Breaking The Copper Bottleneck With Molybdenum Hybrid Metallization

By Taeyeon Oh - 18 Sep, 2025 - Comments: 0

Scaling the back end of line (BEOL) in advanced semiconductor logic devices is a major challenge. Metal lines and via filling in BEOL have historically used copper (Cu) as the electrical conductor. But as device dimensions shrink, Cu use has become problematic. The small critical dimensions (CD) of the Cu metal lines and vias in the latest BEOL structures have created an increase in resistance,... » read more

Quantum Computing: How Advances May Reshape Our Understanding Of The World

By Greg Sorber - 18 Sep, 2025 - Comments: 0

After decades spent gestating in labs, quantum computing has finally reached an inflection point between theoretical promise and practical implementation. From discoveries in pharmaceutical and material sciences to boosting artificial intelligence (AI) and climate modeling, quantum computing is on the cusp of providing an entirely new way to solve highly complex problems — which could ultimat... » read more

Precision Under Pressure: Managing Materials Complexity In Advanced Packaging

By Gregory Haley - 18 Sep, 2025 - Comments: 0

In the race to extend Moore's Law through advanced packaging, the limits of precision are no longer defined solely by lithography. Increasingly, they are dictated by the unpredictable behavior of materials. Semiconductor packaging today is no longer limited to just silicon and copper. It includes an expanding range of polymers, adhesives, dielectrics, exotic metals, along with substrates suc... » read more

Increasing Semiconductor Device Reliability Requires Adding More Wafer Inspection

By Errol Akomer - 18 Sep, 2025 - Comments: 0

Some industry sectors such as automotive and medical continue to push for higher and higher reliability levels; however, many fabs are having difficulties achieving them. Current inspection regimes still allow too many defects to pass through and escape to the field – primarily because of time and expense issues. Too much wafer is still left uninspected One fundamental problem is the amount... » read more

Correlation & Commonality Analysis In Complex Semiconductor Ecosystems

By Aftkhar Aslam - 18 Sep, 2025 - Comments: 0

The semiconductor industry is entering an era defined by heterogeneous integration and complex packaging technologies. Innovations such as wafer-on-wafer bonding, chiplets, multi-stacked die (2.5D/3D), bumping, and system-in-package architectures are enabling unprecedented performance and functionality. However, with these advances comes an explosion in manufacturing complexity and ecosy... » read more

Scaling Memory With Molybdenum

By Katherine Derbyshire - 18 Sep, 2025 - Comments: 2

Molybdenum is looking increasingly promising as a replacement for a variety of metals commonly used in semiconductor manufacturing today, especially at leading-edge nodes. One by one, chipmakers are crossing metals off the list at advanced nodes. While ruthenium liners are nearly ready for production, the metal is not ready to replace copper in highly scaled interconnects. Ruthenium is very ... » read more

Collaboration Is Key To Growing Semiconductor Industry

By Bob Smith - 18 Sep, 2025 - Comments: 0

John Kibarian, CEO and co-founder of PDF Solutions and a member of the ESD Alliance (ESDA) Governing Council, will deliver a keynote during the CEO Summit at SEMICON West in October titled “Revolutionizing Semiconductor Collaboration: The Emergence of AI-Driven Industry Platforms.” He recently shared with me a summary of what his talk will cover and his perspective on why collabora... » read more

Glass Substrates Gain Momentum

By Laura Peters - 18 Sep, 2025 - Comments: 1

As a package substrate, the benefits of glass are substantial. It's extremely flat with lower thermal expansion than organic substrates, which simplifies lithography. And that's just for starters. Warpage, a growing problem for multichip packages, is greatly reduced. Chips can be hybrid bonded to redistribution layer pads on glass. And relative to organic-core substrates, glass provides very... » read more

Simulating Atomic Layer Processing Of 2D Materials

By Synopsys - 18 Sep, 2025 - Comments: 0

Integrating 2D materials into sustainable electronic devices presents key challenges, particularly in depositing or etching nanometer-thick layers on high aspect ratio structures. Atomic Layer Etching (ALE) offers atomic-level precision and has demonstrated success in producing atomically thin layers of transition metal dichalcogenides (TMDs) like MoS2. Synopsys has developed an industry-grade ... » read more

New Demands For IP Reuse

By Brian Bailey - 17 Sep, 2025 - Comments: 0

Experts at the Table: Semiconductor Engineering sat down to discuss the state of functional verification with Mohan Dhene, director for architecture and design at Alphawave Semi; Andy Nightingale, vice president for product management and marketing at Arteris; Dinesha Rao, senior group director for software engineering at Cadence; Chris Mueth, new opportunities business manager at Keysight;... » read more

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