Thin Wafer Market & Applications - I-Micronews

Thin Wafer Market & 

Applications 

PVA Tepla Matech Oerlikon EVGroup 

Invensense 

OVT 

Report Sample 

© 2011 

Copyrights © Yole Développement SA. All rights reserved.

Table of Contents 

• Objective of the report 

• Table of Contents 

• List of companies mentioned in the report 

• Executive Summary 

• 2010-2016 Thin Wafer Market Forecasts......24 

– Thinned wafers vs. TOT number of shipped wafers 

– Thin wafers shipment in 300 mm eq. 

– 2010-2016 thin wafer shipment forecast by application 

– 2010-2016 thin wafer shipment forecast by wafer 

diameter 

– 2010-2016 thin wafer shipment forecast by wafer 

thickness 

• Thin Wafer Players……………………………..37 

– 2010 main thin wafers 

– 2010 geographic breakdown for thin wafer processing in 

% of number of processed wafers 

– 2010 wafer size breakdown for thin wafer processing in 

% of number of processed wafers 

– Thin wafer processors 

• Description of applications……………..81 

– MEMS 

– CMOS Image Sensors 

– Power Devices 

– RF Devices (GaAs) 

– LEDs 

– Advanced Packaging:3D TSV/Interposers 

• Thin wafer technologies overview..….160 

– Wafer Thinning 

– Dry Polishing 

– Thin Wafer Handling: the different solutions 

– Wafer Dicing 

• Final conclusions…………………….…214 

• Appendices 

– Yole Développement presentation 

© 2011• 2 


Objective of the Report 

• This report provides market perspectives for thin wafer markets & applications. 

• It covers the following Thin Wafer applications: 

– MEMS 

– CMOS Image Sensors (incl. BSI) 

– Power Devices 

– LEDs 

– RF 

– Memory & Logic 

– Interposers and Advanced Packaging 

• For each application, market forecast in WSPY & market value ($) by wafer size 

and thickness, and characteristics are given (wafer size, thickness) 

• A ranking of the major companies worldwide processing thin wafers has been 

made. 

• In a second part, technical aspects for thin wafer manufacturing are presented: 

– Thinning 

– Handling & temporary bonding 

– Dicing 

© 2011• 3 


Objective of the Report 

• This report does NOT cover: 

– The report does NOT cover thinning equipment forecast. 

– PV application is NOT covered in this report. Current thickness is about 180- 

220µ and thickness could approach 100µ by 2020. But both materials and tools 

are VERY different from the semiconductor industry (wafers are 125x125 or 

156x156 mm²). Wafer thickness decrease was important a few years ago when 

the silicon price was at very high levels (~$400/kg, spot price, compared to 

$50-60/kg today). It is still interesting to decrease the wafer thickness, but with 

standard approaches (ingot-sawing-wafer) it is economically quite 

challenging; ribbon approaches (no ingot growth and sawing) provide lower 

quality wafers, and new approaches (ion implantation, direct wafering, etc.) 

are still under development. 

© 2011• 4 


List of Companies Mentioned 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, Misui Chemical, Nanya, Nichia, Nitta corp., 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. 

© 2011• 5 


Why Thin Wafers? 

• 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 thin and even ultra-thin semiconductor 

wafers (below 40µm). 

• Thin wafer benefits are: 

– Reduced thickness and thus thinner packages (for cell phones, packaged dies must be < 1.2 mm 

thick - it is 1 mm for smart phones) 

– Wafer thinning is the most efficient approach used for heat dissipation for thermal management 

– For 3D integration, thin wafers bring higher through Si vias density as pitch and dimensions are 

becoming smaller 

• But, as wafer thickness decreases to 100µm and below, manufacturing challenges arise. 

Ultra-thin wafers are less stable and more vulnerable to stresses, and the die can be prone 

to breaking and warping—not only during grinding but also at subsequent processing steps. 

To address these challenges, special Wafer Support Systems have to be developed to 

support the wafer during backgrinding and subsequent post-thinning processes. Processes, 

equipment and materials for temporary bonding have ben addressed in the “Thin Wafer 

Manufacturing” Yole report. 

© 2011• 6 


From “Standard” Thickness to Ultra-thin Wafers 

• The demand for ultra-thin wafers has increased in a wide range of applications such as stacked 

packages, portable communication devices, smart cards, cellular phones … 

• This, in turn, requires new handling technologies. 

Technology limit for handling: special equipment and 

processes are required (e.g. temporary bonding to a support 

carrier) 

Thin wafer 

drivers 

High interconnect 

density: 

Aggressive TSV 

pitch & diameters 

Power 

dissipation, 

higher electrical 

performance 

IC package 

devices: 

Reduced 

package size 

and thickness 

© 2011• 7 


Thin Wafer Applications 

Power Devices 

LEDs 

Interposers 

RF 

MEMS 

Source: Micron 

3D Stacking of 

memory, logic 

CMOS Image 

Sensors 

© 2011• 8 


Thin wafers roadmap 

TODAY (2011) TOMORROW (2015) 

MEMS substrates 500-100µ 

MEMS capping 100-300µ 

ASIC MEMS 100-150µ 

CIS Packaging 200µ 

CIS BSI 

Wafer shipment in millions 

(300 mm eq.) 

Thinned Wafers vs. TOT Number of Shipped Wafers 

• By 2016, we estimate the TOTAL number of thin wafers in 300 mm eq. will be 73.8 million 

wafers. This would represent about 55% of the total shipment for 300 mm eq. wafers 

• 2010-2016 CAGR for thin wafer shipment is 24% 

Ratio of thinned wafers vs. total number of shipped wafers 

(volume in millions of 300mm eq.) 

160 

140 

120 

100 

60% 

50% 

40% 

80 

60 

40 

20 

0 

2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 

TOT semiconductor IC wafers (12" eq.) 76 84 92 101 111 122 135 

TOT thin wafers (12" eq.) 20,4 25,7 31,4 38,1 48,0 60,2 73,8 

Ratio 27% 31% 34% 38% 43% 49% 55% 

30% 

20% 

10% 

0% 

© 2011• 10 


TOP Thin Wafer Processors 

© 2011• 11 


Yole activities in MEMS 

Media business 

News feed / Magazines / Webcasts 

Market Research 

Reports 

Market research, 

Technology & Strategy 

Consulting services 

www.yole.fr 

© 2011• 12 


Available MEMS Reports 

Permanent Wafer 

Bonding 

Thin Wafer 

Handling 

MEMS Microphone 

Ferro-Electric 

Thin Films 

Trends in MEMS 

Manufacturing & 

Packaging 

New! 

New! 

New! 

New! 

New! 

Motion Sensors for 

Consumer & Mobile 

applications 

IMU &High 

Performance MEMS 

MEMS & Sensors 

for Smartphones 

Uncooled IR Cameras & 

detectors for thermography 

& nigh Vision 

CMOS Image Sensors 

New! 

MEMS Cosim+ 

MEMS Manufacturing 

Cost Simulation Tool 

MEMS Players: 

Analysis of Financial 

Performance 

© 2011• 13

Thin Wafer Market & Applications - I-Micronews

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