Benchmarking the Productivity of Photomask Manufacturers

A survey-based, empirical study that benchmarks the productivity of photomask manufacturers has led to some significant conclusions. First, the wide variation in the productivity indicators from company to company suggests that all participants may have significant cost-reduction opportunities within their operations. Second, the high downtime of pattern generation tools is limiting productivity. Third, producing smaller feature sizes is correlated to an investment in engineering and experimentation capacity. It could not be confirmed that photomask manufacturers are successfully taking advantage of economies of scale, suggesting that the outlook for profitability of many photomask manufacturers is precarious.