MEMS OEM
Refurbished and Repurposed The refurbished equipment market has seen strong growth over the past few years and is expected to remain a generally strong market, with increasing adoption of refurbished equipment for mature lines. Europe will likely lead the market in purchasing refurbished equipment, as it remains primarily a niche or specialty market that does not require leading-edge technologies.
memsstar’s remanufacturing division is focused on refurbished and repurposed etch and deposition equipment for MEMS fabrication and R&D as well as semiconductor manufacturing in Europe. It offers an OEM-like solution to all its customers, with all systems built and/or reconfigured to the latest specifications and tested in accordance with the latest CE directives.
The systems are offered with process support, a full performance warranty and post sales support. memsstar is unique in offering repurposed systems with fully qualified and characterized processes for bespoke applications, as well as with standard semiconductor ones.
When looking to purchase refurbished equipment, the primary consideration is the processing technique of the equipment and the vendor’s experience with the system and process. Value-add providers of refurbished equipment can impartially advise on suitable equipment from a range of suppliers that can be matched to an individual customer application.
For the MEMS market, process applications and a vendor’s ability to develop and support these for MEMS manufacturing is a critical differentiator. For the generation of toolsets being adopted in MEMS manufacturing, most OEMs never developed MEMS processes at these technology nodes. In this case, the added value from a supplier like memsstar is the ability to develop processes for films better suited to MEMS devices, targeted primarily at mechanical properties. Another recent area of development has been for low temperature amorphous Si deposition, which requires a unique hardware and process set.
In terms of semiconductor manufacturing, capabilities such as upgrading chambers and reconfiguring platforms allow the company to supply systems that match current fab equipment sets, or facilitate migration to the next technology node. Many of the products manufactured on refurbished equipment sets are extremely price sensitive, so the market has the same drivers as leading-edge manufacturers, including more advanced technologies, more chips on the wafer and improved device or structure performance.
Business Model Outlook The memsstar business model is working. Simply put, it’s one based on providing a level of service and support that its customers want.
The company brings to
market tremendous experience in the semiconductor industry, with well over 90 percent of personnel coming to memsstar with prior industry experience and a majority of those with over 15 years of experience in the capital equipment sector.
In total, memsstar has in excess of 100 man-years processing experience and over 400 man-years of experience with manufacturing hardware, which is fairly unique for a company of memsstar’s size. It also demonstrates the company’s commitment to advancing processing technology for MEMS manufacturers. This commitment to industry and process capability allows the company to provide a level of support that, at times, surpasses that of the OEM.
This expertise has provided memsstar an enviable position within its European market, retaining repeat business and expanding its customer base as a result of its quality. At the same time, MEMS manufacturers are increasingly adopting repurposed semiconductor equipment, marking another area in which memsstar has seen substantial growth. This demand led to the company’s recent expansion of its Livingston, Scotland facility, doubling its cleanroom manufacturing space in order to reduce lead-time for refurbished OEM platforms.
memsstar sees a number of areas for potential growth in both its MEMS and refurbished markets over the next few years. The value-add available to manufacturers who utilize refurbished platforms will continue to be core business for memsstar. On the MEMS side, new product development and increased MEMS manufacturing capacity will drive sales. China also offers tremendous opportunity to MEMS suppliers generally, as it is widely expected that the country will increasingly move into technology development, which has the potential to create significant business there in the coming years.
© 2012 Angel Business Communications. Permission required.
1. MEMS in Smartphones and Consumer Electronics, ABI Research,Q1 2011.
Issue III 2012
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