ASML and Carl Zeiss files patent countersuit against Nikon

ASML, the world's third largest semiconductor equipment maker, said on Friday it had counter-sued rival Nikon, after the Japanese company launched a wide-ranging patent battle against the Dutch company this week.

ASML's lawsuits involve semiconductor manufacturing equipment, flat panel display manufacturing equipment and digital cameras.

They were brought in Japan by ASML on its own and jointly with its partner Carl Zeiss , a German maker of optical systems and medical devices, ASML said in a statement.

Source: Reuters http://www.reuters.com/article/us-nikon-asml-idUSKBN17U161

CMC Confereence 2017 - Powerful Lineup - Starting in 2 weeks!

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Powerful Lineup - Starting in 2 weeks!  May 11-12, Richardson, Texas The  Critical Materials Conference provides a framework to catalyze the flow of actionable technical and supply-chain information related to critical materials. Featuring a powerful lineup:  Hans Stork, Sr. VP of Technology and CTO of ONSemiconductor, presenting   'Braking' Through Barriers with Materials Eric Joseph, Sr. Manager & Research Staff, IBM Materials Process Challenges for Advanced Technology and the Role of Atomic Scale Precision Rob Clark, Sr. Member of the Technical Staff, TEL   Welcome to the Atomic Scale: New Paradigms and Processes for Continued Scaling KPMG - Scott Jones, Managing Director, Financial Analyst Global Trends - MacroEconomics and Materials  Rohit Takalkar, Sr. Mfg. Engineer, SAMSUNG Present and Future challenges of Wafer Specifications Richard Chang, Founder and CEO, Zing Semiconductor 300mm Wafer Manufacturing in China - Meeting Demand in China   More than 20 powerful & actionable presentations, and a highly differentiated program, with networking opportunities for all attendees.      For more information on the conference go to  www.cmcfabs.org/cmc-events/  or contact  cmcinfo@techcet.com or call 1-480-382-8336   Sponsors and Committee

Semiconductor Equipment News

Sale of Industrial Analysis business to Hitachi High-Technologies

Oxford Instruments plc, a leading provider of high technology solutions, information and services for industry and research, today announces that it has agreed to sell its Industrial Analysis business...

Source: AZoM

Read full article >

ASML and Zeiss to Nikon: 'We are not amused.'

Both ASML and Zeiss have expressed disappointment and categorically deny any infringement allegations.

Source: Evertiq

Read full article >

Aixtron's Q1 revenue and order intake rise strongly year-on-year

For first-quarter 2017, deposition equipment maker Aixtron SE of Herzogenrath, near Aachen, Germany has reported revenue of ?53.6m, down 40% on last quarter's exceptionally high ?89.8m (which comprised about half of full-year 2016 revenue) but up on ?21.4m on a year ago (and the highest Q1 revenue since 2011)...

Source: Semiconductor Today

Read full article >

AIXTRON organizes Portfolio for Future Technologies with Individual Financing Concepts

(Source: AIXTRON) Strong Revenues and Order Intake in Q1/2017 / Positive Cash Flow raises Liquidity / First Measures to focus R&D Expenses

AIXTRON SE (FSE: AIXA; OTC: AIXNY), a leading provider of deposition equipment to the semiconductor industry, today announced its financial results for the first quarter 2017.

Total revenues for Q1/2017 increased to EUR 53.6m (Q1/2016: EUR 21.4m; Q4/2016: EUR 89.8m). This figure, which represents the highest Q1 revenues since 2011, was supported by a solid order backlog and mainly driven by demand for production systems for Opto and Power Electronics, LEDs, as well as for Memory applications. 

 

The free cash flow of EUR 33.3m in Q1/2017 improved by EUR 53.6m on the previous year (Q1/2016: EUR -20.3m; Q4/2016: EUR -4.9m). This was mainly due to the collection of receivables as well as advanced payments received from customers.

Order intake in Q1/2017 came to EUR 61.9m, 39% higher than in the previous year (Q1/2016: EUR 44.4m; Q4/2016: EUR 60.5m). This was due to consistently high demand of Equipment for LED, telecom and optoelectronic applications.

