What's fueling the materials business?

摘要

Materials required for producing semiconductor devices are supported by a small group of suppliers whose existence is only measured by their ability to withstand constant pricing pressure in the face of this cyclical industry. There are 12 semiconductor process material areas cited by International SEMATECH as "critical" to semiconductor production, including advanced dielectric materials, advanced metallization materials, CMP pads/slurries, gases (bulk and specialty), graphite, photomask (reticles and photo-blanks), photoresists/ancillaries, quartz (rods, tubes, ingots, fabricated, crucibles), silicon carbide, targets, and wet chemicals. These materials are supported by a limited number of suppliers; should any or them become suddenly unavailable, semiconductor manufacturing could be severely curtailed, or even worse, interrupted.