With detail on a total of 22 subsegments of these major market categories

SILICON WAFER FABRICATION MATERIALS AND SUPPLIERS, 2001-2006 is designed to help strategic planners involved in materials supply and process tool development to better understand the timing and impact of the inevitable change in semiconductor fabrication practices. Specifically, the report provides subscribers with the following benefits:

• An accurate five-year prediction of the markets for critical consumables and equipment used in silicon-wafer fabrication
• Detailed descriptions of these consumables
• Industry concentration analysis, including supplier share

REPORT FINDINGS

Market growth. Despite a general slowdown in the electronics industry and sharp cutbacks in the sale of wafer fabrication tools, the market for consumables in silicon-based semiconductor manufacturing registered over $3.8 billion in 2001. This was certainly lower than the year earlier—anecdotal evidence suggests about 20% lower— but the long term prospects are for 14% per year overall growth. The market for 2002 is expected to be about the same as it was in 2001.

Growth in market value and industry concentration are analyzed for 22 market segments, grouped into six major categories. The growth rates for the six categories are as follows:

• Dielectric precursors: 23% per year, once expensive low-k dielectrics become common within a few years
• Chemical-mechanical planarization (CMP): 18% per year, thanks to its wider use overall and the growth of copper processing
• Photoresist and ancillaries: 15% per year as expensive 193-nm and 157-nm resists come into use
• Cleaning chemicals: 12% per year, aided by demand for environmentally safe chamber cleaners and advanced post-etch removers for copper processing
• Etchants: 7% per year, with dry etchants growing faster than wet varieties
• Metal deposition precursors: 4% per year, a relatively slow rate cause by the substitution of cheaper copper plating baths for physical vapor deposition and chemical vapor deposition precursors

Industry concentration. The study rates 22 market segments in terms of industry concentration. Kline assessed the market share of the leading supplier in each segment, the number of suppliers that accounted for 80% of market value, and other factors in making these determinations. Overall, the study finds that manufacturers of semiconductor precursor materials are "moderately concentrated," but with wide variations between major industry groupings.