As of March 31, 2017, the equipment order backlog totaled EUR 87.6m, a 12% increase on the figure of EUR 78.1m at the beginning of the year (March 31, 2016: EUR 67.7m).

Cash and cash equivalents (including cash deposits with a maturity of more than 90 days) increased to EUR 193.6m as of March 31, 2017, as against EUR 160.1m as of December 31, 2016. The difference is mainly due to the collection of receivables. 

 

Full press release: http://www.aixtron.com/en/press/press-releases/detail/aixtron-gruppiert-portfolio-fuer-zukunftstechnologien-mit-individuellen-finanzierungskonzepten/

Hafnium is expanding into the tech and automotive sectors

April 5, 2017 -- Ian Chalmers, Managing Director of Alkane Resources Ltd. (ASX: ALK | OTCQX: ANLKY), in an interview with InvestorIntel’s CEO, Tracy Weslosky discuss the new super metal hafnium. Hafnium, which is building on its nuclear energy application to absorb heat --- is now expanding into the tech and automotive sectors.

Come to the CMC2017 Conference 11-12th May in Dallas to learn more about the Hafnium supply chain from Alkane :  http://cmcfabs.org/cmc-events/

ASMI 1Q/2017 earnings call for investors

This week ASMI held its 1Q/2017 earnings call for investors and the webcast and presentation material is available here. Besides CVD, ALD is the key growth market in deposition for 300 mm wafer based manufacturing. VLSI Research estimates the total deposition market to be USD 8.8 billion, which is about the same size as Lithography (USD 8.4 billion) and Etch & Clean (USD 10.3 billion).

ASMI expect the ALD market to grow by double digits from 2015 to 2020/2021 and claims a leadership number 1 position in the ALD deposition market segment. 2017 ASMI reports already now in early 2017 a recovery of the 2016 ALD market drop. The ASMI leadership is based on mainly dominance in the high-k metal gate, spacer defined multiple patterning applications as well as several new applications being added for 10 and 7 nm as well as 3DNAND.

The single wafer ALD market drop in 2016, was caused by a few smaller segments of the ALD market where ASMI have not been engaged, mainly in non-patterning related DRAM. As a result, the single wafer ALD market share decreased. 

ASMI Outlook 2017:

From ASMI Presentation: "We continue to expect a clear year-on-year improvement in the single wafer ALD market in 2017, with demand in the Logic/Foundry segment remaining healthy and a strong increase in the 3D-NAND segment. We expect the single wafer ALD market to reach a size of approx. US$1.5 billion by 2020-2021"

As reported earlier (here) ASMI also reported a first high volume manufacturing order intake Intrepid Broadening their Epi presence to the mainstream CMOS market.

ASML starts shipping EUV tools for prodcution to Intel, TSMC and Samsung

After being pushed out since the first intended insertion at 32 nm EUV lithography is now heading for production. ASMLs financial supporters (Intel, TSMC and Samsung) will reportedly start using EUV at 7 nm and are ordering additional EUV tools froma ASML.

• In Q1 EUV backlog grows to 21 systems valued at 2.3 billion euros
• Expects three NXE:3400B shipments in the second-quarter of 2017

According to Peter Wennink, ASML's president and CEO, the 21 systems in the backlog are heading to five different customers. One can assume that these are Intel, Samsung, TSMC and Globalfoundries and either Micron or Hynix. He also said that ASML has two additional potential customers for EUV orders.

ASM Head office and engineering buildings in Veldhoven, NL (www.asml.com)

Interesting now is to see how this all plays out for ALD tools sales since Immersion lithography based multiple patterning spacers is one of the biggest segments for ALD tool sales by ASMI, Jusung Engineering, Applied Materials and Tokyo Electron. However, it is a symbiotic situation and there are a limited number of paths forward in scaling so most probably overall it is most beneficial for ALD that scaling continuous rather than coming to an halt.

More details through these reports:

ASML first quarter results buoyed by stronger demand >

FRANKFURT, April 19 (Reuters) - Dutch semiconductor equipment supplier ASML on Wednesday reported strong net income and sales during the first quarter, said sales for the second quarter would be ar...

EUV Litho Coming Into Commercial Focus >

ASML said it expects to sell 20-24 EUV systems next year as the technology edges closer to being deployed in production by chipmakers.

