Mark LaPedus

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Mark LaPedus is Executive Editor for manufacturing at Semiconductor Engineering.

Author's Latest Posts

Why Mask Blanks Are Critical
By Mark LaPedus - 21 Oct, 2021 - Comments: 1

Geoff Akiki, president of Hoya LSI at the Hoya Group, sat down with Semiconductor Engineering to talk about optical and extreme ultraviolet (EUV) lithography as well as mask blanks. What follows are excerpts of that discussion. SE: Mask blanks are components that serve as the base or the substrate for a photomask. Why are they critical? Akiki: If you look at Hoya, we've been positioned as... » read more

Gearing Up For High-NA EUV
By Mark LaPedus - 21 Oct, 2021 - Comments: 2

The semiconductor industry is moving full speed ahead to develop high-NA EUV, but bringing up this next generation lithography system and the associated infrastructure remains a monumental and expensive task. ASML has been developing its high-numerical aperture (high-NA) EUV lithography line for some time. Basically, high-NA EUV scanners are the follow-on to today’s EUV lithography systems... » read more

What’s Next For Transistors And Chiplets
By Mark LaPedus - 21 Oct, 2021 - Comments: 5

Sri Samavedam, senior vice president of CMOS Technologies at Imec, sat down with Semiconductor Engineering to talk about finFET scaling, gate-all-around transistors, interconnects, packaging, chiplets and 3D SoCs. What follows are excerpts of that discussion. SE: The semiconductor technology roadmap is moving in several different directions. We have traditional logic scaling, but packaging i... » read more

Manufacturing Bits: Oct. 19
By Mark LaPedus - 19 Oct, 2021 - Comments: 0

Solar mini-reactors The University of Amsterdam has developed a standalone solar-powered mini-reactor. The technology could one day serve as an autonomous off-grid photochemistry system for remote locations. The prototype solar reactor measures 0.25 square meters. The system is equipped with a solar cell, which provides the power for the pumps and control system. This solar cell is placed ... » read more

Week In Review: Manufacturing, Test
By Mark LaPedus - 15 Oct, 2021 - Comments: 0

Chipmakers TSMC posted its results for the quarter and confirmed its long-awaited plans to build a fab in Japan. It’s not a leading-edge fab, but rather a plant for 28nm/22nm processes. “The company confirmed plans to build a new fab in Japan for 22nm + 28nm,” said Aaron Rakers, an analyst at Wells Fargo, in a research note. “An average 22/28nm fab costs ~$4-5B range per 45k wspm. Fab ... » read more

Manufacturing Bits: Oct. 11
By Mark LaPedus - 11 Oct, 2021 - Comments: 0

IC security using AFMs The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) has developed a probe assisted doping technique (PAD), a technology that could help prevent counterfeit chips and electronic devices from entering the market. PAD involves creating a unique ID tag on every chip using an atomic force microscope (AFM). Basically, an AFM system incorporates a cantilever with a tin... » read more

Week In Review: Manufacturing, Test
By Mark LaPedus - 08 Oct, 2021 - Comments: 0

Government policy Hoping to resolve the ongoing worldwide chip shortage situation, the U.S. Department of Commerce late last month launched a “request for information (RFI)” initiative, which involved sending questionnaires to various semiconductor companies. The U.S. government is asking all parts of the supply chain – producers, consumers, and intermediaries – to voluntarily share in... » read more

Fan-Out And Packaging Challenges
By Mark LaPedus - 06 Oct, 2021 - Comments: 2

Semiconductor Engineering sat down to discuss various IC packaging technologies, wafer-level and panel-level approaches, and the need for new materials with William Chen, a fellow at ASE; Michael Kelly, vice president of advanced packaging development and integration at Amkor; Richard Otte, president and CEO of Promex, the parent company of QP Technologies; Michael Liu, senior director of globa... » read more

Manufacturing Bits: Oct. 5
By Mark LaPedus - 05 Oct, 2021 - Comments: 0

EUV lithography storage ring At the recent SPIE Photomask Technology + EUV Lithography conference, Japan’s High Energy Accelerator Research Organization (KEK) presented a paper on its latest efforts to develop a free-electron laser (FEL) storage ring source power unit for extreme ultraviolet (EUV) lithography. KEK has demonstrated a proof-of-concept EUV-FEL, which has been in R&D. EUV-FEL... » read more

Week In Review: Manufacturing, Test
By Mark LaPedus - 01 Oct, 2021 - Comments: 0

Market research For some time, the semiconductor industry has experienced acute shortages. The automotive industry has suffered the most. When will this all end? “Shortages have become more acute for many products in the near term because the growth in demand is greater than the increase in wafer and packaging capacity that was anticipated by the foundry and semiconductor vendors. To date... » read more

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