The Expert's Panel

I was always told it was 2 years and I always agreed it was 4 years for a complex piece of semiconductor equipment. It usually ends up twice as long as management would like it to be. My experience tells me it is in the 2 � 4 year range.

I think for equipment that is right on target. For materials, such as a new photoresist, it is about 8 years. For a new developer it is about 3 � 5 years. From a chemical standpoint, for other products it may be 18 months to 2 years. So it really depends upon what the product is.