Epitaxy and plasma etch surged in 2006 but downturn looms in 2007
The Silicon Epitaxy sector grew 92% in 2006, significantly greater than the 24% growth for the entire semiconductor equipment market, according to the report Applied Materials: Competing For World Dominance, recently published by The Information Network.
"The epitaxy equipment market growth mirrored the 20% growth in silicon wafer consumption, and IC manufacturers recognized the benefits of an epi layer on the wafer surface; namely a surface free of imperfections, as well as the ability to tune the compositional and electrical properties for the device," noted Dr. Robert Castellano, president of The Information Network.
The Silicon Epitaxy sector increased 92%, with Applied Materials leading the sector with a 157% growth over 2005. The Plasma Etching sector increased nearly 50%, twice the average for semiconductor equipment. Dielectric Etch remained the largest subsector, but Polysilicon Etch grew the greatest; nearly 62%. Lam Research increased its share of the Plasma Etching sector to nearly 43%.
Another strong performance was demonstrated by Varian Semiconductor in the Ion Implant sector, growing nearly 60% over 2005. Nevertheless, 2007 will be a down year for the semiconductor equipment market, dropping nearly 4% from inflated 2006 revenues.
"As we stated in 2006, 2007 will be another year of ‘robbing Peter to pay Paul'" and we maintain the forecast, added Dr. Robert Castellano. "For the third time this decade, too much money was spent by chip manufacturers to meet their production needs and the excess capacity will carry into next year when all that excess equipment gets up and running in the fabs."
