Building An MRAM Array


MRAM is gaining traction in a variety of designs as a middle-level type of memory, but there are reasons why it took so long to bring this memory to market. A typical magnetoresistive RAM architecture is based on CoFeB magnetic layers, with an MgO tunneling barrier. The reference layer should have zero net magnetization to make sure that it doesn’t influence the orientation of the free lay... » read more

A Different Foundry Model


As the pursuit to produce advanced semiconductors that keep up with the Moore’s Law treadmill becomes more and more challenging, many companies are seeking other ways to provide the next ‘must-have’ electronic products. In fact, many companies have realized that the need for doubling performance is no longer the main attribute necessary to deliver successful solutions for IoT, automotive,... » read more

Mask Making Issues With EUV


Semiconductor Engineering sat down to discuss lithography and photomask trends with Bryan Kasprowicz, director of technology and strategy and a distinguished member of the technical staff at Photronics; Thomas Scheruebl, director of strategic business development and product strategy at Zeiss; Noriaki Nakayamada, senior technologist at NuFlare; and Aki Fujimura, chief executive of D2S. What fol... » read more

Curvilinear Full-Chip ILT


Leo Pang, chief product officer and executive vice president at D2S, talks about the speed improvements with full-chip inverse lithography technology, why it is so critical in stitching together large chips, and how this approach differs from traditional litho approaches. » read more

Thomas Dolby’s Very Different View Of Progress


Thomas Dolby’s hit songs “She Blinded Me with Science” and “Hyperactive!” catapulted him to international fame in the early '80s as a pioneer of New Wave and Electronica by combining a love for invention with a passion for music. The result defined an era of revolutionary music. As record company politics began to overshadow the joy of performing, Dolby turned his attention to Holl... » read more

Are You Running Your Equipment Or Is Your Equipment Running You?


Applied Materials, the innovator of the SmartFactory Rx suite of software products, is taking the lead on leveraging Industry 4.0 principles and technologies, such as Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) and advanced analytics, to optimize manufacturing process performance, asset utilization, and supply chain. SmartFactory Rx Analytics & Control (A&C) collects real-time data from interconnect... » read more

Advances In 3D CMOS Image Sensors Optical Modeling: Combining Realistic Morphologies With FDTD


This paper describes an innovative methodology to investigate the relationship between device morphology and the optical performance of CMOS image sensors. By coupling a FDTD-based 3D Maxwell solver with silicon-accurate process modeling software, we have been able to analyze the sensitivity of image sensor quantum efficiency with respect to statistical variations in nm-scale device topology. A... » read more

Process To Produce High Aspect Ratio Electroplated Copper Pillars On 300 mm Wafers


This work provides details of a complete and partially optimized process to manufacture high aspect ratio copper pillars with heights of up to 80 µm on 200 and 300 mm wafers. Across wafer uniformity data for all materials and process steps are given. Results will show excellent resist adhesion on copper and electroplating durability. Cross sectional SEM analysis of resist and electroplated pil... » read more

Extending Portable Stimulus


It has been a year since Accellera's Portable Test and Stimulus Specification became a standard. Semiconductor Engineering sat down to discuss the impact it has had, and the future direction of it, with Larry Melling, product management director for Cadence; Tom Fitzpatrick, strategic verification architect for Mentor, a Siemens Business; Tom Anderson, technical marketing consultant for OneSpin... » read more

Making Sense Of ML Metrics


Steve Roddy, vice president of products for Arm’s Machine Learning Group, talks with Semiconductor Engineering about what different metrics actually mean, and why they can vary by individual applications and use cases. » read more

← Older posts Newer posts →