ASM reported its 1Q/2017 with increased orders in 3DNAND & HVM of Intrepid(TM) XP Epi

ASM International N.V. yesterday reported its first quarter 2017 operating results. Showing new orders record at €204 million (15% above the Q4 2016) driven by 3DNAND and HVM orders for their Intrepid Epi tool for CMOS as detailed below.

Report: LINK
Earnings call: LINK

COMMENT (from the ASM report)

Commenting on the results, Chuck del Prado, President and Chief Executive Officer of ASM International said: 

 

"In Q1 we realized sales of €144 million, which was at the high end of our guidance. The order intake for Q1, at €204 million, came in better than forecasted and was the highest level ever. This was supported by an increasing contribution from the 3D NAND segment. We also saw in Q1 the first high volume manufacturing order intake for our Intrepid(TM) XP platform, an Epitaxy tool addressing the CMOS market."

OUTLOOK (from the ASM report)

 
The single wafer ALD market dropped in 2016, although not as much as we earlier expected. This is caused by a few smaller segments of the ALD market where we have not been engaged, mainly in non-patterning related DRAM. As a result, our single wafer ALD market share decreased. Our ALD revenue in 2016 ended up well in line with the assessment we made in July 2016. We continue to expect a clear year-on-year improvement in the single wafer ALD market in 2017, with demand in the Logic/Foundry segment remaining healthy and a strong increase in the 3D-NAND segment.

 

The Intrepid(TM) XP: Available processes include Silicon (Si), Silicon-Germanium (SiGe), Silicon Carbide (SiC) and other Silicon-based compounds used for transistor strain and channel layers.(Picture from asm.com)

3D-NAND and DRAM Dominate sub 22nm-node IC Fabrication

What Do Memory Chips, IoT and China Have in Common? Semiconductor Materials Demand Driven by Increases in Multiple Segments

3D-NAND and DRAM Dominate <22nm-node IC Fabrication

 

San Diego, CA, April 20: TECHCET CA points to growing demand for process materials, driven by three key factors - advanced memory chips ramping, legacy devices that fuel the IoT, and a robust China market. Advanced memory ICs will outpace the rest of semiconductor device products, increasing to 70% of total wafer starts by 2020. Consequently, demand for low temperature materials, ALD/CVD dielectrics and metal precursors will also rise strongly, as disclosed in a new report from TECHCET, "Semiconductor Device Trends and Process Materials Requirements."

 

Application details of where, how, why and when materials are needed for leading edge devices are featured in the report, along with recent developments concerning the IoT and China markets. Specifics on Xpoint memory, 3D NAND (Toshiba, Samsung, SK Hynix, Intel/Micron), Phase Change Memory, FeRAM and associated materials, are included.

 

For more on process material trends and needs, see TECHCET's report, available at www.techcet.com, or attend the Critical Materials Conference, May 11-12 in Richardson, TX, featuring speakers from Intel, IBM, Samsung, ONSemiconductor, Cypress, Linde, Air Liquide & CoorsTek; among more than 20 powerful presentations.  

 

~3 weeks left to Register for this highly differentiated program focused on actionable technical & supply-chain information related to critical materials. 

 

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For more info on Membership or the Conference, please go to 

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email cmcinfo@techcet.com or call 1-480-382-8336 x1 

 

Sponsors:

Lam Research reports increased Q1/2017 earnings and growth in 3DNAND shipments

Lam Research is a OEM with a product portfolio made for Memory and especially 3DNAND Flash memory high volume manufacturing. They supply 300 mm wafer processing equipment for much of the 3DNAND processing modules like, the dielectric multilayer stack deposition by PECVD, stair case etch, the deep high aspect ratio dielectric stack memory cell etch, the ONO stack deposition, blocking oxide, Tungsten gates and also conformal layers for multiple patterning. That is why there is no surprise that Lam is shipping tools when the NAND Flash fabs in Korea and China are transitioning to a 3D geometry and scaling upwards by adding more and more layers to the stack. Latest reports are that SK Hynix is now producing a 72 layer stack NAND architecture.

