Business Case Study New Market & New Revenue!

1. Executive Summary: This business case highlights the successful market penetration strategy employed by ENTG following the acquisition of NT. By leveraging innovative technology solutions and strategic partnerships, ENTG capitalized on revenue growth opportunities and secured market adoption with leading OEMs in the semiconductor industry.

2. Situation Analysis:

• ENTG's acquisition of NT presented an opportunity to exploit revenue growth and enhance market adoption with OEMs.

• Legacy photoresist and CMP equipment utilized peristaltic pumps, leading to unreliable yields and inaccurate real-time performance.

• The photoresist and slurry dispense processes are critical for IC process control, with significant implications for advanced processors' performance and yield maximization.

3. Objectives:

• Identify in-fab champions to drive adoption of new technology solutions.

• Build and communicate a compelling value proposition for the NT Flow Controller.

• Secure specifications for next-gen TEL wet process tools.

• Increase production output and testing efficiency while maintaining quality standards.

4. Challenges:

• Visibility of opportunities within production fabs.

• Engineering hesitancy to change existing but suboptimal practices.

• Time-consuming field testing and qualification processes.

• Competition with Copy Exact practices, even with legacy peristaltic pump solutions.

5. Actions Taken:

• Introduced and leveraged the new OEM spec position with TEL for the NT Flow Controller.

• Deployed a closed-loop flow controller technology, surpassing peristaltic pump performance.

• Conducted extensive testing and verification with leading fabs, including Samsung, Hyundai, and Intel, leveraging AMAT's position in CMP.

• Enhanced sensor characterization for guaranteed process control at 6 sigma.

• Established direct company-to-company contacts between NT, AMAT, and OEMs for unparalleled support and collaboration.

6. Results Achieved:

• Increased application revenue to $20 million in four years, leading to a 56% growth in Fluid Handling business revenue.

• Opened new field retrofit revenue opportunities and circumvented the lengthy OEM spec cycle.

• Achieved a valuable 5-point yield improvement on average and significant reduction in slurry costs.

• Successfully qualified with AMAT for CMP slurry dispense, solidifying ENTG's position as a leader in process control solutions.

7. Recommendations:

• Continue leveraging technology advancements and strategic partnerships to drive further market penetration and revenue growth.

• Expand the application of innovative solutions to other critical processes in semiconductor manufacturing.

• Maintain a customer-centric approach and focus on delivering value-added solutions to meet evolving industry demands.

8. Conclusion: Through strategic actions and innovative technology solutions, ENTG successfully penetrated the market with the NT Flow Controller, driving substantial revenue growth and securing partnerships with key industry players. This case study demonstrates the importance of continuous innovation and collaboration in capturing market opportunities and maintaining a competitive edge in the semiconductor industry.