Global probe card cleaning market is expected to reach a valuation of US$ 2,051.5 million by 2030 from a valuation of 1,255.4 million in 2021 at a CAGR of 5.8% over the forecast period 2022-2030. 

Probe card cleaning improves equipment utilization by eliminating optical recognition errors, which thereby increases wafer yield and overall throughput. This enables the need for offline cleaning, which helps to maintain their shape and extends the probe card life as well. Moreover, in order to maintain the optimum performance, the needles must be cleaned after certain period of use. 

Various specialty cleaning materials such as probe clean, probe refresh, probe scrub, and assembly clean among others are designed to remove loose, embedded debris from probe tips. Regular cleaning of probe tips is essential as they are used in test factories, otherwise contamination or presence of dirt can problem in the field.

The emerging innovations under probe card cleaning include advancement that helps to optimize the cleaning cycle through “adaptive interval” solution. Under this intelligence (AI) algorithms are used to estimate the dirtness of needles. This helps to clean then only in cases where yield is being affected. Furthermore, the market is expected to grow at a higher rate over the forecast period due to a number of factors, including increasing use of probe cards in semiconductor manufacturing and electronic equipment. 

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MARKET DYNAMICS

Drivers

Growing Adoption of Probe Cards in Semiconductor Manufacturing

Factors such as increasing use of semiconductors in various manufacturing and electronic equipment is accelerating the probe card cleaning market growth. The probe cards are currently on much high demand as many modern electronic gadgets are equipped with integrated circuits. 

Probe cards are becoming an increasingly popular way to monitor and control semiconductor manufacturing processes. The cards help identify problems early in the manufacturing process, which can prevent them from leading to further issues down the line.

One of the benefits of probe cards is that they can be used in a variety of different manufacturing processes. This makes them a versatile tool for ensuring quality control throughout the manufacturing process. Probe cards can also be used to detect defects or abnormalities before they become large enough to cause problems.

By using probe cards, manufacturers can shorten their time to market and improve the quality of their products. In addition, they can reduce costs associated with quality issues down the line.

Restraints 

Maintaining an Adequate Balance of Probing to Cleaning Ratio

The global probe card cleaning market is anticipated to be hampered by inadequate balance of probing to cleaning ratio. Whenever an abrasive is used to clean a probe card, the abrasive may also remove a little portion of the substance from the probe tip. Thereby, the lifespan of the probe card and the test yield are traded off when creating a cleaning plan for probe cards. For instance, if the probing-to-cleaning ratio is set too high, yield will drop substantially. Alternatively, if the probing-to-cleaning ratio is set too low, probe card longevity and test equipment utilization will suffer significantly. 

Therefore, maintaining a probing-to-cleaning ratio that is both low enough to reduce probe tip wear and high enough to enhance yield should be the goal of the user when establishing a cleaning approach.

Opportunity

Availability of Advance Technologies

The use of automatic socket cleaning is becoming more widespread and is creating the market opportunity for companies operating in the probe card cleaning market. There are several different ways to clean sockets, including brushing, pressured air blowing out, laser cleaning, and utilizing a cleaning substrate. 

During wafer sort, the user may employ cleaning agents, which are often an abrasive film, to clean the probes of a probe card. This kind of abrasive cleaning will remove probe material from less sophisticated cantilever or vertical probe cards.

Trend

Cycles for Cleaning Probe Cards are Improved by an Adaptive AI Method

Wafers are touched by probe cards, which over the time causes a buildup of contamination that needs to be cleaned. Therefore, for card cleaning solutions, adaptive interval technique is used to optimize the cleaning cycle. It evaluates the cleanliness of the needles using artificial intelligence (AI) algorithms, cleaning them only when yields are being impacted.

Market Segmentation

Type Analysis

Based on type segment, the global probe card cleaning market is divided into cleaning scrub and polish, cleaning sheet, fiber film, laser cleaner and others. Our study found that scrub and polish segment dominated the probe card cleaning market in 2021 by holding around 31% share. 

On the other hand, the laser cleaner segment is projected to grow at the highest CAGR of 7.6% during the forecast period. Laser cleaning helps to selectively remove surface contamination without inducing any substrate damage. This method helps in fast cleaning of probe card. We expect the adoption of laser technologies is likely to increase in the future with the growing advancements in technologies. 

Fiber film sheets are also gaining popularity in the global probe card cleaning market as they can be utilized for optical connector polishing and chemical mechanical polishing (CMP) at room temperature. These sheets are an abrasive pad made of fibers that range in length from 3 to 5 mm and have been incorporated into a poromeric foam layer.

Application Analysis

By application, the probe card cleaning market is bifurcated into semiconductor wafer inspection and compound semiconductor wafer inspection. The semiconductor wafer inspection segment held the highest share of 76.3% in 2021 and is growing at a CAGR of 6.0% during the forecast period. The semiconductor wafer inspection segment was valued at US$ 957.3 million in 2021. 

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Regional Analysis:

Asia Pacific probe card cleaning market is expected to grow at the highest CAGR of 6.5% followed by North America with 5.9%. Due to rapid rise in the chip and semiconductor industry in Asia, the region is expected to record an impressive growth in the forecast period. 

China mainly relies on imports to meet its demand for probe cards. However, due to political changes, more and more Chinese manufactures are shifting towards domestic production of probe cards. This shift is likely to increase the market of probe card cleaning in Asia. 

North America is the largest probe card cleaning market. In 2021, the region generated a revenue of US$ 470.4 million. We expect the region is projected to continue holding its lion’s share with the heavy investments in R&D for developing more cost-effective cleaning process and expansion of major factories in the US.

Competitive Landscape:

Advantest, Nagase, MIPOX, FEINMETALL GmbH, IMT Co., Ltd, International Test Solutions, and JEM America Corp collectively held around 28% share of the global probe card cleaning market in 2021. On the other hand, MGN International, Advance Spectral Technology, htt Group, Accuprobe, 3M, and Alpha Probes helds around 22% market share in the same year. 

Segmentation Overview

The Global probe card cleaning market is sub-segmented into:

By Type segment of the Global probe card cleaning market is sub-segmented into: 

• Cleaning Scrub and Polish
• Cleaning Sheet
• Fiber Film
• Laser Cleaner
• Others

By Application segment of the Global probe card cleaning market is sub-segmented into: 

• Semiconductor Wafer Inspection
• Compound Semiconductor Wafer Inspection

By Region segment of the Global probe card cleaning market is sub-segmented into: 

• North America
  • The U.S.
  • Canada
  • Mexico
• Europe
  • Western Europe
    • The UK
    • Germany
    • France
    • Italy
    • Spain
    • Rest of Western Europe
  • Eastern Europe
    • Poland
    • Russia
    • Rest of Eastern Europe
• Asia Pacific
  • China
  • India
  • Japan
  • Australia & New Zealand
  • ASEAN
  • South Korea
  • Rest of Asia Pacific
• Middle East & Africa (MEA)
  • Saudi Arabia
  • South Africa
  • UAE
  • Rest of MEA
• South America
  • Argentina
  • Brazil
  • Rest of South America