- 30th October 2006

Cluster Tool Market Still Divided on Standards

According to a market study by The Information Network, SEMI's Cluster tool standards for semiconductor vacuum operations are still being ignored in the industry. "Large equipment suppliers such as Novellus, Lam Research, and ASM have migrated to an open architecture by adhering to SEMI/MESC standards over the past few years, particularly for 300mm tools. Applied Materials has decided to keep a closed architecture," said Dr. Robert N. Castellano, President of The Information Network.

According to the study, the Flexible Cluster tool market, conforming to the strictest SEMI/MESC (Modular Equipment Standards Committee) has grown at the expense of Non-flexible tools over the past 10 years, but except for Novellus, Lam Research, ASM, and Tokyo Electron, the market is comprised of tools suppliers with revenues under $50 million. The Flexible market will continue to be populated by small companies that use their tool compatibility as a leverage to compete against their much larger competitors.
While the market for Flexible tools will grow 21.1% in 2006 compared to 18.8% for the Non-flexible sector, it is considerably smaller. Novellus led the $2.7 billion sector with a market share of 42.8% in 2005, slightly ahead of Lam Research.

Applied Materials was the leader in 2005 in the $12.5 billion Non-flexible cluster tool market with a 32.6% share. The non-flexible cluster tool market continues to underperform the entire front-end equipment market. The sector decreased 12.6% in 2005.

Cluster tools combine several processes under one vacuum chamber for the purpose of reducing cycle times, reducing wafer handling by operators, reducing particulate contamination, reducing molecular contamination, and initiating difficult processes.

Web: www.theinformationnet.com/cluster_tools.html