News Article
Strong growth forecast for tools industry from 2007 to 2008
The semiconductor equipment market will return to growth by mid-2006 and achieve double-digit expansion in 2007 and 2008, forecasts market analyst The Information Network.
The semiconductor equipment market will return to growth by mid-2006 and achieve double-digit expansion in 2007 and 2008, forecasts market analyst The Information Network.
The company says that the growth would be driven by the need for new equipment to deal with new transistor and gate processing technologies.
In recent years, the semiconductor industry has focused on improving chip performance through back-end of the line (BEOL) processing using copper interconnects and low(er)-k materials.
But the company believes that in the next cycle, as the industry moves to 65nm and 45nm nodes, front-end of the line (FEOL) processes – such as ultra-shallow junctions, strained Silicon-Germanium (SiGe) source/drain and gate stack will lay an increasingly important.
"Significantly more equipment will be needed to process the transistor at 65nm versus 130nm," said Dr Robert Castellano, president of the Information Network.
"For example, it will take 17 implant tools versus only seven for the ultra-shallow junctions. For the strained SiGe source/drain, five Epi reactors, two etch and two clean tools will be required at 65nm for a process that was not even implemented at 130nm. For the gate stack, five integrated tools will be required versus only one oxidation furnace and one poly furnace."
The need for these extra processing tools will result in growth rates of 20.5% in 2007 and 27.0% in 2008, following a 9.6% contraction in 2005 and a 5.0% decline in 2006, the Information Network claims,
"Of course, if semiconductor manufacturers combine two years of growth in one, as they did in 2000 and 2004, the [equipment] industry will see nearly 50% growth in 2007," said Castellano.
According to the Information Networks figures, the gate stack processing equipment market was worth $843 million in 2004. Applied Materials led the market with a 54.8% share, followed by Tokyo Electron with a 19.5% share and ASM with a 10.5% share.
"Intel has used a germanium-doped source/drain in its 90nm process and will probably use a similar process at 45nm," added Castellano. "Others will follow."
The company says that the growth would be driven by the need for new equipment to deal with new transistor and gate processing technologies.
In recent years, the semiconductor industry has focused on improving chip performance through back-end of the line (BEOL) processing using copper interconnects and low(er)-k materials.
But the company believes that in the next cycle, as the industry moves to 65nm and 45nm nodes, front-end of the line (FEOL) processes – such as ultra-shallow junctions, strained Silicon-Germanium (SiGe) source/drain and gate stack will lay an increasingly important.
"Significantly more equipment will be needed to process the transistor at 65nm versus 130nm," said Dr Robert Castellano, president of the Information Network.
"For example, it will take 17 implant tools versus only seven for the ultra-shallow junctions. For the strained SiGe source/drain, five Epi reactors, two etch and two clean tools will be required at 65nm for a process that was not even implemented at 130nm. For the gate stack, five integrated tools will be required versus only one oxidation furnace and one poly furnace."
The need for these extra processing tools will result in growth rates of 20.5% in 2007 and 27.0% in 2008, following a 9.6% contraction in 2005 and a 5.0% decline in 2006, the Information Network claims,
"Of course, if semiconductor manufacturers combine two years of growth in one, as they did in 2000 and 2004, the [equipment] industry will see nearly 50% growth in 2007," said Castellano.
According to the Information Networks figures, the gate stack processing equipment market was worth $843 million in 2004. Applied Materials led the market with a 54.8% share, followed by Tokyo Electron with a 19.5% share and ASM with a 10.5% share.
"Intel has used a germanium-doped source/drain in its 90nm process and will probably use a similar process at 45nm," added Castellano. "Others will follow."
