Mark LaPedus

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Mark LaPedus is Executive Editor for manufacturing at Semiconductor Engineering.

Author's Latest Posts

Are LEDs Cool?
By Mark LaPedus - 17 Jul, 2014 - Comments: 2

The high-brightness LED market is moving in several directions at once. On one front, LEDs are moving into automotive and solid-state lighting. Within solid-state lighting, there are different markets, such as industrial and residential. And in the supply chain, there are LED chips, equipment and fabs. And then, there is intelligent lighting, where the smartphone or tablet controls the lig... » read more

Manufacturing Bits: July 15
By Mark LaPedus - 15 Jul, 2014 - Comments: 0

Multi-beam hits milestone Mapper Lithography has reached a major milestone in its ongoing push to bring multi-beam, direct-write lithography into the mainstream. The Dutch-based company recently installed its initial pre-production tool at CEA-Leti, a French-based R&D organization. The tool, dubbed Matrix 1.1, is a multi-beam, e-beam system for direct-write applications. During the r... » read more

Will 7nm And 5nm Really Happen?
By Mark LaPedus - 14 Jul, 2014 - Comments: 2

Today’s silicon-based finFETs could run out of steam at 10nm. If or when chipmakers move beyond 10nm, IC vendors will require a new transistor architecture. III-V finFETs, gate-all-around FETs, quantum well finFETs, SOI finFETs and vertical nanowires are just a few of the future transistor candidates at 7nm and 5nm. Technically, it’s possible to manufacture the transistor portions of the... » read more

The Week In Review: Manufacturing
By Mark LaPedus - 11 Jul, 2014 - Comments: 0

As feature sizes continue to shrink and new device architectures are introduced, the IC industry will require new breakthroughs. In fact, feature dimensions will soon have tolerances that are on the order of a few atoms. For the most advanced structures, conventional plasma etch and deposition processes are unable to meet these requirements. As a result, the industry will require tools th... » read more

Manufacturing Bits: July 8
By Mark LaPedus - 08 Jul, 2014 - Comments: 1

Intel foundry deal At the Semicon West trade show in San Francisco, Intel announced that it has entered into a foundry agreement with Panasonic’s LSI Business Division. Intel's custom foundry business will manufacture future Panasonic system-on-chips (SoCs) using Intel's 14nm low-power manufacturing process. Intel’s low-power process will be a derivative of its general-purpose 14nm proc... » read more

The Week In Review: Manufacturing
By Mark LaPedus - 03 Jul, 2014 - Comments: 0

Looking to address a new wave of chip architectures in the marketplace, Applied Materials has rolled out its next-generation, medium-current ion implanter. The system, dubbed the VIISta 900 3D, is geared for the production of finFETs and 3D NAND designs at the sub-2xnm nodes. Typically, medium-current implanters have a maximum energy range of about 900keV (triple-charge), with dose ranges fr... » read more

Manufacturing Bits: July 1
By Mark LaPedus - 01 Jul, 2014 - Comments: 0

Nanotubes in 4D The California Institute of Technology (Caltech) has continued to advance its efforts in four-dimensional electron microscopy. In 4D microscopy, electrons bombard a sample. Each electron scatters off the sample. This produces an image at just a femtosecond in duration. Then, millions of the images are stitched together, which, in turn, produces a digital movie in 4D. [cap... » read more

The Week In Review: Manufacturing
By Mark LaPedus - 27 Jun, 2014 - Comments: 0

As semiconductor technology becomes more challenging, expect more mergers and acquisitions in the fab tool sector. In a research report issued this week, Weston Twigg, an analyst with Pacific Crest Securities, sees several possible M&A scenarios in the future. There is no evidence that any deal is pending right now. But according to Twigg, here are some possible M&As that could happen i... » read more

Manufacturing Bits: June 24
By Mark LaPedus - 24 Jun, 2014 - Comments: 0

A cup of sub-wavelength images The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) and the University of Michigan have developed a technology that could enable sub-wavelength images at radio frequencies. Researchers used a mere glass cup, and laser light at optical wavelengths, to measure and image RF fields. In the future, this technology could measure the behavior of metamaterials. ... » read more

The Week In Review: Manufacturing
By Mark LaPedus - 20 Jun, 2014 - Comments: 0

According to one analyst, the capital spending picture looks gloomy. “We expect finFET and 3D NAND to ramp over the next two years. However, foundry and memory customers are showing great restraint with respect to spending plans, limiting the rate of new node transitions and overall capex upside. In the near term, we see no evidence of meaningful equipment orders to support high-volume finFET... » read more

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