Semiconductor Wafer Mask Costs

Semiconductor lithography and wafer mask set have developed dramatically in recent years. As technology migrated into nanometer geometries mask set price has increased exponentially.

The good news is that mask cost is decreasing every year due to maturity in production process and other factors such as market demand, competition landscape etc. However, when a new process node is introduced, the wafer mask set price is sky high — allowing only a few companies to access the new process as “early adaptors”.

Selecting the right process node is a critical choice for a fabless company. Designing in the cutting edge will cause an increase in complexity and hence higher cost and risk. But will allow the company to benefit from improved performance, smaller size and low power ASICs.

We have collected wafer mask set prices from our network and generated a chart that shows the comparison of maskset price for each node. Remember these prices will change over time and over production volume.

Leard more about maskset here: Understanding Maskset Type – MPW, MLM, MLR and Single-Maskset

Get prices from wafer foundries for mask set and wafers: Get 3 quotes from Semiconductor Foundries