 
Lam Research Corporation Reports Financial Results for the Quarter Ended March 26, 2017

FREMONT, Calif., April 18, 2017 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Lam Research Corp. (Nasdaq:LRCX) today announced financial results for the quarter ended March 26, 2017 (the "March 2017 quarter").

Highlights for the March 2017 quarter were as follows:

• Shipments of $2.41 billion and revenue of $2.15 billion.
• U.S. GAAP gross margin of 45.1%, U.S. GAAP operating margin of 25.0%, and U.S. GAAP diluted EPS of $3.10.
• Non-GAAP gross margin of 46.1%, non-GAAP operating margin of 26.9%, and non-GAAP diluted EPS of $2.80.

"Demand continues to be strong for NAND in the SSD and embedded markets driving increased spending activity for NAND in 2017. We expect total 3D NAND shipped capacity at year-end to represent slightly more than the 50% of the installed base"
- Martin Anstice - President and CEO, Lam Research

 Lam Research Earnings call (lamresearch.com)

Seeking Alpha Reports/information:

LRCX : Stellar Lam Research quarter helping lift chip equipment stocks
3:54 pm, Wed, Apr. 19, 2017

Read now »

Lam Research (NASDAQ:LRCX) is up 6.5% today and setting new record highs after Q1 earnings that solidly beat even the high Street estimates last night.

Lam Research's (LRCX) CEO Martin Anstice on Q3 2017 Results - Earnings Call Transcript
12:01 am, Wed, Apr. 19, 2017, by SA Transcripts

Read now »

Lam Research Corporation 2017 Q3 - Results - Earnings Call Slides
6:13 pm, Tue, Apr. 18, 2017, by SA Transcripts

Read now »

Apple wants LGD to supply it with flexible OLEDs starting in 2018

OLED-Info reports that "Apple is moving forward with its 2017 flexible OLED phones, and the company has to rely exclusively on Samsung Display as SDC is the only OLED maker capable to produce the capacity Apple needs and the quality flexible OLEDs. But in 2018 LGD is also planning to ramp up its flexible OLED capacity, and according to a new report from Business Korea LGD was approached by Apple with an aim to secure LG's capacity for Apple's 2018 phones."

Apple wants LGD to supply it with flexible OLEDs starting in 2018

VLSI Research : Top 10 Semiconductor Equipment Supplier 2016

VLSI has released their Top 10 Semiconductor Equipment Supplier Ranking for 2016 (LINK). 2016 was a good year for many of the tool companies that supply semiconductor fabs and the key drivers for investment was:

• 10nm
• 3D NAND
• a general lack of production capacity

VLSI Research President, Risto Puhakka, will present abou the OEM Markets and Materials Trends at the CMC2017 Conference in Dallas, TX, May 11 (CMC2017).

You may find more equipment news in "The Week In Review: Manufacturing" by Mark Lapedus.

Please see VLSI’s reports for more information available here:

The Chip Insider® report: https://www.vlsiresearch.com/public/cmrs/detail.html?mod=prod_1_tci

Equipment Database report: https://www.vlsiresearch.com/public/cmrs/detail.html?mod=eqpt_db

SK Hynix Introduces Industry’s Highest 72-Layer 3D NAND Flash

Seoul, April 10, 2017 – SK Hynix Inc. today introduced the industry’s first 72-Layer 256Gb(Gigabit) 3D(Three-Dimensional) NAND Flash based on its TLC(Triple-Level Cell) arrays and own technologies. The Company stacks 1.5 times more cells for the 72-Layer 3D NAND than it does for the 48-Layer 3D which is already in mass production. A single 256Gb NAND Flash chip can represent 32GB(Gigabytes) storage.

 

(Picture from SK Hynix)

 

SK Hynix launched 36-Layer 128Gb 3D NAND chips in April 2016, and has been mass producing 48-Layer 256Gb 3D NAND chips since November 2016. In just 5 months, the Company has developed the 72-Layer 256Gb 3D NAND chips, securing the industry’s finest product portfolio.

AIXTRON and major Asian OLED display manufacturer collaborate on production qualification of deposition technology

AIXTRON SE (FSE: AIXA; OTC: AIXNY), a worldwide leading provider of deposition equipment to the semiconductor industry, received a purchase order from a leading Asian OLED display manufacturer for a deposition system to be installed at the customer site within the second half of 2017. The collaboration targets the qualification of AIXTRON’s technology for the production of OLED displays.

