One thing I really enjoyed with my trusted Nikon 70-200mm f4 was its close MFD – I could photograph small things like alpine flowers or even some butterflies and dragonflies. The new Nikon Z 24-200mm lens can focus even closer, at about 70 cm (2.3 ft). It can focus much closer than the old 70-200mm lens but the reproduction factor is about the same (I believe this is due to focus breathing?). Here is an example of a waterlily photographed with both lenses at their minimum focus distance. Several foundry vendors manufacture chips for others in 200mm fabs, and each company is different with various process offerings. GlobalFoundries, Hua Hong, Samsung, SkyWater, SMIC, Tower, TSMC, UMC, Vanguard, and X-Fab are among the foundry vendors with 200mm fabs.

When attached to a non-stabilized body –the Canon EOS R, Canon EOS RP or Canon EOS Ra–this lens delivers a solid 5 stops of stabilization. However, mount it to the IBIS-enabled R5 and R6 and the combination IS delivers an enormous 7.5 stops of stabilization –that's half a stop less than the RF 70-200mm f/2.8L, but is still incredibly impressive. Demand for 200mm capacity used to be cyclical, but over the last few years, that dynamic has changed,” said Walter Ng, vice president of business development at UMC. “We have seen 200mm demand continue to outpace supply across the industry. Many devices are long-lived products, which will stay on the existing technologies for some time. Other new applications are also coming to the market, wanting to take advantage of the technology/cost benefits of the 200mm technology nodes. This creates the new norm for 200mm, with industry demand continuously outpacing industry supply for the foreseeable future.”capacity is measured in other ways. For example, each process node in a 200mm fab has its own supply/demand equation. For example, PMICs and display driver ICs are in demand at the 180nm node in 200mm fabs. A surge in demand for various chips is causing shortages for select 200mm foundry capacity as well as 200mm fab equipment, and it shows no signs of abating in 2021. On the capacity front, meanwhile, IDMs and foundries continue to build new 200mm fabs. “In 2019, we counted five new 200mm fabs,” SEMI’s Dieseldorff said. “Seven 200mm fabs began construction work in 2020. One more, or possibly two, will start construction in 2021.” Still, 200mm tools from the OEMs are in demand. “There is certainly a shortage of used 200mm tool cores for refurbishment,” said David Haynes, managing director of strategic marketing at Lam Research. “But there remains a strong demand for 200mm equipment across many established applications in sensing, power, and RF. Demand for analog IC capacity for power management and specialized CMOS image sensor applications are particularly strong and driving customer demand. Similarly, we have seen increasing demand for discrete power device fabrication solutions, although these technologies continue to migrate to 300mm as demand grows.” Indeed, there is a perception that the requirements are simple for chips in 200mm fabs. On the contrary, the requirements are sometimes complex and device makers want tools with more precise processes and faster throughputs.

KLA has a broad portfolio of 200mm inspection and metrology tools. “We are serving the market with refurbished 200mm KLA tools and are remanufacturing other mature product lines. We have also added 200mm capability to several current tool models,” Odisho said. “In some cases, we have relaunched specific 200mm product manufacturing to meet the large growing, mature market demand. We continue to see strong growth in 200mm, both for added systems as well as for performance and throughput enhancement upgrades. We are also meeting the challenge of product serviceability by doubling down our engineering support to ensure continuity of supply by obsolescence mitigation.”

200mm PC Fans

KLA, Onto, and others sell inspection and metrology equipment, which is also critical in 200mm fabs. Inspection equipment finds defects in chips, while metrology tools are used to measure structures.

Still, most photographers would rarely shoot at f/16 or above with a 70-200mm lens, so for the vast majority of potential buyers this won’t present a problem. Automatic distortion correction is advantageous for architectural shots. Olympus E-M5 II, 20mm, 1/400sec at f/6.3, ISO 200During the early days of the semiconductor industry in the mid-1960s, chipmakers processed the most advanced chips on 1.25-inch (30mm) wafers in a fab. 30mm denotes the diameter of the wafer size. This features a perforated seal on the moving inner barrel, to enable air movement while keeping dust and moisture out. While we previously had reservations about whether water and particulates would penetrate the seals (especially if zooming in and out in wet or dusty conditions), we've yet to hear any such complaints about the f/2.8 version so we've no reason to believe it will be an issue here.