A mask shop is a factory which manufactures photomask

Photomask

A photomask is an opaque plate with holes or transparencies that allow light to shine through in a defined pattern. They are commonly used in photolithography.-Overview:...

s for use in the semiconductor industry

Semiconductor industry

The semiconductor industry is the aggregate collection of companies engaged in the design and fabrication of semiconductor devices. It formed around 1960, once the fabrication of semiconductors became a viable business...

. There are two distinct types found in the trade. Captive mask shops are in-house operations owned by the biggest semiconductor corporations, while merchant mask shops make masks for most of the industry.

Merchant mask shops will produce photomasks for a variety of integrated device manufacturer

Integrated device manufacturer

An integrated device manufacturer is a semiconductor company which designs, manufactures, and sells integrated circuit products. As a classification, IDM is often used to differentiate between a company which handles semiconductor manufacturing in-house, and a fabless semiconductor company, which...

s (IDMs) or optical device companies in addition to providing excess cavity work and re-pellicle

Pellicle

Pellicle may refer to:*Pellicle , a thin layer supporting the cell membrane in various protozoa*Pellicle mirror, a thin plastic membrane which may be used as a beam splitter or protective cover in optical systems...

 for captive mask shops.

The company structure is similar to that of any medium sized manufacture and has the
following unique departments or mask makers:

• Sales Customer / customer services
• Front end data prep
• Facilities maintenance - plant & environment
• Engineering - equipment maintenance
• Engineering - process, inspection & metrology
• Quality assurance
• Shipping & dispatching

Infrastructure (technical and financial)

As of 2006, the costs to set up a basic low volume Merchant mask shop to manufacture 65 nm specification product (tools only, no cleanroom

Cleanroom

A cleanroom is an environment, typically used in manufacturing or scientific research, that has a low level of environmental pollutants such as dust, airborne microbes, aerosol particles and chemical vapors. More accurately, a cleanroom has a controlled level of contamination that is specified by...

 facility or data prep) is a follows:

• Blank Inspection: Lasertec $3m
• Mask writer (Lithography ) Toshiba 5000 or Hitachi HL-8000 EB $14m
• Mask writer 2nd pass PSM: ALTA 4300 Laser. $8m
• Resist Coat: Sigmameltec CTS 7000 $3m
• PEB and Developer: HamaTech-APE Masktrack $2.8m
• Plasma Etch: Unaxis Mask Etcher IV $4m
• HF Etch:SigmaMeltec SFH 3000 $1.3m
• CD Metrology: Leica LWM 250 DUV & AMAT NanoSEM 3D $2m
• Image Metrology: Lasertec MPM 193 & 157 $2m
• Image Metrology: ZEISS AIMSFAB 193 & 157 $2m
• Registration Leica I-PRO II $2.5m
• Defect Inspection: KLA-Tencor SLF87 $10m
• Defect Inspection: AMAT Aera193 $10m
• Defect Repair: Seiko 5000 $4.5m
• Defect Repair: RAVE nm1300 $5.5m
• Resist Strip: SigmaMeltec MRC 7500 $3m
• Cleaning Precision: HamaTech-APE MaskTrack $3.5m
• Other miscellaneous equipment installation & service $8m

Total $88m

This equipment set can produce approximately five 65 nm reticles per day.

Construction costs of a suitable factory, plant and cleanroom

Cleanroom

A cleanroom is an environment, typically used in manufacturing or scientific research, that has a low level of environmental pollutants such as dust, airborne microbes, aerosol particles and chemical vapors. More accurately, a cleanroom has a controlled level of contamination that is specified by...

 will depend on location but can be around $20–30M.
CATS (software)

CATS (software)

CATS is an EDA software for mask data preparation in integrated circuit design and manufacturing.Originally it was developed by Transcription Enterprises, Ltd, acquired by Numerical Technologies, Inc. , in its turn acquired by Synopsys, Inc...

 licensing up to $1M dependent on formats and threads.

Because of the high costs of setting up such facilities with new equipment, many second-tier fabs and manufacturing concerns are taking to purchasing used equipment to meet their needs. For example the sales price for KLA-Tencor SLF87 from such a used equipment reseller is around 1/10 of the new sales price.

The future

As technology shrinks, the cost to mask shops increase and the product turn around time grow longer as well. The trend in this new decade is for manufacturing to migrate eastwards to reduce cost and lead times. Once technology restrictions in the Wassenaar Arrangement

Wassenaar Arrangement

The Wassenaar Arrangement is a multilateral export control regime with 40 participating states including many former COMECON countries.It is the successor to the Cold war-era Coordinating Committee for Multilateral Export Controls , and was...

 are reduced, high end reticles and integrated circuit

Integrated circuit

An integrated circuit or monolithic integrated circuit is an electronic circuit manufactured by the patterned diffusion of trace elements into the surface of a thin substrate of semiconductor material...

s will be produced in mainland China

Mainland China

Mainland China, the Chinese mainland or simply the mainland, is a geopolitical term that refers to the area under the jurisdiction of the People's Republic of China . According to the Taipei-based Mainland Affairs Council, the term excludes the PRC Special Administrative Regions of Hong Kong and...

rather than Taiwan

Taiwan

Taiwan , also known, especially in the past, as Formosa , is the largest island of the same-named island group of East Asia in the western Pacific Ocean and located off the southeastern coast of mainland China. The island forms over 99% of the current territory of the Republic of China following...

.