Metrology & Testing

Physics / mechanism

Metrology & testing encompasses measurement of physical, chemical, and electrical properties at nanoscale precision — critical gating steps in semiconductor fab, photonics integration, and advanced materials qualification. Key techniques: optical (ellipsometry, scatterometry, white-light interferometry), electrical (4-point probe, C-V, DLTS), and structural (XRD, TEM, SIMS, AFM). Leading-edge nodes demand overlay control <1 nm, defect detection at sub-5 nm, and wafer-level uniformity <0.1%. Market is ~$5B annually, dominated by KLA (~50% share), Onto Innovation, Camtek, and Bruker. In-line vs. offline tradeoffs govern throughput vs. resolution.

Competitive landscape

KLA dominates patterning and defect inspection; Onto and Camtek compete on advanced packaging and compound semiconductors. Bruker and Rigaku own X-ray/structural. Non-destructive optical metrology increasingly competes with e-beam (slower, higher resolution). Adjacent: process control software (PDF Solutions, Onto SureScan), AI-driven virtual metrology (reducing physical measurement frequency), and EDA-metrology co-optimization. Photonics-specific gap: wafer-level optical S-parameter and coupling loss measurement remains fragmented — no clear dominant vendor below $500K tool price.

Companies using

Connected ideas

Sources

Frontier (open questions)

• To be added.