By Jim Garstka, VP Sales & Business Development, Plasma-Therm
Jim Garstka
Global Digitalization Will Drive Market Demand
The coming year will prove to be another exciting period of technological advances in the semiconductor industry, as our daily lives continue to become more digitized. Consumer applications that will continue to grow in 2023 include electric and autonomous vehicles, augmented reality, virtual reality, artificial intelligence and hyperscale data centers – all of which have driven growth the past few years and are expected to accelerate in the coming year as market demand rises.
So, what is driving the advances that are making these consumer applications more affordable, effective and power-efficient? Wide-bandgap compound semiconductors such as silicon carbide (SiC), gallium nitride (GaN) and gallium oxide (Ga2O3) are some of the critical materials behind these emerging technologies. These materials are essential to the growing power device market – which is forecasted to grow at a rapid compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of nearly 34% between now and 2027, according to the Yole Group’s Power SiC 2022 report. This bodes well for Plasma-Therm and other equipment providers with proven expertise in providing solutions for these materials, including our broad offering of etch, thin-film deposition and rapid thermal processing products. Chip manufacturers will increasingly need to work with suppliers who have the tool and material expertise to optimize processes that produce high-performance, energy-efficient chips, and we expect 2023 to be another banner year in these high-growth specialty markets.
