First 450-mm fabs is predicted to operate in 2017

Published:2012/7/10 3:08:00 Author:Ecco From:SeekIC

According to Christian Dieseldorff, a senior analyst with the fab tool vendor trade group SEMI's industry research and statistics group, the first production semiconductor fabs with 450-mm wafers are planed to operate in 2017. Dieseldorff also forecasts that the total number of IC production fabs in 2017 will have declined to 441, down from 464 this year.

There are several industry development projects being developing tools for 450-mm wafers. The leading chip makers want to increase the number of die per wafer for profitability. These projects include Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. Ltd. (TSMC), Intel Corp., IBM Corp., Globalfoundries Inc. abd Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. They wish to turn the work to 450-mm wafers as quickly as possible, but uncertainty remains about when development work will be completed and how many other chip vendors will follow their lead to larger wafers.

Johnson also predicted that the first alpha 450-mm development tools would be developed in the end of this year or early next year, and the first production tools would be probably until 2016 or 2017. Johnson said there are a lot of predictions within the semiconductor industry about how difficult or easy the transition to 450-mm wafers will be, but that until people begin using 450-mm tools to process wafers, it is not possible to accurately predict how the larger wafers will react to the rigors of semiconductor manufacturing or how smoothly the transition will occur.

Reprinted Url Of This Article: http://www.seekic.com/blog/IndustryNews/2012/07/10/First_450_mm_fabs_is_predicted_to_operate_in_2017.html

Print this Page | Comments | Reading(688)