Thin Film PZT for Semiconductor Application Trends & Technology Update

LONDON, Sept. 22, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- The most promising effect of thin film PZT for future aplications would certainly be its piezoelectric effect

In September 2013, EPSON has announced its 2nd generation inkjet technology, PrecisionCore 2nd version (to be released in 2014), introducing for the first time MEMS inkjet heads manufactured with thin film PZT technology for office desktop printers. This announcement has been highly publicized: First, thin film PZT MEMS applications are on the market, proving the reliability and maturity of this technology! Second, more inkjet head players will soon follow.

Thin film piezoelectric materials are gaining increasingly more importance within the MEMS industry. Although semiconductor manufacturing companies are historically reluctant to introduce such exotic materials into their production lines, every major MEMS foundry nowadays is working on the implementation and qualification of piezoelectric thin film in their MEMS manufacturing processes.

Lead zirconium titanate or PZT (Pb[ZrxTi1-x]O3 with 0?x?1)) is a very interesting ferroelectric material. Depending on its composition, it has the advantage of combining 3 different material properties: high dielectric constant, pyroelectric effect and piezoelectric effect.

Its high dielectric constant property is still extensively being used with the integration of thin film PZT in Integrated Passives Devices (IPDs) and to a lesser extent in Ferroelectric memories (FeRAM). These have been the 2 leading applications for thin film PZT for many years. NXP Semiconductors and STMicroelectronics dominate this IPD market.

The pyroelectric effect of PZT is today being used by Pyreos for thin film PZT based uncooled Infrared detectors, although this thin film PZT based technology remains quite marginal in this field.

The most promising effect of PZT for future applications would certainly be its piezoelectric effect.

Companies like Wavelens and PoLight are extensively working on the introduction of their autofocus based products to the market using thin film PZT technology. This profusion of new MEMS applications using thin film PZT technology is just beginning.

The roadmap for high volume production is still to be built

The main difficulty for thin film PZT technology is the integration of this exotic material into a robust and reproducible process flow. There are major technological challenges associated with thin film PZT integration into a product :

Deposition
Etching
Process monitoring
Test
Reliability
These are complex topics and although many R&D efforts have been made so far by labs, equipment and material suppliers, and device manufacturers, some work remains to be done to achieve robust products for high volume production.

In deposition, 2 technologies are competing: Sol-Gel and Sputtering. Sol-Gel gives better intrinsic film properties as deposited thin film PZT, with good uniformity and higher breakdown voltages. But when considering high volume production, throughput becomes a major consideration and this is where Sol-Gel shows some limitations.

Many equipment manufacturers within the semiconductor industry are thus working on a more classical solution: Sputtering.

ULVAC was among the first companies to develop thin film PZT deposition based on a PVD process and today, they have the more reliable PVD technology. Big semiconductor players like Applied Materials started preparing to compete in this market 18 month ago. They are rapidly ramping up their activities on thin film PZT. Meanwhile players like Oerlikon and SolMateS are continuing to improve their deposition technology, be it PVD or Pulsed Laser Deposition technology.

They both show very promising results. SolMateS is a very interesting case: with their recent PLD technology and smaller company size, they end up competing with large PVD equipment manufacturers in this thin film PZT manufacturing area.

The thin film PZT manufacturing battle is only beginning and the next 5 years are going to be very interesting!

In this report, we evaluate each thin film PZT deposition technology and compare them. We describe all key thin film PZT based applications. We present a roadmap for each key player with their expected year for market entry. Finally, we present our thin film PZT production forecasts for the 2013-2018 period.

Key feature of the report

Applications forecasts 2012-2018 (in units, value and wafers)
Focus on thin film PZT for FeRAM, IPDs, MEMS
Analysis of new applications (Ink Jet heads, inertial MEMS, micro-mirrors, micro-fluidics, drones…)
Detailed analysis of manufacturing process & challenges ahead including technology roadmaps
Company updates & strategy
Key industrial market player's positioning: device makers, equipment & material suppliers, R&D labs

Objectives of the report

Provide an overview of thin film PZT applications
Description of the key thin film PZT applications
Who are the current and future industrial thin film PZT users in each application
Analyze the manufacturing (deposition, etching, test,…) trends
Global manufacturing techniques and materials trends
Deposition techniques used in each application and for each manufacturer
Manufacturing challenges related to each process
Technology evolution roadmap
Provide market data and forecasts on thin film PZT applications
Thin film PZT production forecast 2012-2018 in number of wafers (6'' eq) by application
Thin film PZT production forecast 2012-2018 by deposition techniques and application in number of wafers (6'' eq)
Players products roadmap, expected year for market entry

Companies cited in the report (non exhaustive list)

aixACCT, American Elements, Applied Materials, Argonne Lab, Avago Technologies, AVX, BAE, Brother, CEA Le Ripault, Chirp Microsystems, Cranfield University, Delphi, DIAS Infrared GmbH, DRS, EPCOS – A Member of TDK-EPC Corporation, EPFL, Epichem, Epiphotonics, EPSON, Excelitas Technologies, FLIR, Frauhofer IMT, Fraunhofer ISIT, Fraunhofer IPMS, Fujifilm Dimatix, Fujitsu, GLOBALFOUNDRIES, Hammamatsu, Heimann, HiperScan, Holst Centre, Hynix, IBM, Imagine Optics, IMEC, Infra Tec, Infineon, Inostek, Ipdia, Irisys, Kojundo lab, Korean Institute of Technology, KTH, L3Com, LAAS, Lemoptix, LG, Matsushita, Maxim, Melexis, Microsystem lab, Microvision, Mitsubishi Chemical, Murata, Nippon Ceramic, NovioMEMS, NXP, Oce, Oerlikon, OKI, Olympus, OMRON, ON Semiconductor, OnChip, Panasonic, Paratek, Penn State University, Philips, Philips Research, poLight, Pulse, Pyreos, Ramtron, Ricoh, Rohm, Samco, Samsung, Semtech, Siemens Medical, Silex Microsystems, Silicon Sensing Systems Japan, Singapore Univ, Sintef, SolMateS, Sonitor, Sound Design Technology, SPTS, STMicroelectronics, SUSS MicroTec, Symetrix Corporation, Tango, Technolas Perfect Vision, Tegal, Texas Instrument, Tezzaron, Thales, Tronics Microsystems, Toshiba, Tyndall, ULIS, ULVAC, US Army lab, Vermont, VTT, Wavelens, Western Digital, WiSpry, Xaar, X-FAB.

Download the full report: https://www.reportbuyer.com/product/2105844/

About Reporbuyer
Reportbuyer is a leading industry intelligence solution that provides all market research reports from top publishers
http://www.reportbuyer.com

For more information:
Sarah Smith
Research Advisor at Reportbuyer.com
Email: [email protected]  
Tel: +44 208 816 85 48
Website: www.reportbuyer.com

SOURCE ReportBuyer