Future Markets for Silicon Wafers
Staff -- Semiconductor International, 9/1/1998
D
espite the delay in 300 mm wafer insertion, wafer production continues. POSCO
Hulls grows 300 mm crystals in-house through a technology transfer
agreement with U.S.-based MEMC. Export of samples has already begun and
a construction site secured. LG Siltron is constructing a 300 mm factory
also. Targeted for completion before the end of this year, it is
expected to turn out 5000 sheets of the wafers monthly. Future plans
include capacity expansion to 100,000 sheets in 2005.
Mass production of 200 mm epitaxial wafers began in July at LG Siltron.
It had invested $7 million into the line, with yearly output being
100,000 sheets, in a bid to meet market demands. Epitaxial wafers, used
for higher-density chips with more than 64Mb DRAMs, eliminate surface
defects that appear on polished silicon wafers. They are currently
available at 100, 125 and 150 mm. Korean chip manufacturers plan to use
the epitaxial wafers for 256 Mb DRAMs. Production of the 200 mm wafers
is expected to double next year. To this end, LG Siltron will enter into
cooperative development with Epitaxy of the United States to focus on
key technologies. The global market volume for 200 mm epitaxial wafers
was tallied at $2.4 billion last year to represent a 32.8% of the total
silicon wafer market. Industrial experts forecast that figure will grow
to $5 billion in 2001. 
