Wafer Cleaning
The most frequently repeated operation in the fab. A wafer is cleaned between almost every other step, dozens of times before it is finished.
TierB
Imported Not established
EntryNot MSME
Qualify18–30 mo
Front-End Process
What actually happens to a wafer inside the fab.
Reference pages rather than procurement categories. These describe the unit processes that consume the equipment and materials in the two verticals above.
What these figures mean
- Import dependency
- The share of Indian demand for this input that is met by imports today. A percentage is published only where we can state the basis for it, and the build rejects a figure that has none. “Not established” means no sourced figure exists yet, not that the figure is zero; for the domestic picture, read “Made in India today” instead.
- Made in India today
- How much of this input is actually produced in India: none, pilot scale, partial, or established. This is the field to read when import dependency is not established.
- MSME entry capital
- What it would plausibly cost an Indian MSME to enter this input at the smallest viable scale, in crore rupees. Plant and equipment only; it excludes working capital and the qualification cycle.
- Time to qualify
- How long from a working sample to a qualified first shipment, once the line exists. Qualification, not construction, is what usually decides whether an entry succeeds.
- India readiness tier
- Our verdict on whether an Indian founder can realistically enter this input, derived from the four figures above and stated as one of three tiers.
The three tiers
- Tier A: Buildable Now
- Under roughly Rs 5 crore of entry capital and 12 to 24 months to a qualified first shipment. A founder can start here.
- Tier B: Partnership or Distribution
- There is real money here, but not in manufacturing the thing. The opening is in stocking, distribution, purity uplift or a licensed partnership.
- Tier C: Not Yet
- Requires a joint venture, a technology licence, or a multinational’s balance sheet. Worth understanding, not worth starting.
Made in India today
- None
- No Indian production we can identify. Demand is met entirely from abroad.
- Pilot scale
- Made in India at laboratory, pilot-line or single-customer scale only.
- Partial
- Real Indian production exists, but it covers part of the range or part of the demand.
- Established
- Indian production is routine and qualified, at commercial volume.
8 entries
Thermal Oxidation
Growing silicon dioxide by exposing hot silicon to oxygen or steam. The oldest process in the industry and still how the best insulators are made.
TierB
Imported Not established
Entry>Rs 15 Cr
Qualify18–30 mo
Photolithography
Coat, expose, develop. Repeated forty to eighty times per wafer, and the process that sets both the capability and the cost of the entire fab.
TierC
Imported 100%
EntryNot MSME
Qualify30+ mo
Etch
Removing material through the openings lithography created. Where the pattern stops being an image on the surface and becomes the structure of the device.
TierB
Imported 100%
EntryNot MSME
Qualify30+ mo
Ion Implantation and Anneal
Firing dopant ions into silicon, then heating it just enough to repair the lattice damage and put those atoms where they can work.
TierC
Imported 100%
EntryNot MSME
Qualify30+ mo
Thin-Film Deposition
Adding material rather than removing it: dielectrics, barriers, seeds and metals, built up layer by layer to hundreds of films on a finished wafer.
TierB
Imported 100%
Entry>Rs 15 Cr
Qualify30+ mo
CMP and Planarisation
Polishing the wafer flat between layers, so lithography has a level surface to focus on and the next layer can be built at all.
TierB
Imported 100%
EntryRs 5–15 Cr
Qualify18–30 mo
BEOL Metallisation
Building the copper wiring that connects the transistors: trenches etched into low-k dielectric, lined, plated with copper, then polished back flat.
TierC
Imported 100%
Entry>Rs 15 Cr
Qualify30+ mo