UV/Vis/NIR spectroscopy is a subset of the half-billion dollar UV/Vis spectroscopy market and is used widely across applications in the semiconductor and electronics industry. Despite the fact that only a handful of vendors dominate the market, the applications for which UV/Vis/NIR is used are experiencing strong growth that will help to drive growth in demand.

UV/Vis/NIR instruments can be used to analyze both liquids and solids, but are most useful for analyzing various thin film and electronic materials, and so are mostly used for analyzing solids. Sampling accessories, such as integrating spheres and accessories for specular reflectance and diffuse reflectance, are commonly used and are major contributors to aftermarket demand. Many UV/Vis/NIR systems are now designed with larger sampling compartments to accommodate increasing sample sizes.

True UV/Vis/NIR instruments typically have a wavelength detection range that covers the entirety of the UV, visible and NIR spectrums, ranging from 175 nm to 3300 nm. Conventional UV/Vis instruments may pick up a small portion of the NIR spectrum, typically up to 900 nm or 1100 nm, but are not considered UV/Vis/NIR instruments.

Older UV/Vis/NIR instruments typically combined a photomultiplier detector for the UV/Vis range with a lead sulfide detector for the NIR spectrum. However, both types of detectors are somewhat weak, in the 1000–2000 nm wavelength range, and so vendors began to incorporate indium gallium arsenide detectors as a third detector in higher-end UV/Vis/NIR instruments. Most higher-end UV/Vis/NIR instruments now employ this triple-detector configuration.

The broad bandwidth analysis afforded by UV/Vis/NIR spectrometers is useful for evaluating the performance of thin semiconducting films, anti-reflective coatings and similar materials. The flat panel display (FPD) industry is a major user of UV/Vis/NIR for product development and quality analysis. The solar cell industry uses UV/Vis/NIR to evaluate the performance of thin film photovoltaic cells. The proliferation of FPDs, combined with the continued growth of alternative energy industries, is helping to fuel growth for UV/Vis/NIR instrumentation.

The UV/Vis/NIR market is currently worth about $65 million annually. It is expected to slightly outpace the broader UV/Vis spectroscopy market with mid-single digit annual growth over the next several years.

In some ways, the UV/Vis/NIR market has become mature. The top three competitors account for over two-thirds of the vendor share combined. Also, there have been few major instrument introductions in more than three years. However, the technology is vital to several growing industrial sectors, which is helping to drive solid growth. By far, the biggest news in the market in the last several years was Agilent’s acquisition of Varian (see IBO 7/31/09), which was one of the leading UV/Vis /NIR suppliers.

UV/Vis/NIR Spectroscopy at a Glance:

Leading Suppliers

• Shimadzu

• PerkinElmer

• Agilent

Largest Markets

• Flat Panel Displays

• Solar Cells

• Anti-reflective Coatings

Instrument Cost

• $30,000–$80,000