Canon can or can’t! - Fabtech - The online information source for semiconductor professionals

Home

News

Blogs

300mm Activity Reports

Core Sections

This Site
Engineering Web

Username: Password: Password Reminder No account? Register

Home

Blogs

Editor's Blog

November 2007

Canon can or can’t!

Nov 22, 2007 at 05:55 PM

News via Japan’s Nikkei newspaper claims that Canon is preparing to ship its production-ready 193nm ArF immersion lithography tool by the end of this month, though the customer was not identified. I can add that last month we got some information that supports the Nikkei news.

However, my concern focuses on a comment in the report that someone at Canon claimed that the company would go after gaining 30 percent of the immersion market by the end of 2010.

It wasn’t that long ago that Canon ran advertisements in the trade press claiming that they would become the Number 1 lithography supplier, a claim that seriously backfired on them, while all we saw were the long and painful market share declines.

It got so bad that last quarter, Canon didn’t ship any 193nm ArF tools, neither wet nor dry!

Canon has said publicly that it would ship two 193nm ArF tools in the fourth quarter but didn’t specify whether the tools would be wet or dry. One of these now looks likely to be an immersion tool.

Canon has spent a long time getting its immersion tool ready and it’s a bottom-up, top-down re-design that previously was touted as being the best immersion tool ever!

30 percent market share in two years?

We have all waited long enough for the tool to actually be shipped so I think seeing in two years whether the tool has actually gained significant traction isn’t going to be a problem.

The Canon news story can be viewed here.

Readers' comments

Comment by GUEST on 2007-11-26 09:35:33
An extra player is always welcome, at least to help drive the prices down.

Bookmark with:
Delicious	Digg	reddit	Facebook	StumbleUpon

Visit Fabtech Jobs website

Subscribe to Fabtech weekly newsletter

ASML strengthens position as top lithography supplier (18/03/2008)

Gartner ranks top semiconductor equipment companies; changes occurred in 2006 (05/04/2007)

Canon needs immersion lithography platform sooner rather than later! (19/05/2006)

Is ASML having it all its own way? (12/10/2005)

ASML’s lithography market share to reach 55 percent in 2005 (12/10/2005)

Related jobs

Corporate Account Manager (f/m) (Paris, 19/02/2008)

Product Marketing Manager (Santa Clara, 10/11/2007)

Supply chain Specialist (Silicon Valley , 15/09/2007)

Supply Chain Specialist (Silicon Valley , 15/09/2007)

Wireless Market Development Manager - Sweden - Semiconductors (, 29/08/2007)

Most Popular Blogs
Has AMD now fallen off the cliff? 08 Apr 2008 Talent leaves AMD, but what does it mean? 13 May 2008 AMD’s CEO keeps world and his dog waiting over ‘Asset Smart’ 08 May 2008 What’s an aeroplane without a pilot? 06 May 2008