Equipment and Materials for Semiconductor Cleaning and Planarizing

Report Highlights

• The total market for cleaning and planarization materials and equipment is estimated to be $4 billion in 2001.
• Through 2006, the market is expected to reach $10 billion, growing at an average annual rate (AAGR) of 20%.
• Chemical and materials supplies for new critical submicron processes and copper interconnect fabrication were the highest growth segments in 2000, even though these technologies had only just reached production.
• Despite the inexorable volatility of the level of demand for ICs, recent expansion of manufacturing capacity around the globe promises to sustain growth for cleaning and planarization and processes and materials.

INTRODUCTION

The phrase "timing is everything" is especially true in the Integrated Circuit (IC) manufacturing processes supply market. This study looks at a sector of the supply market made up of materials and equipment—used by the semiconductor industry—to perform cleaning and planarization operations in the fabrication of ICs. This market cycles with the IC manufacturing industry. In fact, keeping pace with the notoriously volatile semiconductor market has been the defining challenge for the companies that have been successful in the market for cleaning and planarization materials and equipment.

REASONS FOR DOING THE STUDY

While this market is subject to ups and downs, success along the lines of technological development is more clear-cut. Cleaning and planarization materials and equipment are essential to the IC manufacturing industry. Including cleaning and planarization, there can be over 600 process operations that are required to manufacturer an IC. These processes—some originally developed in the 1960s—today are considered the very tools that will make possible the semiconductor industry's most advanced, leading-edge, and next generation designs. Right now is an opportune time to study this market.

STUDY GOAL AND OBJECTIVES

This study has been introduced to provide information on technological developments in the semiconductor industry that are likely to have the greatest impact on semiconductor manufacturing and revenue growth in the markets for cleaning and planarization materials and equipment. The goal of this report is to provide an up-to-date analysis of recent developments and current trends in the market for materials and equipment used in the cleaning and planarization processes in semiconductor IC fabrication. An additional aim is the identification of significant drivers of revenue growth as well as the quantification of and projected impact of the forces that will be at work on this industry in the near future.

CONTRIBUTION OF THE STUDY AND FOR WHOM

The report serves as a guide to identifying technology and market conditions that are expected to be significant to suppliers participating in the market who have a vital interest in the market potential of specific semiconductor processing technologies. This study should be of interest to companies in the electronic materials and specialty chemicals industries, semiconductor equipment manufacturers, and other semiconductor manufacturing industry suppliers with es that follow trends in the IC industry. Finally, the information presented here should be of use to executives and managers competing in the specific market of cleaning and planarization processes.

SCOPE AND FORMAT

The scope of this report covers cleaning and planarization materials and equipment in terms of several broad methodological process categories currently in use in semiconductor manufacturing. Each of these primary methodologies is treated as a market category. The materials and equipment used by manufacturers to implement particular process methodologies are presented as individual product segments. These segments include the customized systems, and proprietary site-specific formulations, in addition to the large group of nearly standardized products that have been formulated for use in several different manufacturers' processes. Each segment is presented in terms of market size and revenue trends. The revenue forecasts are projected for the 2001 to 2006 time frame.

Other important parts of the report cover the additional aspects of the industry that will contribute to or influence the trends that are described in the markets chapters. The applications chapter features important trends in the semiconductor industry that will affect IC product mix and determine the selection of one process over another and how that choice impacts revenue forecasts. The technology chapter concentrates on significant developments in the processing industry, itself, that are responses to IC technology as it is expected to develop in the semiconductor industry. The report also includes a discussion on the competitive aspects of each technology segment and describes several successful cleaning and planarization market strategies. Lastly, profiles of a selection of the leading cleaning and planarization materials and equipment suppliers and a current industry directory are also included.

METHODOLOGY AND INFORMATION SOURCES

The research for this report was conducted in a conventional manner. The primary sources of information for this study were interviews conducted with a group of semiconductor processing materials and equipment suppliers and end users. Numerous secondary sources were also consulted as references for the report. This secondary phase of research included a review of industry journals and publications on semiconductor processing, a review of product literature, a review of electronically published material, and a review of financial information on companies currently participating in the market. Additional sources included BCC studies: G-247 Semiconductor Process Equipment; RGB-201A Opportunities in Nanostructured Materials: Electronic, Magnetic and OptoElectronic, Filtration; and Electronic Materials Update; and BCC's monthly newsletter on the electronic materials industry.

BCC'S STATEMENT AND ANALYST'S CREDENTIALS

The author of this report is an engineering reporter and communications consultant with a background in both consumer and industrial research. She has written numerous technical market studies on various component and equipment industries. The reports written for BCC are GB-223 Power Management: IC Components (1999); GB-235 Advanced Electronic Packaging (1999), and GB-185R Thermal Management in Electronics (2000). She is also the contributing editor of Electronic Materials Update.