Thin Wafer Market & Applications

THIN WAFERS TARGET MANY APPLICATIONS Thin wafers will be increasingly used in many diverse applications. The Yole "Thin Wafer Applications" report describes the applications that require thin and ultra-thin wafers: MEMS, CMOS Image Sensors, 3D Packaging (incl. Interposers), Memories, RF Devices, Power Devices and LEDs. While Memories & Logic will account for the largest fraction of thinned wafers, many other applications are concerned. MEMS are always characterized by a wide range of process and technologies. This is certainly the application where the widest range of wafer thickness can be found (e.g. the 3-axis gyro from InvenSense is a stack of 3 wafers with intermediate layer of 33ì thickness). To answer the need for thinner sensors for cell phone applications, capping, sensitive elements and MEMS ASIC will get thinner over the next years, specifically for inertial MEMS. For CMOS Image Sensors (CIS), Backside Illumination (BSI) now enables 100% Fill-factor, which opens the opportunity for CMOS sensor with higher Sensitivities or Higher Resolution. But we need to handle VERY thin layer as for a BSI CIS, the active layer is < 10ì. CIS wafers will also be thinner for packaging purposes (TSV, WLCSP). Memories can be stacked in different ways: wire bonding or TSV. 3D stacking is the next big thing for memory integration with thickness as low as 25ì in 2016. But wire bonding will still be used for a few years and TSV volume will start to be significant in 2013. Main Power Devices requiring thin wafers are IGBTs but others power devices could use thin wafers. For Power Devices, thin wafers allow low Ron, thus improve current carrying capability and minimize power consumption. For LEDs, GaAs, sapphire and SiC wafers are thinned as well. MARKET DRIVERS FOR THIN WAFERS Motivations for thin wafers are: high interconnect density (such as aggressive TSV pitch & diameters), better power dissipation and higher electrical performance and reduced package size. Consumer electronics are driving the need for smaller, higher performing, lower cost device configurations for use in applications such as memory, wireless devices... These new options, in turn, are pushing demand for a reduction in chip thickness from the traditional 500ì thickness to about 40 ìm. Thin dies are driving the need for thin and even ultra-thin semiconductor wafers (below 50ìm). Such dramatic changes will have strong impact on the equipment and materials side as well as new process and bonding technologies will be required for handling such fragile wafers. Yole has covered the equipment and processing aspects in the previous "Thin Wafer Manufacturing" report. KEY FEATURES OF THE REPORT The objectives of the report are the following: Provide an understanding of the thin wafer applications: Overview of the thin wafer applications: MEMS, CMOS Image Sensors, Memories, Power Devices, RF Devices, LEDs, Interposers Thin wafers roadmaps Give market forecasts for thin wafers: 2011-2016 Market Forecast in units and US$ for thin wafers Detailed forecasts by application, wafer size and thickness Analyze the trends for wafer thinning Thinning technologies overview Players WHO SHOULD BUY THIS REPORT? Foundries & chip manufacturers Get an overview of the large panel of accessible applications for thin wafers Identify the key trends into wafer thickness reduction Monitor and benchmark your competitor's advancements Thinning tools/services & materials (chemistry, wafers) providers Identify and evaluate what the requirements for thinning wafers will be Analyze the threads and opportunities Evaluate the market value and volume Please note: this is delivered as a PowerPoint presentation.

Additional Information

COMPANIES CITED IN THE REPORT:

3M
Accretech
ADI
AIT
AkM
ALLVIA
ALSI
AMAT
Aptina / Micron
Avago
Brewer
Canon
Corning
Cree
Dalsa
Denka
Denso
Discera
Disco
Dongbu HiTek
DoubleCheck Semiconductors
Dynatex
Dupont
Dynatex
Elmos (SMI)
Elpida
Epistar
ERS
ESI
EVG
FhG IZM
Fico
Formosa Epitaxy
Freescale
Genesis
Furukawa
Hamamatsu
HH NEC / Grace
Hitachi Chemical
Huga
Hynix
IBM
IMT
Infineon
Intel
Invensense
JCAP
kionix
Laserod
Lextar
Lighthouse (AU Opto)
LG Innotek
Lintec
Loadpoint
Lumileds
Micralyne
Micron
Mitsui Chemical
Nanya
Nichia
Nitta
Nitto Denko
Osram
Okamoto
Panasonic
PlanOptik
Powerchip
ProMOS
Renesas
Ricmar
Robert Bosch
Rorze
Samsung
Schott
Scrypt
Sekusui
Seoul Optodevice
Shinko
Silex
SMIC
Sony
Spansion
STM
Strasbaugh
Sumitomo Chemical
SUSS MicroTec
Synova
Sysmelec
Takada
Tekcore
TEL
Texas Instruments
Tezzaron
TMAT
tMt
TOk
Toshiba
Tower
Toyoda Gosei
Tronic’s
TSMC
Veeco
VTI
X-Fab
Xiamen Sanan Optoelectronics
Yushin.