In the current era of rapid growth in the global digital economy, the semiconductor industry, as the cornerstone of modern technology, plays an increasingly prominent supporting role. The strong demand for semiconductors in fields such as the Internet of Things and artificial intelligence is driving continuous expansion of the industry scale. Advances in semiconductor technology, the shift of the industry to mainland China, and the trend towards localization provide vast opportunities for the domestic semiconductor equipment industry.
1. Overview of the Semiconductor Equipment Industry
(1) Detailed Classification of Semiconductor Equipment
|
Equipment Type |
Core Application Scenarios |
Corresponding Front-End Process Steps |
|
Photolithography Equipment |
Circuit Pattern Transfer |
Photolithography |
|
Etching Equipment |
Pattern Etching (Dielectric/Metal Layers) |
Etching |
|
Thin Film Deposition Equipment |
Deposition of Dielectric/Metal Layers |
Thin Film Deposition |
|
Ion Implantation Equipment |
Doping (Adjusting Semiconductor Conductivity) |
Ion Implantation |
|
Chemical Mechanical Polishing (CMP) |
Wafer Surface Planarization |
Chemical Mechanical Planarization |
|
Cleaning Equipment |
Removal of Surface Contaminants/Residues |
Key Nodes in the Entire Process |
(2) Insights into the Semiconductor Equipment Market Size
According to data from the International Semiconductor Equipment Industry Association (SEMI), global semiconductor equipment sales reached approximately $71.1 billion in 2020, a year-on-year increase of 19.2%. Regionally, mainland China, Taiwan, and South Korea accounted for about 73% of the global semiconductor equipment market in 2020. Sales in mainland China reached $18.72 billion, a year-on-year increase of 39.2%, accounting for 26% of the global market, ranking first worldwide; sales in Taiwan and South Korea were $17.15 billion and $16.08 billion, respectively, accounting for 24% and 23%. In terms of equipment types, front-end process equipment accounted for 86.1% of sales, while testing and packaging equipment accounted for 8.5% and 5.4%, respectively. Sales of thin film deposition, etching, and photolithography equipment accounted for 61.73% of the total semiconductor equipment market share, and 71.72% of the front-end process equipment, making them core equipment for chip manufacturing. SEMI predicts that global semiconductor equipment sales will rise to $95.3 billion and $101.3 billion in 2021 and 2022, respectively, with year-on-year growth of 34.1% and 6.3%. By 2025, the global thin film deposition equipment market is expected to grow from $17.2 billion in 2020 to $34 billion.
(3) Domestic Semiconductor Equipment Localization Rate
|
Equipment Type |
Localization Rate |
Core Breakthrough Enterprises |
|
De-foaming Equipment |
>90% |
Yitang Co., Ltd. and others |
|
Etching Equipment |
~20% |
SMIC, North Huachuang |
|
Cleaning Equipment |
~20% |
Shengmei Shanghai, Zhichun Technology |
|
Thermal Treatment Equipment |
~20% |
North Huachuang |
|
PVD Equipment |
~10% |
North Huachuang |
|
CMP Equipment |
~10% |
Huahai Qingke |
|
Coating and Developing Equipment |
Initial Breakthrough |
Xinyuan Micro |
|
Photolithography Equipment |
Initial Breakthrough |
Shanghai Microelectronics |
2. In-Depth Analysis of the Thin Film Deposition Equipment Industry
(1) Diverse Classification of Thin Film Deposition Equipment
Thin film deposition involves depositing thin film materials, such as silicon dioxide and silicon nitride, onto substrates like silicon wafers. Thin film deposition equipment is responsible for depositing dielectric and metal layers, primarily using CVD, PVD, and ALD technologies, with ALD being a branch of CVD.
- Evaporation:In a high vacuum chamber, various evaporation sources heat materials to vaporize them, allowing atoms or molecules to escape and condense into a film on the substrate surface. This technology has a wide range of applications, can deposit on various material surfaces, controls parameters to achieve different structures and crystallization forms of films, and is easy to detect and control thickness and composition.
- Sputtering:Typically refers to magnetron sputtering, where inert gas is introduced into a vacuum state, and high-voltage direct current is applied to generate plasma, ejecting target material atoms to deposit on the substrate. Compared to evaporation, sputtered layers have stronger adhesion to the substrate and are more uniform, but the cost is higher.
- Molecular Beam Epitaxy (MBE):A special vacuum deposition process that allows for layer-by-layer growth of films along the substrate crystal axis. Its advantages include low substrate temperature, slow growth rate, and easy control of beam intensity, enabling the preparation of ultra-thin layer quantum structure materials. PVD equipment has a fast deposition rate, precise thickness control, and good film performance, widely used in the semiconductor industry, but has poorer step coverage than CVD in small linewidth film deposition.
- Chemical Vapor Deposition (CVD) Equipment:CVD forms solid deposits through chemical reactions, using energy to react gaseous substances at gas-solid or gas-gas interfaces. It is a process for depositing films on silicon wafers through gas chemical reactions, suitable for insulating, hard mask, and metal film layer deposition. CVD equipment consists of parts such as gas phase reaction chambers, with common types including APCVD, SACVD, etc., suitable for different process nodes and requirements for film quality.
- Atmospheric Pressure Chemical Vapor Deposition (APCVD):The earliest CVD equipment, characterized by simple structure and high deposition rate.
- Sub-atmospheric Pressure Chemical Vapor Deposition (SACVD):High temperature and pressure in the reaction chamber, with rapid filling capabilities, used for trench filling processes.
- Low Pressure Chemical Vapor Deposition (LPCVD):Developed from APCVD, with reduced working pressure, improved film uniformity and filling capabilities, and broader applications.
