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Photovoltaic Industry: New Opportunities for the Semiconductor Support Industry
Publish Time:
2021-10-12 16:45
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In 1947, Bell Labs and others invented the transistor. In 1958, Robert Noyce of Fairchild Semiconductor and Jack Kilby of Texas Instruments separately invented silicon-based and germanium-based integrated circuits. In 1971, Intel launched the 1KB DRAM (Dynamic Random Access Memory), and in 1984, they launched the 1MB DRAM and 256KBSRAM (Static Random Access Memory). Each leap in integrated circuit technology and processes has been inseparable from the continuous innovation of semiconductor equipment and materials.
The supporting industry is the cornerstone of the integrated circuit and even the electronics industry.
The semiconductor equipment and materials industry, collectively known as the supporting industry for integrated circuits, forms the foundation upon which the integrated circuit industry is built. The electronic terminal system, in turn, is built upon the integrated circuit industry. Therefore, the semiconductor equipment and materials industry, as a supporting industry, is the foundation of the electronics industry.
In a sense, the manufacturing technology of integrated circuits is mainly in the hands of equipment and material suppliers, who play a crucial role in the development of integrated circuit manufacturing technology. Without advanced equipment and materials, advanced integrated circuits cannot be manufactured.
From the perspective of integrated circuit design, EDA (Electronic Design Automation) tools are also a technical support for the design industry. Without EDA design tools, circuits cannot be simulated, and integrated circuits cannot be designed. Therefore, EDA is the core of integrated circuit design, while semiconductor equipment and materials are the core of integrated circuit production technology and processes.
In addition, some countries implement export controls on key semiconductor equipment, which also highlights the importance of the supporting industry in the integrated circuit industry.
The rapid development of the photovoltaic industry brings new opportunities to the semiconductor supporting industry.
After years of technological breakthroughs and accumulation, the semiconductor supporting industry has developed well. For example, ion implanters, etching machines, diffusion furnaces, rapid thermal processing equipment, cleaning machines, and photoresist coating and developing equipment used in the front-end processes, as well as dicing machines, molding machines used in the back-end processes, and single crystal furnaces, grinding machines, and polishing machines used in material preparation equipment have all developed rapidly. Some domestic equipment has become increasingly mature, and some has been used on domestic 200mm and 300mm production lines. However, domestically produced equipment used in 300mm and 90nm processes is still scarce, let alone in 45nm processes. "Lack of mass production experience" has become a weakness in the development of the semiconductor supporting industry.
The rapid development of the photovoltaic industry in recent years has brought new opportunities to the supporting industry. Because the precision requirements for solar-grade equipment and materials are relatively lower than those for electronic-grade equipment and materials used in integrated circuit processes, it provides the semiconductor supporting industry with ample opportunities to produce solar-grade equipment and materials, and also brings very good development points and profit points to domestic equipment and material companies. With this opportunity, the semiconductor supporting industry can expand rapidly and achieve scale. The development of solar energy, LEDs (light-emitting diodes), and packaging and testing industries provides a technological gradient for the semiconductor supporting industry, allowing these companies to find market development points at different technological levels and accumulate valuable mass production experience. This mass production experience, as well as the accumulation of mass production technology, management experience, and funds, is very beneficial to the development of the integrated circuit industry.
Currently, the development of the semiconductor industry shows two major trends. One trend is the slowdown in the growth of the semiconductor industry and declining profit margins; the other trend is the rapid development of the photovoltaic industry and the LED (light-emitting diode) industry. LuxResearch (a market research firm) predicts in its report on the solar energy market that solar energy sales will grow at an average annual rate of 27%, from US\$21.2 billion in 2007 to US\$70.9 billion in 2012.
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