Securing the Future Regional and National Programs to Support the Semiconductor Industry (2003) / Chapter Skim
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Panel 5: Challenges Facing the Equipment Industry
Panel 5: Challenges Facing the Equipment Industry
Pages 164-174
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From page 164... ...
The first one, he said, was obvious: the semiconductor and electronics industry represents an increasingly significant force in the economy both because of the sheer size of the industry and because of its influence on the information age. Second, he said, equipment suppliers play an increasingly crucial role in enabling the technological and business viability of the industry.
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From page 165... ...
Capital spending and spending on wafer-fabrication equipment are estimated to more than double. A Need for Alternative Technologies In lithography, pushing the limits of technology brings a steep price in the increased cost of masks and additional requirements.
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From page 166... ...
In 2000 companies began to deliver process module integration, which Applied Materials and other suppliers are now seriously promoting, as well as new solutions that improve efficiencies. Challenges Facing the Equipment Industry He used the transition to 300-mm equipment to illustrate the expanding responsibility of the equipment industry.
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From page 167... ...
Applied Materials believes that a company needs at least a 15 percent market share to sustain significant R&D. Below that share a company can function and introduce valuable technologies, but it is financially impossible for it to offer research support to its customers on a long-term basis.
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From page 168... ...
The best role for a consortium, he said, is to bring people together in order that they may cooperate and provide the semiconductor industry with valuable information so "we can change our roadmaps and learn how to serve customers." Problems arise when the group attempts to pressure the semiconductor equipment manufacturers toward certain guidelines or attempts to dictate pricing. Those problems did arise in the case of SEMATECH's planning for the 300-mm transition, he said, when Applied Materials invested some $300 million in unnecessary equipment because they received the wrong targets when they introduced the tools.
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From page 169... ...
He said that its relationship with the universities should be a close one but that the people in the lab should be dedicated to solving precompetitive, generic research problems much like those the semiconductor equipment companies work on. CHALLENGES II John Kelly Novellus Systems Three Critical Needs A Need for More Talented People Dr.
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From page 170... ...
One is MARCO, the Microelectronics Advanced Research Corporation run by SRC, which provides a modest long-term knowledge resource for companies. At the other extreme, SEMATECH helps with testing and evaluating tools that are in the development stage.
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From page 171... ...
In the late 1980s, 90 percent of the lithography business belonged to Nikon and Canon, with ASML in Holland supplying 9 percent, primarily to TSMC. The company that was making scanners, Perkin-Elmer, left that business, which was losing money, and Silicon Valley Group (SVG)
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From page 172... ...
A tremendous challenge for the industry is to work better with customers to strengthen the supply lines, especially in regard to a "tremendous problem" with optics. Changes in Market Share He showed a slide of 1999 semiconductor capital spending depicting Intel in the lead and said that TSMC, then ranked fourth, would almost equal Intel within the following year.
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From page 173... ...
He then predicted that Japan was going to come "roaring back" very strongly. Finally, he showed a chart of worldwide market share for lithography depicting both AML 2000 Rest of Asia 35% Europe Japan 12% 19% Worldwide Lithography Sales $5.4 Billion USA 34% FIGURE 12 Worldwide lithography market.
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From page 174... ...
He showed a SEMATECH chart on lithography funding that showed over $900 million in annual R&D expenditures by the industry to advance lithography. "I think it' s important to realize," he advised, "that no one, including some of our customers, has that kind of money, so we have to find a way to work together on it."
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