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Katherine Derbyshire

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Katherine Derbyshire is a technical editor at Semiconductor Engineering.

Author's Latest Posts

Improving Transistor Reliability
By Katherine Derbyshire - 21 Apr, 2016 - Comments: 1

One of the more important challenges in reliability testing and simulation is the duty cycle dependence of degradation mechanisms such as negative bias temperature instability ([getkc id="278" kc_name="NBTI"]) and hot carrier injection (HCI). For example, as previously discussed, both the shift due to NBTI and the recovery of baseline behavior are very dependent on device workload. This is ... » read more

Quantum Computing Breakthrough
By Katherine Derbyshire - 04 Apr, 2016 - Comments: 0

An earlier series of articles on quantum computing discussed the differences between the gate logic model and the quantum annealing model. The gate logic model, like transistor logic, uses a limited number of “gates” to construct a general purpose computer, theoretically capable of solving any problem for which a suitable algorithm can be found. In systems designed around the gate logic mod... » read more

Many Paths To Hafnium Oxide
By Katherine Derbyshire - 31 Mar, 2016 - Comments: 0

Equipment and materials suppliers often talk about the fragmentation of integrated circuit processing. While the number of manufacturers has gone down, the diversity of the underlying semiconductor market has increased. Low-power processors for mobile devices, non-volatile memory for solid state disks, and dedicated graphics processors all have different requirements from the traditional ind... » read more

Managing ALD Effluent
By Katherine Derbyshire - 31 Mar, 2016 - Comments: 0

Process designers tend to not think very much about the waste gases from their processes. The chamber exhaust sends the effluent gases to the fab scrubbers, and that is pretty much that. Except when it’s not. It turns out that the design of the ALD process can make life significantly more challenging for the chamber exhaust pumps. In atomic layer deposition, the first precursor gas, su... » read more

EUV Resists Move Forward
By Katherine Derbyshire - 23 Mar, 2016 - Comments: 0

Improvements in EUV exposure sources and exposure tools are shifting the industry’s focus to other components of the lithography process. As noted last year, one of the key areas is photoresists. But advanced photoresists face significant challenges, due to the need to balance sensitivity, etch selectivity, and resolution. This year’s SPIE Advanced Lithography conference featured promis... » read more

Internet of FD-SOI Things?
By Katherine Derbyshire - 18 Feb, 2016 - Comments: 0

Are fully-depleted silicon-on-insulator (FD-SOI) wafers having a moment? Certainly SOI wafers are not new. Soitec’s SmartCut layer transfer technology was patented in 1994, and wafers with implanted oxide layers were available before that. Still, adoption of SOI wafers has been limited. Though they offer improved device isolation and reduced parasitics, the increased wafer cost has been an ob... » read more

Coming To A Fab Near You?
By Katherine Derbyshire - 21 Jan, 2016 - Comments: 1

What do Quentin Tarantino and ASML have in common? Anamorphic lenses. The optical image created by an anamorphic lens is oval, rather than round, with different magnifications along the horizontal and vertical axes. Tarantino used 65mm anamorphic lenses to film The Hateful Eight, and some theaters are also using them to screen the movie. It’s the first fiction feature to use this format s... » read more

The Next Resists…Continued
By Katherine Derbyshire - 17 Dec, 2015 - Comments: 1

As previously discussed, conventional chemically-amplified resists are struggling to balance the competing requirements of EUV lithography. Simultaneously meeting the industry’s targets for resolution, sensitivity, and line-edge roughness may require new resist concepts. Inpria’s resist technology, based on tin-oxide nano clusters, is one possibility. Recently published work at SUNY Albany ... » read more

Quantum Entanglement Test
By Katherine Derbyshire - 25 Nov, 2015 - Comments: 0

One of the more bizarre implications of quantum theory is the so-called “spooky action at a distance” effect. If two quantum particles are entangled, measuring the state of one simultaneously defines the state of the other, regardless of the distance between them. This behavior appears to defy the rule that nothing can travel faster than the speed of light: information regarding the stat... » read more

What’s Really Causing Line-Edge Roughness?
By Katherine Derbyshire - 19 Nov, 2015 - Comments: 0

As previously discussed, shot noise is an important contributor to line edge roughness. However, as the title of one paper on the subject put it, “Do not always blame the photons.” The line edge roughness of a chemically amplified resist ultimately depends on photoacid generation and the deprotection of the resist’s base monomers. Photons absorbed by the resist simply trigger a chain ... » read more

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