300-mm wafer production set to take off
Semiconductor Business News
(07/22/02 08:37 p.m. EST)
SAN FRANCISCO -- After several false starts, the shift towards 300-mm fab production is set to explode by year's end, according to a high-level executive at Applied Materials Inc. of Santa Clara, Calif.
At present, only 6.3% of the world's fab capacity is based on 300-mm substrates, said David Wang, executive vice president and member of the office of the president at Applied Materials. Worldwide 300-mm wafer production is running at around 7.2 million units per month, Wang said during a presentation at the Semicon West trade show here today.
“By the end of 2002, it may reach 300,000 [300-mm wafers] per quarter,” the Applied executive predicted. “That's about 100,000 wafers a month.”
There are a total of five 300-mm fabs in production, with more than a dozen in the pilot-line stage, according to analysts. After years of fence-sitting, the manufacture of 300-mm wafers is finally taking off in the United States as three of the six largest U.S. semiconductor companies move to the 12-inch wafers at fabs that could alter the landscape in terms of cost-competitiveness.
Texas Instruments Inc. last week said it has qualified its 130-nanometer copper process at its new 300-mm facility, DMOS 6, here and is already processing platters. IBM Corp. plans a ribbon-cutting ceremony in the first week of August for its 300-mm fab at East Fishkill, N.Y. And Intel Corp. says it will open its second 300-mm fab, called 11X, in October (see July 19 story ). |
