a result key Smart Cut
technologies are now public domain. Soitec has therefore lost a significant
part of its ability to license and claim ownership of its layer-transfer
technology."
Soitec for its part said that Silicon Genesis had failed in an attempt to
have its Smart Cut US patent No.5,374,564 invalidated due to indefiniteness.
Further, Soitec points out, the court also rejected SiGen's motion for a
reduction to the $3mn damages payable to Soitec awarded by the jury who had
found Silicon Genesis guilty of infringing one patent.
Andre-Jacques Auberton-Herve, chairman of Soitec, said: "We are very happy
with the court's recent decision concerning Silicon Genesis. Among other
things, it confirms that our Smart Cut patent has not fallen into the public
domain as some people may have presumed. We are therefore fully confident as
to the outcome of our intended appeal."