Now, LED has not been popular in general lighting applications, but it is expected that by 2018, more than 50% of the base will support LED lamps on the market will also have more than 80% LED lights. However, the current processing of the use of the LED production equipment market is still not up to the previous two years of scale. In 2010 compared with $1 billion 700 million in 2011, the size of the market compared to 2012, the scale of only $600 million. These companies will invest in the second half of 2013, to 2014, LED production equipment industry will achieve significant (but limited) growth. But it will also become the final large-scale investment in the LED industry. After that, the size of the market will continue to shrink, to be replaced by the purchase (replacement) needs to maintain the market.
It is expected that by 2018, the area of LED semiconductor materials will increase by 4 times in 2012, revenue will reach the peak of $17 billion. Although sales will reach the peak in 2019 or so, but by the impact of the following 2 factors, after the estimate will gradually shift to reduce. First of all, because the amount of light emitted from the LED single increase, so the quantity of LED to reduce. Secondly, compared with the current technology, LED product life significantly extended, no 1 years to replace the one or two bulbs, 10 years can be replaced 1 times. This will allow the replacement of the LED market with a substantial and permanent deceleration.
Excessive investment before 2011
Over the next 5 years, the production of LED will continue to expand, then, why the production equipment market has peaked rebound, this is because in 2010 and 2011 there has been a massive over investment. The main reason is that the Chinese government to MOCVD equipment subsidies, enterprises to ensure market position to make the best investment. As of 2010, only a few Chinese companies involved in the field of LED production equipment, but now has increased to 70. But most companies are probably a flash in the pan, and the survival of the enterprise is not estimated to buy new equipment, but through the acquisition of the failure of the enterprise to increase production capacity.
In the past, the LED industry has been in accordance with the requirements of LED, the standard of exposure equipment and etching equipment to do a little transformation, in the adjustment, re installation to be used. 2009, in the process of using the same equipment for different processes with the help of the same equipment, the production of LED professional equipment debut LED. It is interesting that the old semiconductor equipment companies are not involved in this market.
In the purchase of production equipment, in order to reduce the cost of equipment (COO), a part of business investment is the high performance equipment reliability, uniformity and taste. On the other hand, there are companies intend to reduce the amount of equipment investment, through the purchase of the cheapest equipment, so that manufacturing costs are minimized. But from now on, most companies (including most Chinese companies) have started to choose the former.
The popularity of PSS to expand the demand for plasma equipment
Other equipment market and supply and demand in the existence of differences between the MOCVD equipment market, 2012 sales were lower than in 2010 and 2011. However, leading LED design technology changes in the field has shown a different trend. Using Patterned Sapphire Substrate (graphical sapphire substrate) can improve the brightness. For more than a year, PSS has accounted for nearly 80% of the world's LED sapphire substrate, which gave birth to the demand for plasma equipment for etching PSS wafers. Now, it has been put into use for the manufacture of PSS dry etching equipment has about 280 units, of which 200 units were installed in 2011 or 2012. 2012 estimates will be maintained at this level.
At present, there are three kinds of enterprises to improve the capacity of PSS. The first is the sapphire substrate manufacturers; the second is to buy a standard wafer, self LED of the PSS manufacturers; third is to buy the substrate, forming a pattern after the sale of professional PSS generation of industry and commerce.
Is to determine the plasma etching pattern on the substrate after the photoresist layer is processed, it spawned a tool and step mask used in positioning machine needs. But it is difficult to achieve the resolution of PSS, while the resolution of the stepping machine can meet the requirements, but it will be a problem when the pattern of wafer size is not caused by the fracture or crack. Taking 50mm wafer as an example, the finished product rate of PSS is 93% ~ 80, but for 100mm wafer, the finished product rate is only 40 ~ 70%. In the next 6 months, including nano imprint lithography, including the emergence of various commercial solutions will increase the yield of large diameter wafers, reduce the cost of PSS.
LED to be successful, it is necessary to reduce costs, in addition to the need to improve the performance and uniformity, so that the production of LED along the traditional semiconductor ideas forward, to enhance the attention to detail. To realize the scale advantage, we need to use a higher degree of automation, production management software, statistical engineering management, as well as the box on the box system to achieve the goal of evolution.
