$85 Billion Nanofabrication Equipment and Materials Market Supports $6.3 Trillion in Economic Activity

The figure portrays how $85 billion in equipment and materials purchased by semiconductor and microelectronic manufacturers in 2007 supported more than $6.3 trillion dollars in worldwide economic activity made possible through the production of semiconductor computer chips with transistors manufactured at nanoscales since 2001. Equipment for fabricating millions of nanosized transistors in silicon chips which enable modern computers, communications and are found in all modern automobiles, aviation and aerospace equipment.  Source: Draft ENIAC Multi-Annual Strategic Plan and Research Agenda 2010 (MASP) proposed by the Aeneas (Association of European Nanoelectronics Activities).   

Micro/Nanoelectronics have become integral to life and work – and the trend is ever upward.  One "Grand Challenge" identified in the Strategic Plan is  the development of  extreme ultraviolate (EUV) lithography  and complementary 1Xnm patterning as a chip mass manufacturing technology of the next decade. 

Technology: Extreme Ultra-Violet (EUV) lithography is anticipated to become the key enabler for More Moore chip mass manufacturing beginning at 22nm feature sizes (half-pitch). Major technology solutions need to be developed: a high throughput EUV machine including e.g. high-power EUV sources and optics for high quality imaging at 13.5nm wavelength; EUV infrastructure and metrology including mask fabrication processes, cleaning, inspection and review tools, sensitive resists, defect engineering and process control. Furthermore, the development of complementary 1Xnm patterning technologies as e.g. e-beam lithography is required for mask making, fast prototyping and low-volume manufacturing.  

Commercial Market: EUV lithography addresses a large market with an estimated annual market of $4.5 billion (€3 billion) in 2015. European upfront investments in EUV lithography exceeds $1.5 (€1) billion . The substantial markets for the EUV infrastructure and complementary 1Xnm patterning technologies are additional. It is important to note that Europe’s leading role achieved in the 193nm immersion lithography can only be sustained by a successful introduction of EUV lithography, states the Strategic Plan.  

EU Funding Rationale: The high risk in the huge upfront investment and the long-term vision of re-establishing EUV lithography and infrastructure require public funding to realize the multi-billion dollar market potential over the next decade. Furthermore,ENIAC funding will allow Europe to gain in-depth knowledge of leading edge semiconductor manufacturing all over the world and to create and sustained employment of highly qualified individuals in Europe. 

ENIAC: The development of EUV lithography and infrastructure, as well as, the complementary 1Xnm patterning technologies are highly involved tasks that require competencies and focused collaboration of large firms, SMEs and institutes from several European countries. ENIAC brings all these entities together in a collaborative $4.5 billion research project that will function through the 2009-2013 time period. 

The market for EUV technology, lithography and nanofabrication equipment for the semiconductor, photonic, sensor and MEMS industries is the subject of upcoming report "NANOFABRICATION EQUIPMENT FOR INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY AND ELECTRONICS, A GLOBAL INDUSTRY AND MARKET ANALYSIS"" from Innovative Research and Products Inc.

 

EU Commission Commits $4.5 Billion for Nanoelectronics Research from 2009-2013

On 29 October 2009, the European Commission adopted the Communication "Nanosciences and Nanotechnologies: an Action Plan for Europe 2005-2009.”  The report outlines the key developments during 2007-2009 in each policy area of the Action Plan, identifies current challenges, and draws conclusions relevant to the future European nanotechnology policy. Where appropriate, for the sake of completeness and continuity, developments in preceding years are included. Detailed supporting information can be found in the accompanying Staff Working Document.

The plan commits $4.5 billion from 2009 to 2013 for nanoelectronics research and development under ENIAC. ENIAC was established in 2004 as the Technology Platform for Nanoelectronics. Its main goal was to define common research and innovation priorities to ensure a truly competitive nanoelectronics industry in Europe. To attain such an objective, ENIAC invested intensive efforts to bring together the key players in nanoelectronics research by gathering within the Platform the main European industrial groups and research organizations, setting up the ENIAC Scientific Community Council to ensure representation of Universities, and encouraging the participation inENIAC of Small and Medium enterprises through national platforms.

Nanoelectronics refer to the application of nanotechnology to semiconductor components and highly miniaturized electronic sub-systems, and their integration in larger products and systems. Semiconductors have enabled the digital revolution that has brought huge productivity gains to our economy and improvements in our quality of life. Constant innovation in the area, together with a strong industrial competition, have given rise to affordable, ever more powerful and energy-efficient computers and other digital devices, for the everyday use of all businesses and virtually all types of consumer. The pace of this digital revolution is still accelerating, enabling new applications in nearly every segment of the world economy, such as medical devices, photovoltaic energy generation, traffic management, and so on.

Current devices are manufactured using 65 nm or 45 nm processes (this dimension being the average half-pitch of a memory cell). In this sense, nanoelectronics is merely the consequence of the evolutionary path of microelectronics into the nanoscale domain. Current transistors still do not fall under the category of nanomaterials, which are produced by manipulating matter at the atomic scale. On the other hand, the properties of future devices may well be defined by interatomic interactions and quantum mechanical properties.