The shift to single-wafer cleaning and early 300mm mass production (2000)

Defend today’s efficiency, or bet on the next technology

The core of this decision was to bet on the technological change of miniaturization and 300-millimeter wafers, gathering resources into single-wafer cleaning — washing one wafer at a time — rather than defending the mass-production efficiency of the then-mainstream batch method. Batch washing has the strength of processing many at once, but the finer the circuitry grows, the harder it is to hold uniform cleaning conditions wafer by wafer. Dainippon Screen deliberately bet on the coming technology at a time when a slumping semiconductor market had makers inclined to rein in investment. When today’s strength in efficiency collided with tomorrow’s demand for miniaturization, this was a judgment that chose the latter.

That choice was later rewarded. Single-wafer cleaning became the mainstream in advanced cleaning steps, and SCREEN came to hold the world’s top share in both single-wafer and batch cleaning equipment. The common platform built with the SU-3000 raised its throughput generation by generation — the SU-3100, the SU-3200 — and single-wafer cleaning now underpins the company’s core business. That said, the judgment can be called correct only because miniaturization went on advancing and the single-wafer advantage endured. Defend today’s mass-production efficiency, or bet on the next technology — this technology choice around the year 2000 remains an example of a company choosing early, on its own, the question the equipment industry faces again and again.