Lam’s new wafer cleaning tool is due out in 2007, while the company appears to be in the R&D stage with the other products, according to the investment banking firm.

Lam (Fremont, Calif.) mainly participates in the plasma etch market, where the chip-equipment maker is the leader in the metal etch segment with about 43-to-44 percent share, according to SG Cowen (New York).

However, the company has experienced little success in developing new products beyond etch. In 2004 Lam bailed out of the competitive chemical mechanical polishing (CMP) tool market.

Some analysts believe that Lam must expand beyond its core etch niche. The plasma etch market is limited and the competition is fierce. “The company faces some headwinds of slowing equipment orders in the second half of 2006 and increased competition from Tokyo Electron, but we believe Lam can continue to take share in both existing and new markets,” said Mark Bachman, an analyst with Pacific Crest Securities Inc. (Portland, Ore., in a recent report.

For some time, Lam has been talking about an effort to enter the growing but fragmented wafer cleaning market. And during an analyst meeting at the Semicon China trade show this week, Lam revealed more detail about its new product efforts.

The company’s wafer cleaning tool is due out in 2007 and targeted for the 45-nm node, said Raj Seth, an analyst with SG Cowen, in the report. “Other new products include a standalone strip tool for the post implant strip and a patterning tool used to extend the resolution of lithography tools,” Seth said.

No other product details were given in the report. Lam is also expanding its efforts in etch, as the company is looking to gain share in the dielectric segment, he said.

At Semicon China, Lam executives reiterated the company’s previous guidance, which calls for March orders and shipments to grow 25-to-30 percent and 30 percent sequentially, respectively, according to the report.

Semiconductor equipment supplier Lam in January reported a net income of $77.8 million on revenue of $358.2 million for its fiscal 2006 second quarter. Both numbers were up sequentially from the fiscal first quarter of 2006, but down from the company's performance for the same period the previous year.