Lam Research Reports Record Revenue for Q2 2022 Despite Supply Chain Constraints

Lam Research a global supplier of innovative wafer fabrication equipment has reported a record Q2 2022 ahead of its guidance range, thanks to strong spending in foundry/logic outgrowing NAND and DRAM investments. Net revenue stood at a record $4.6 billion, an increase of 12% YoY.

Lam’s revolutionary product platform, primarily driven by systems innovation and installed base along with globally diverse manufacturing and stronger and deeper customer collaborations, will help generate revenue growth in the long term.

Source: Lam Research Earnings, Counterpoint Research Wafer Fab Equipment TrackerSource: Lam Research Earnings, Counterpoint Research Wafer Fab Equipment Tracker

Lam has pioneered a new deposition technology called SPARC for depositing ultra-thin layers of silicon carbide films with the required robustness to survive downstream processing.

SPARC has enabled performance and technology scaling of advanced logic and DRAM by combining Lam’s unique plasma capability with chemistry and process engineering. With the advent of gate-all-around (GAA) architecture, SPARC technology will find application in extensive use cases in the future.

Lam’s innovative product offerings in providing solutions to the challenges in the adoption of 5G and Wi-Fi 6/6E wireless technologies and dry resist technology will help capture a significant amount of market share. Key technology inflections and collaborations provide huge opportunities for Lam in the long term.

5G offers greater bandwidth, faster connectivity and lower latency by utilizing a greater portion of radio frequencies in the wireless spectrum. Ensuring the coexistence of 5G and newer-generation Wi-Fi 6/6E for seamless wireless connectivity is extremely challenging due to the technical demands on the RF filters that allow signals in the band to be separated.

One of the critical steps in RF filter manufacturing is depositing and etching Sc-doped layer with high throughput. Lam has acquired Solmates, a pioneer in the focused deposition of AlScN films with best-in-class Sc doping levels and film properties. The acquisition will complement Lam’s expertise in high-quality film deposition, high etch rate and selectivity with high productivity.

RF filters combined with other devices such as RF switches, low-noise amplifiers, power amplifiers and antenna tuners form complex RF module solutions and are fabricated using RF-CMOS (complementary metal oxide semiconductor) or RF-SOI (silicon on insulator) technologies. These devices have specific fabrication schemes that allow the integration of capacitor and inductors into the back end of line (BEOL) essential for the efficient operation of the devices at high frequencies.

These additional integration BEOL steps provide a huge opportunity for Lam’s deposition and etching systems and will enable chipmakers to achieve higher frequencies and bandwidth required to support the coexistence of 5G and Wi-Fi 6/6E.

This technology was first developed by Lam in collaboration with ASML and IMEC to extend the resolution, productivity and yield in EUV lithography, addressing key challenges associated with the creation of DRAM and logic technologies. Dry resist development technology will help Lam increase its service addressable market in the multi-billion-dollar photoresist equipment industry in the future.

The resist plays a critical role in the lithography process and ideally should have high resolution, low line edge roughness and high sensitivity. The use of traditional spin-on liquid resists in patterning results in image blur as chipmakers move to advanced technology nodes, reducing resolution and increasing line edge roughness, adversely affecting the performance of the device.

Fundamentally, spin-on liquid resists have limitations in terms of viscosity and surface adhesion, leading to undesirable trade-offs in lithography performance. Dry resist technology involves dry deposition of small metalorganic units, providing unique ability to change the resist thickness simply by changing the deposition and development time, overcoming concerns over viscosity, chemistry shelf life and other limitations that can affect spin-on resists.

Lam’s dry resist and development expertise matured over the years will accelerate the industry transition to EUV lithography’s future node applications and enable continued scaling for advanced logic and memory devices through precise, low-defect and lower-cost patterning. The dry resist approach will also provide significant running cost savings to customers along with delivering a more sustainable solution for environmental, social and governance (ESG) measures.

 SK Hynix will use Lam’s dry resist underlayer and dry development processes for advanced DRAM patterning. As DRAM continues to scale, innovations in EUV patterning are critical for delivering the performance needed for today’s increasingly connected devices at a lower cost. The cooperation with SK Hynix along with ecosystem partners will help remove the barriers associated with scaling with EUV lithography.

Lam’s collaboration with Gelest and Entegris will advance the EUV dry resist technology ecosystem for future device generations of logic and DRAM products.

The collaboration is vital for EUV dry resist technology integration into high-volume manufacturing and will provide:

The partnership will also accelerate the development of future cost-effective EUV dry resist solutions for high numerical aperture (high-NA) EUV patterning, widely seen as the patterning technology that will be required for continued device scaling and advancement of semiconductor technology over the coming decades.

Ashwath Rao has more than 20 years working experience in industry, research and academics. Ashwath had an opportunity to work with Intel Technology. Ashwath’s major coverage in Counterpoint is semiconductors and component research. Ashwath holds a Doctoral Degree, specializing in Microelectronics from Indian Institute of Information Technology, Master of Science (VLSI) from Manipal University and a Bachelor of Engineering (Electronics & Communication) from Mangaluru University.

Please touch base for any queries or insights on tech industry. Our growing team of industry analysts and thought leaders should address all your needs. Get in Touch

ⓒ2022 copyrights Counterpoint Technology Market Research | All rights reserved