Lam Cryo 3.0 cryogenic etch

A cryogenic dielectric etch technology that runs at very low temperature to cut the deep, high-aspect-ratio holes used in 3D NAND. Lam says the tool more than doubles etch rate over conventional dielectric etch and that it had already made five million wafers using its cryogenic etch.

Why it matters to the stock. Each new NAND layer count needs deeper holes, and etch speed sets how many wafers a fab can run. Cryo is one of the main ways Lam keeps its NAND share as memory makers add layers to meet AI storage demand.