Aug 12 2004
The market for front-end equipment for copper processing of IC interconnects will grow slightly more than 63% in 2004 to $1.5 billion, according to the report 300mm/Copper/Low-K Convergence: Timing, Trends, Issues, Market Analysis, recently published by The Information Network, a New Tripoli, PA-based market research company.
The market for copper processing tools for IC production will grow more than 63% in 2004 and a further 30% in 2005,” notes Dr. Robert Castellano, President of The Information Network. “That’s well above our overall forecasts of 31.7% and 11.4%, respectively, for the entire front-end equipment market, where we anticipate equipment pushouts, cancellations, and layoffs in the coming months as we said in our press release of August 3.
Copper tools represented 6.2% of the total front-end equipment revenues in 2003, and will grow to 7.6% in 2004 and further to 9.0% in 2005.
The reports analyzes the market for all copper front-end tools, including Electroplating, Barrier/Seed, Dielectric Etch, CMP, Dielectric Deposition, Metrology, RTP, and Metal Etch.
“Copper is the technology of choice for logic IC manufacturers, but we will have to wait to the 65nm node in 2006 before DRAM suppliers embrace copper,” added Dr. Castellano.
The Information Network is a leading consulting and market research company addressing the semiconductor, computer, and telecommunications industries.
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