BIS Asks State to Slash Wassenaar Controls on Anisotropic Plasma Dry Etching Equipment

The Commerce Department’s Bureau of Industry and Security is asking the State Department to remove anisotropic plasma dry etching equipment controls from the Wassenaar Arrangement, BIS said on Feb. 6 (here). The product is readily available in China, so Wassenaar controls are ineffective, said BIS in this notice. A Semiconductor Equipment and Materials International inquiry spurred BIS’s investigation into the foreign availability of the product, BIS said. The agency is still asking for comments on the foreign availability of the product.