The Global Market for Surfing is Projected to Reach US$9.5 Billion by 2022

The global market for E-Beam Wafer Inspection System is projected to reach US$1.2 billion by 2025, driven by the growing demands placed on semiconductor companies to optimize yield management. The focus on metrology and high performance quality control is therefore increasing. Rapid digitalization and evolution of Internet of Things (IoT), Artificial Intelligence (AI), and machine learning technologies are driving the need for faster, smaller, low power devices, bringing in new challenges for semiconductor manufacturers. While wafer size is increasing from 200 mm to 300nm, critical dimensions of semiconductor circuits (patterns) is rapidly shrinking to 0.13 µm and 0.10 µm. As critical dimensions shrink, identifying defects becomes more difficult and time-consuming. However, in order to ensure profitability and production efficiency, yield limiting defects need to be identified early on in the manufacturing flow. Wafer defect inspection is therefore emerging into an important step in the semiconductor manufacturing process. Intrinsic defects on bare wafers if left undetected can lead to killer defects on final processed wafer/chips. Early detection of physical defects and pattern defects on wafers can help save companies millions of dollars in production losses. E-Beam Wafer Inspection System, in this regard, is witnessing strong growth and adoption supported by benefits such as minimized total time for detecting and fixing defects on processed wafers; higher return-on-investment for semiconductor fabricators;  high resolution;  effective for inspecting nodes at 10 nm and below; ability to identify defects residing deep within the wafer structures; and effectively identifies electrical defects that impact yield. Technology developments aimed at enhancing throughput speeds are of vital importance, given that slow throughput is the Achilles Heel of the technology. Read More…