VLSI releases IC-equipment customer satisfaction rankings
Mark LaPedus
EE Times
(06/14/2005 3:00 PM EDT)
SAN JOSE, Calif. — Tegal Corp. and Varian Semiconductor Equipment Associates Inc. are among the winners in terms of customer satisfaction within the chip-equipment industry for 2005, according to an annual survey conducted by VLSI Research Inc. (See below for ranking tables)
Tegal received the highest rating in the "10 Best Customer Satisfaction" ranking for small suppliers of wafer processing equipment in 2005, while Varian took the top honors among the large vendors, according to VLSI Research (Santa Clara, Calif.)
Overall customer satisfaction in the chip-equipment industry was slightly up by one-tenth of a percentage point in 2005 over 2004, said May Chang, an analyst with the market research firm. "Customer satisfaction improved this year," Chang said.
In the large chip-equipment vendor rankings for customer satisfaction, Varian received the highest rating in the top-10 list, followed in order by Tokyo Electron Ltd., ASML Holding NV, Dainippon Screen Mfg. Co. Ltd., Canon Inc., ASM International BV, Hitachi Kokusai Electric Inc., Novellus Systems Inc., Lam Research Corp., and Applied Materials Inc.
Lam Research and Applied Materials were not on the top-10 list in 2004. Applied was in 11th place in 2004, while Lam was 12th , according to VLSI Research. Falling off this top-10 list from 2004 were Nikon Corp. and Ulvac Inc., according to Chang.
In the small chip-equipment vendor rankings for customer satisfaction, Tegal was first, followed in order by Aixtron AG, EV Group, Suss MicroTec, SEZ Group, Axcelis Technologies Inc., Unaxis Wafer Processing, Mattson Technology Inc., FSI International Inc., and Semitool Inc.
Semitool made it on the top-10 list after being in 12th place last year, according to VLSI Research. Falling off the list was SCP Global Technologies in 2005, according to Chang.
Conducted on an annual basis, the "10 Best Customer Satisfaction" ranking awards give special recognition to the suppliers that are rated highest by end users. The survey asks users of chip equipment to rate their suppliers on a ten-point scale among thirteen customer-support categories.
The statistics were drawn from a distribution of 46,719 questionnaires from North America, Asia, and the Europe.
The results are grouped into five major market categories of wafer processing equipment (large and small vendors), test and measurement handling equipment, process diagnostics and assembly equipment.
VLSI Research plans to release the results in the other categories over the next few weeks.
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