I-Micronews - View Report Sapphire substrate Market 2010

COMPOUND SEMI : Sapphire substrate Market 2010

A comprehensive survey of the main market metrics and companies’ involvement in sapphire materials for electronic applications

Price : 3990 €

Publication date : February 2010

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Sapphire material market exceeded $200M in 2010 despite the downturn.

Sapphire product is serving mainly 2 applications in the electronics field: GaN-based LED and RF devices, both for mobile phones (Silicon-on-Sapphire “SoS” technology).

The sapphire substrate market for electronic applications has reached a market volume of approximately 9 million wafers (2” equivalent) for LED augmented by some 10’s of thousands 6” and 8” wafers for SoS RF applications in 2009.

Despite the 2009 economic situation and thanks mostly to LCD LED backlight applications, the c-plan sapphire wafer market grew +4% over 2009 compared to 2008 in the LED segment.

On the other hand, r-plan sapphire business for SoS applications has been strongly affected by the recession as the main application markets are related to consumer appliances (mainly mobile phones). As a result, a -55% revenue decline has been observed on the r-plan side.

2” sapphire price as low as ever but shortage risk could generate turbulence

The price pressure on 2” remains critical and our models showed that most of the suppliers are having a very tiny margin on that material and some of them are even losing money in that business. The 2” price level, especially in Taiwan, was extremely low and the psychological $10 threshold has probably been reached. However, we stay confident that 2” wafer price will gain +15% to 20% in 2010 as a shortage situation cannot be excluded.

Indeed, our Demand-Capacity analysis shows a “risk-zone” that should occur during the second half of 2010, where all the planned capacity won’t be fully installed, facing a demand in LED that can create some turbulence. Now, we feel comfortable saying that this stress period should end early in 2011 with the full ramp-up of sapphire producers.

Is 6” sapphire economically viable for LED?

2009 saw the introduction of first industrial tools running 6” diameter for LED manufacture. It is still unclear how 6” sapphire can bring a strong added-value on the LED manufacturing cost as the market price of these substrates stays very high in comparison to $/sq. inch costs for 2” and 4” wafers. We ran our proprietary Sapphire Growth Cost Model tool and found that only Kyropulos and EFG growth techniques could generate a sub $6/sq. inch c-plan wafer cost in 6” diameter, which is again very expensive compared to smaller diameter materials.

Japan captures almost half the business

With more than 44% market share, Japanese sapphire producers are again leading the business in 2009. Kyocera and Namiki are now collecting more than $100M in sapphire revenues for both substrates and non-substrate (Optical applications) products. Shinkosha and Sumitomo Metal Mining are also part of the TOP-12 players.

In the US, Rubicon has faced a severe downturn on the r-plan segment as its main client Peregrine has strongly reduced its orders. In Europe, Monocrystal Plc. remains the number one actor.

This report provides a complete analysis of the 2 main applications targeted by the sapphire substrates along with key market metrics. It describes the involvement of the major material suppliers and gives a snapshot of the sapphire industry playground.

The report presents the $ and unit values on the 2006-2013 time scale for the GaN-based LED and SoS-based RF devices and their equivalence in substrate consumptions and related material market size.

Glossary

Latest Noteworthy News

Executive Summary

2005-2013 sapphire total market size in $M and Msqin (LED & SoS)

Sapphire substrate market p9

Introduction

Main applications of Sapphire-based devices

Sapphire properties

Sapphire characteristics by application

Growth methods for sapphire substrates

Typical sapphire polished wafer manufacturing cost breakdown

Map of sapphire suppliers location

Company business model

Overview of the company’s products

Overview Of Non Electronic Applications

Companies Not Involved in the Substrate Business

2009 Total sapphire vendor revenues (Substrate + Others)

2009 sapphire vendor revenues breakdown by region

2009 sapphire for substrates. Vendor revenues (split ingots + blanks & epi-ready)

2009 sapphire for substrates. Vendor revenues (split by LED vs. SoS)

2009 Epi-ready substrates only geographic breakdown:

Supply-chain of the sapphire business

Patterned Substrates

Opportunities for Equipment Manufacturers

Substrate reclaiming

Zoom On Korea

Zoom on Taiwan

Alternative to Sapphire (Si, GaN, ZnO, Glass)

6” wafers for LED: when and at what price?

Sapphire for LED: Diameter Trends

CREE and Sapphire

Sapphire Shortage: Risk analysis

Sapphire wafer diameter roadmap
Time to market

Sapphire for Nitride LEDs p59

Market segmentation

LED Market Volume as a function of LED type

LED Market Revenues as a function of LED type
LED regional production capacity

2008 LED market shares

LED manufacturers’ position on the value chain.

LED regional production capacity as of early 2009

From epi capacity to LED capacity

Sapphire substrates for LED market price projection split by diameter

2005-2013 Sapphire substrates market for LED in volume, by diameter & related market size

2005-2013 Sapphire substrates market for LED in value, split by diameter

Sapphire substrates consumption for LED
Regional usage breakdown 2008 and 2009

Conclusion and perspectives

Silicon-on-Sapphire p80

Antenna Switch Module (ASM) market

Latest noteworthy news of SoS industry

What we saw, what we missed…
Comparison with 2008 edition

Comparison of cell-phone antenna switching module (ASM) technologies

Antenna Switching Module (ASM) market data and main players

Comparison of Si CMOS vs. SoS UltraCMOS^® architectures

Comparison of main specifications of GaAs vs. SoS antenna switches

2005-2013 RF switch technology market breakdown.

Main data of the SoS UltraCMOS^® switch manufacturing process

2005-2013 SoS sapphire substrate ASP

2005-2013 sapphire substrate market size and volume for SoS applications

Estimation of 2009 r-plan sapphire wafer orders, split by company

Conclusion and Outlook

Possible other markets for Sapphire material p93

Company Profiles p98-167
Location contact, business model, overview, employees, capacity, application, products, revenues, growth technology

ACME Electronics Corporation.

Alpha Crystal Technology Corp.: ACTC

Advanced System Technology

Crystal GmbH

CrystalQ

Crystal Systems

Crystal Wise

Crystal On

Epistone

Exiton

ILJIN Display Co.

Jiaozuo City Crystal Photoelectric Material Co., Ltd .

Juropol

Kyocera

M.J Corporation

Monocrystal PLC, Inc.

Namiki

N-Crystals

Precision Sapphire Technologies

Rubicon Technology

Saito Optical Science

Saifei

Saint-Gobain Crystals

San Chih Semiconductor

Sapphire Technology Co., Ltd

Sino American Silicon

Shinkosha

Silian Sapphire Corporation

Siltron / LG

Sumitomo Metal Fine Technology

Tera Xtal Technology

Wafer Works

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