- Plasma Enhanced Chemical Vapor Deposition (PECVD):Due to the action of plasma, the reaction temperature is lowered, improving film purity and density, and causing no damage to chip circuits, playing a significant role in the development of IC manufacturing technology.
- Metal-Organic Chemical Vapor Deposition (MOCVD):Used for preparing compound semiconductor single crystal materials in fields such as semiconductor optoelectronics, gradually becoming a major method in low-dimensional structure preparation, with large-scale production capabilities in related fields.
- Atomic Layer Deposition (ALD) Equipment:ALD can deposit materials in the form of single atomic layers on the substrate surface, with each new layer reacting with the previous one, depositing only one atomic layer at a time. In the ALD process, the reaction precursors are alternately introduced into the reaction chamber as gas pulses, exhibiting self-limiting growth characteristics, allowing precise control of film thickness, uniform films, and high step coverage, suitable for deep trench structure film growth, and is indispensable in advanced chip manufacturing.
(2) Unique Characteristics of Thin Film Deposition Equipment
- Extremely High Development Technical Difficulty:The design of thin film deposition equipment requires comprehensive knowledge from multiple disciplines, with high demands on designers for each link of the equipment. It also requires differentiated process development based on different technical routes and process needs, resulting in high technical barriers.
- Long Industrial Verification Cycle:Thin films affect chip performance, requiring multi-step testing during production to ensure compliance with technical standards, leading to long verification times for wafer fabs regarding thin film deposition equipment.
- Crucial for Advanced Processes:Thin film deposition equipment is core equipment for integrated circuit manufacturing. As processes advance, chip integration scales increase, and structures become more complex, the requirements for the number of thin film layers, types of materials, and performance continue to rise. For example, the 90nm CMOS process requires about 40 thin film deposition steps, while the 3nm FinFET process exceeds 100 steps, involving an increase in thin film materials from 6 to nearly 20 types, and the requirement for thin film particles has shifted from micrometer to nanometer scale. Innovations in thin film deposition equipment support the development of integrated circuit manufacturing processes towards smaller process nodes.
(3) Vast Market Space for Thin Film Deposition Equipment:
In new wafer fab equipment investments, front-end equipment investment accounts for about 80%, with thin film deposition equipment being one of the three main equipment types, accounting for 25% of the total investment in wafer manufacturing equipment. The global thin film deposition equipment market was approximately $17.2 billion in 2020, and is expected to grow to $34 billion by 2025. Among the market share of equipment types, PECVD is the highest at 33%; PVD (including sputtering PVD and electroplating ECD) accounts for 23%; APCVD accounts for 12%; LPCVD and ALD equipment each account for 11%; MOCVD accounts for 4%; and others combined account for 6%.
(4) Competitive Landscape of the Thin Film Deposition Equipment Market:
- Highly Concentrated Global Market Share:The global semiconductor thin film deposition equipment market exhibits a clear monopoly pattern, primarily dominated by Applied Materials (AMAT), Lam Research, and Tokyo Electron (TEL), with market shares of 42%, 19%, and 14%, respectively. Applied Materials has a deep technical accumulation, with PVD and CVD technologies widely applied. The PVD equipment market is highly monopolized, with AMAT holding over 80% of the share for a long time, while North Huachuang holds 3% globally. CVD equipment is mainly monopolized by American and Japanese companies, with the top three manufacturers collectively holding over 70% of the global share, and the top few companies accounting for over 85% of the market. In the ALD equipment market, Tokyo Electron and Xianjing Semiconductor hold 31% and 29% shares, respectively.
- Domestic Enterprises Actively Expanding the Market:North Huachuang and Shenyang Tuojing are the main domestic suppliers. North Huachuang is the only domestic supplier of PVD equipment, with products that can partially replace Applied Materials equipment, holding a global market share of 3%, and accounting for over 20% of supply in some domestic 12-inch production lines. They are also developing products in the CVD field, focusing on LPCVD and APCVD, mainly for equipment below 8 inches, with ALD equipment already commercialized and supplied in small quantities. Shenyang Tuojing has multiple CVD series products, with mature PECVD technology that can partially replace foreign manufacturers, having shipped over 100 units in 2020 and entered the production lines of first-tier manufacturers. Shengmei Semiconductor has achieved localization of LPCVD. The MOCVD equipment developed by Zhongwei Company has broken the monopoly, capturing a high market share in the global GaN-based LED MOCVD market, with a revenue of 496 million yuan in 2020, while also developing CVD equipment and process development. In the first half of 2025, Zhongwei Company’s sales revenue from LPCVD and ALD equipment increased by 608.2% year-on-year, becoming a new engine for performance growth, with their developed metal gate series products completing equipment verification for multiple advanced logic customers. In 2024, North Huachuang’s thin film deposition equipment revenue exceeded 10 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 66.67%, forming a full series layout.
- PVD Equipment Relatively Lagging:China’s research and application of physical vapor deposition technology started late, with a gap compared to international advanced levels. However, it has developed rapidly in recent years, with some companies achieving breakthroughs, such as North Huachuang and Xinkailai. Xinkailai’s “Putuo Mountain” PVD equipment achieves metal coating precision at the micrometer level and has entered the verification stage at SMIC.
To receive our articles promptly, please set our public account as a star or click to read!
For more content, please click:
Vacuum Coating and Material Technology Elite Circle – Join 30,000 peers at the forefront of technology
PVD Coating Public Account “Smart Reply” Function Launched! One-click answers to technical problems!
Equipment Customization
Recommended Excellent PVD Coating Suppliers
Second-hand Equipment Resource Library
Methods to Join PVD Coating Groups
Job Recruitment
Scan the QR code to follow us
