SEMI, the leading international semiconductor trade organization, held its Semicon conference in San Francisco in July. SEMI forecasts significant growth in demand for semiconductor equipment in 2022, with demand for new applications and shortages of existing products, such as automobiles, to be met by 2023. We also examine some of the developments in the use of EUVs to manufacture smaller feature semiconductors.

SEMI issued a mid-year total semiconductor equipment forecast press release during Semicon on the status of semiconductor equipment spending and projections for 2023. 14.7 percent from the previous industry high of $102.5 billion in 2021, and to $120.8 billion in 2023. The chart below shows the recent history and forecast for semiconductor equipment sales through 2023.
Fab equipment spending is expected to grow 15.4% in 2022 to a new industry record of $101.0 billion in 2022, and is projected to grow a further 3.2% to $10.43 billion in 2023. The chart below shows SEMI's estimates and forecasts for equipment spending for semiconductor applications.

Driven by demand for leading and mature process nodes, the foundry and logic segments are expected to grow 20.6 percent year-over-year to $55.2 billion in 2022 and another 7.9 percent to $59.5 billion in 2023," SEMI said. These two segments account for more than half of total fab equipment sales."

The DRAM equipment segment leads the expansion in 2022 and is expected to grow 8 percent to $17.1 billion. The NAND device market is expected to grow 6.8% to $21.1 billion this year. DRAM and NAND device spending is expected to decline by 7.7% and 2.4%, respectively, in 2023."

Taiwan, China and South Korea are the largest equipment buyers in 2022, with Taiwan expected to be the leading buyer, followed by China and South Korea.

Since the introduction of integrated circuits, fabricating smaller features has been a continuing driver for higher density semiconductor devices. 2022 Semicon's session explored how lithographic shrinkage and other approaches, such as heterogeneous integration with 3D structures and small chips, will enable increasing device density and functionality.

During Semicon, Lam Research announced a partnership with leading chemical suppliers Entegris and Gelest (a Mitsubishi Chemical Group company) to manufacture precursor chemicals for Lam's dry photoresist technology for extreme ultraviolet (EUV) lithography.EUV, and specifically next-generation high-numerical aperture (NA) EUV, is a key technology driving semiconductor miniaturization that will enable EUV, particularly next-generation high numerical aperture (NA) EUV, is the key technology driving semiconductor miniaturization, enabling features smaller than 1 nm in the coming years.

In a presentation, David Fried, Lam's vice president, showed that dry (consisting of small metal-organic units) can provide higher resolution, wider process windows and higher purity than wet photoresists. For the same radiation dose, dry photoresists show less line collapse and therefore produce fewer defects. In addition, the use of dry photoresists reduces waste and cost by a factor of 5-10 and reduces the power required per wafer pass by a factor of 2.

Michael Lercel from ASML says that high numerical apertures (0.33 NA) are now being produced for logic and DRAM, as shown below. The move to EUV reduces additional process time and waste from multi-patterning to achieve finer features.

This diagram shows ASML's EUV product roadmap and illustrates the dimensions of the next generation of EUV lithography equipment.

SEMI forecasts strong demand for semiconductor equipment in 2022 and 2023 to meet demand and reduce shortages of critical components. LAM, ASML's EUV development will drive semiconductor feature sizes below 3nm. small chips, 3D chip stacks and the shift to heterogeneous integration will help drive denser, more powerful semiconductor devices.