AIXTRON HQ in Herzogenrath/Aachen, Germany 

Andreas Toennis, Group Head New Technologies at AIXTRON, comments: “With the number of applications for OLEDs steadily growing, this is an important milestone in the commercialization of our deposition system technology. We are looking forward to further improve our systems and processes in close collaboration with our customer.”

AIXTRON’s deposition system technology offers unique advantages by enabling highest deposition rates, minimizing the risk of degradation of organic material through its STExS (Short Thermal Exposure Source) technology, providing best organic material utilization efficiency as well as excellent thickness uniformity and reproducibility. In combination with AIXTRON’s patented Close Coupled Showerhead (CCS) technology, the thin-film deposition of organic small molecules can be scaled to any degree and any substrate dimension. Furthermore, AIXTRON’s gas phase transport allows for more precise control of the deposition rates and thus enhanced flexibility in manufacturing complex structures. 

Press release: LINK

Google wants LG Display flexible OLED production for their next gen Pixel phone

OLED-Info reports that Google wants to invest $872 million in LG Display to help secure flexible OLEDs for its next-gen Pixel phone (Original source ETNews).

 

Reportedly, LG Display is ramping two flexible OLED fabs, which of one is a 6-Gen flexible OLED fab in Gumi (OLED-Info:E5 line). In addition, a 3rd Gen-6 fab (E6) may start in 2018.

According to reports (LINK), Samsung monitors and LG Display are preparing to use ALD technology in flexible OLED production processes. Jusung Engineering, WONIK IPS, AP System and TES have ALD technology and equipment for Gen 6. Out off the European ALD OEMs Enapsulix and Beneq is also supplying ALD for OLED Encapsulation.

Much more details on this story at OLED-Info: LINK.

So what about ALD? There is no way to tell if those lines have ALD Encapsulation technology but flexible Gen-6 OLED has been reported to use ALD in some cases and all those South Korean ALD encapsulation clusters being shipped has to end up somewhere. 

The ALD OLED Encapsulation equipment market is in its early stage trailing the ALD Semiconductor ALD market by 10 years or so at total size of one order of magnitude smaller than the single & multi-wafer ALD equipment market.

When it comes to ALD precursors it is not too exciting yet since the barriers are mainly Al2O3, sometimes laminated byTiO2. However, there are recent publications showing promising barrier properties employing some of the High-k metal oxides used in the Logic Gate stack and DRAM capacitors.

What is exciting though is the ALD process chamber technology that has been developed in this field. Everything from Large Panel Batch Reactors, Ultra Fast cross flow reactors and Spatial ALD. This is were all the fun is!

ALD Equipment is part of The Made in China 2025 Strategy

The "Made in China 2025 Strategy" includes Atomic Layer Deposition (ALD) for the semiconductor industry and especially Memory manufacturing (3DNAND Flash). This information was given by as part of a briefing at ISS2017 "China Semi Equipment Momentum and AMEC Briefing", by Gerald Z. Yin, Chairman of the Board and CEO of AMEC [LINK], which have been reported by EE Times [LINK]

As further background, in November 2015 (after the "Made in China" announcement, May 19, 2015, LINK) the China Integrated Circuit Industry Investment Fund Co. Ltd., together with Advanced Micro-Fabrication Equipment Inc. (AMEC) and Suzhou Juyuan Dongfang Investment Fund (Limited Partnership) announced that they have invested US$42 million in Piotech Co. Limited. [Source]

Shenyang Piotech Co., Ltd, 300 mm ALD equipment [source]

Piotech is Headquartered in Shenyang, China, and manufacture CVD equipment. Recently Piotech has also announced a ALD business segment and products for 300 mm wafer processing. The ALD tool developed by Piotechy can be used for Semiconductor and Advanced Packaging (TSV) applications. At present  high and low temperature SiO2, SiN, and Al2O3 is offered that will soon expand to High-k and metal nitride ALD technology. The ALD chambers can be combined with the production capacity of the PF-300T PECVD platform.

