Merchant Photomask Makers Remain Relevant


By Jeff Chappell For many years the trend in the semiconductor industry with regard to photomasks and chipmakers was to shed captive mask operations in favor of merchant photomask suppliers. This reflected a larger trend all along the supply chain with many companies moving away from vertical integration as, consequently, the foundry model grew. "This was mainly driven by cost consideratio... » read more

Ivy Bridge Settles Old Bet


Think back seven years to 2005. Those were boom times with the housing market rising, the dollar high, 65nm node chips on the horizon and EUV the great future lithography hope. EUVL was late for the next (45nm) node, but a great new idea had appeared to fill the gap—water immersion scanning with 193nm exposure! But how far could wet 193nm lithography go before EUVL or some new thing, such as ... » read more