The Japanese market of electronics-related gas equipment grew at a good pace with an increase of 20 to 25% in 2014, led by the favorable gas-related requirements for production facilities. It was attributed to the high-level capital investments by such domestic semiconductor manufacturers as Toshiba Yokkaichi or Sony Semiconductor Nagasaki, as well as the three semiconductor giants of Samsung Electronics (Korea), Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing (TSMC, Taiwan) and Intel (USA). The fact is that a high share of the market is taken by Japanese gas-related equipment for use in the gas-supply lines (so-called “Gas Jungle” in the US) which has been employed by the major electronics equipment manufacturers like Tokyo Electron, Hitachi Kokusai Denki (Japan), Applied Materials and Lam Research (USA).

The world market share of Horiba STEC known by its mass-flow controllers reached 53% for the first time exceeding 50%. In fact, more than 80% of Japanese semiconductor manufacturers and 60% of those in the US are using Japanese-made equipment. This is because of the manufacturer’s distinguishing system and efforts in quality control and readiness to cope with delivery requirements. Furthermore, it was followed by the depreciation of yen. With the metal materials like stainless steel made in Japan, the pricewise competition power is now accelerated. Namely, the more capital investments are made for CVD, Etcher or ALD (atomic layer disposition) by the major producers of semiconductor, the more use of Japan-made gas-related equipment is naturally required.

In addition, the enlarged process pushes up demands for more facilities, and the demand for gas-related equipment is growing in proportion. In the cutting-edge production process of semiconductors, there are more film-forming and etching processes along with the growing 3-D or multi-layer structures. It is said that 10 to 15% more equipment is being used in comparison with the conventional production line of 300mm wafers.

ALD, above all, is a technology to produce thin films which is very uniformed and is with the high step coverage which does not cause cracks, defects or pinholes, because the partial film pressure or composition precisely controls uniform films at a single atomic layer level. Therefore, it responds to a variety of materials ranging from oxides, nitrides, fluorides, ternary materials, metals to polymers. Required for this purpose is a precision control technology of pulse-formed gas. In case of a valve, on-off switching must be repeated at a pace of 5 to 10 times per second. Also in case of a mass-flow controller, a very fine control is required. Furthermore, it must respond to a high temperature from 230 to 250℃. Now that the gas control is directly related to the quality and yield of semiconductor, very high reliability is naturally placed upon the Japan-made equipment related to gas. That is why the Japanese products raised the market share causing the factor to expand the demand.

Although 2014 was a happy year, it seems that the situation will remain buoyant also in 2015 at a high level. The demand for gas-related equipment seems to remain prospective when we consider the new plans of investment by not only the majors of Samsung, TSMC and Intel, but also SK Hynix (Korea), United Microelectronics (UMC, Taiwan), Micron Japan Higashi Hiroshima, Toshiba Yokkaichi, Sony Semiconductor Nagasaki/Kumamoto and Japan Display Hakusan.

It is unforeseeable how long the favorable wind will last, but the current trend draws our keen attention in consideration of the order-receiving condition until the end of 2015.