Piotech has chinese active IP  [ALD (atomic layer deposition) equipment , CN204080102U] on a very interesting 6 wafer station chamber that can be clustered. By this it is clear that the company has a clear strategy to take market share in ALD since the competition in ALD for 3DNAND have 5 to 6 wafer capability (Jusung, Applied Materials & Tokyo Electron). It is not known if the 300mm ALD tool above has these type of multi wafer chambers.

Besides ALD and Piotech AMEC is alo investing in Bejing NMC (Etch, PVD and APCVD) and Bejing Sevenstar (Furnace & Wafer Cleaning), who also have some filed IP in ALD. 

China Defends Big Chip Bet: Hual & AMEC Execs Share Views at SEMI ISS 2017 #SEMI_ISS #semiconductor @eetimes https://t.co/FwNQdkXLYt pic.twitter.com/iZzIeQw2Kh

— SEMICON (@SEMIexpos) January 12, 2017

Gerald Yin CEO of China-based semi equipment maker AMEC at #SEMI_ISS: ~30 front end China semi equipment companies formed in last 10 years pic.twitter.com/HlSUi5IcCi

— Jonathan Davis, SEMI (@SEMI_Advocacy) January 11, 2017

ASMI lost ALD market share 2016 to Jusung and Applied Materials

According to Gartner the semiconductor equipment market grew 12% in 2016. They have seen aggressive capital spending for NAND flash facilities that "propelled the Material Removal/Clean and RTP and Oxidation Diffusion segments to deliver more than 20% annual growth" (Gartner).

The market for Atomic Layer Deposition (ALD) contracted less sharply in 2016 than anticipated, but ASMI, however, lost more market share than expected. This was concluded by an analysts at Morgan Stanley based on figures from Gartner.

Stock market analysts watching ASM International N.V. (NASDAQ:ASMI) have recently changed their ratings on the stock following the release of the Gartner recently released report on Wafer Equipment companies. Apparently ASMI has lost considerable market shares in ALD to Jusung Engineering and Applied Materials in 2016. The two ALD batch companies Tokyo Electron and Kokusai were stabel in their ALD segment (Please note that TEL does not split their ALD business into Single/Multi wafer and Batch anymore). Also Lam Research lost market share in ALD according to reports.

The ASMI market share in ALD was 64% and is now down to 54% (remark: Gartner does not include Hitachi Kokusai, PV passivation, AMOLED Encapsulation and the smaller ALD players on the market) while the wafer based ALD market only dropped 3% (Source in Dutch: Morgan Stanley benieuwd naar uitkomst belang in ASM PT)

My take on this is that the 300 mm wafer fabricators are moving to Spatial ALD technology for multipatterning due to Cost of Ownership. I can only see it as the ASM XP8 with its 8 chambers (4 twin chambers) must have lower productivity than the multiwafer Spatial ALD tools (Jusung SPD, TEL NT333, AMAT Olympia). Also Lam Research 2x4 station platform does not seem to compete with Jusung 2x5, Applied Olymipa and TEL NT333 2x6 Wafers, which reportedly is taking market shares in low temperature SiO2 for multipatterning.

Jusung was one of the early starters for SADP at Qimonda with their Spatial Cyclone+ tool running low temperature SiO2 ALD 2006 to 2009 and therefore have 10+ years of experience for this technology so that may explain their fast growth now.

ASMI had a recent call with investors (Q4 2016 Earnings Call, March 3, 2017) and here is an outlook given on the ALD single wafer market, which should recover and continue to grow in 2017 :

"After strong growth in the 2013 to 2015 period, the single-wafer ALD market went through a double-digit contraction in 2016. Weakness in memory was only partially offset by strong growth in the Logic/Foundry segment. In 2017, we expect condition to improve and the ALD market to show a clear recovery compared to last year. Longer term, we continue to expect healthy growth for ALD. We forecast the single-wafer ALD market to reach a size of $1.5 billion by the 2020-2021 timeframe. We earlier expected the market to reach the $1.5 billion level by 2019. Our updated view is mainly explained by lower expectations for the DRAM segment. Still, our updated forecast implies a solid double-digit growth path for the coming years." 

 - Chuck del Prado