MEMS business boosting thick-SOI demand

USA: Yole Development has published the Thick-SOI Applications, Markets & Players 2006-2012 Report. The term thick Silicon on Insulator (SOI) refers to a semiconductor substrate with an active, single-crystal silicon layer whose thickness exceeds 1µm. It lies on a buried oxide which is set on top of a silicon wafer carrier. This structure is widely used in MEMS and in Power Device electronics.

In 2007, thick-SOI substrates accounted for a $72M market, representing approximately 380,000 6" (equiv.) wafer units. MEMS currently accounts for 38 percent of this market, and this figure is expected to exceed 45 percent by 2012. The other outlet for these products is the power semiconductor industry.

MEMS business is boosting thick-SOI demand thanks to the market dynamism of products such as accelerometers or gyroscopes, which are now widely used in numerous consumer products (cell-phones, game-pads, cameras). MEMS-related activities are expected to drive more than 300,000 6" thick-SOI substrates in 2012.

Power electronics was the first sector with a need for thick-SOI: this technology was developed to design and manufacture some of the plasma TV (PDP) drivers ICs. As a result, the very high market penetration of plasma technology in large flat panel displays led to very rapid ramp-up in this segment. In 2006, about 200,000 6"-thick SOI wafers were processed. This being said, competition from LCD technology is currently reversing this trend: whereas the CAGR of thick-SOI PDP-related business was routinely above 25 percent in the past years, annual growth is forecasted to be only 6 percent after 2008.

The leading company in the thick-SOI wafer business is still SEH (J), followed by SUMCO (J). Asia supplies about 75 percent of all thick-SOI wafers and is consuming in between 40-50 percent of the worldwide wafer volume in MEMS and power electronics.

Due to its involvement in both sectors, namely MEMS and power electronics, DENSO (J) still leads the pack of the top 25 thick-SOI users, with STM, NEC and Fuji following fairly closely behind. The largest pure-MEMS player is Silex Microsystems, the Swedish company. In 2011, the $100M mark will be reached for substrates, and 10 percent CAGR is forecasted until 2012.

The report provides a unique description on the thick-SOI material business in a single package. It highlights the main metrics and the key market trends that will help material and equipment vendors to position their R&D efforts and anticipate the changes and forecasted evolution of their business.