Research Bits: May 27


Tracking ferroelectric domain walls Researchers from Oak Ridge National Laboratory and National Cheng Kung University developed a technique called scanning oscillator piezoresponse force microscopy to observe how domain walls move in ferroelectric materials under rapidly fluctuating electric fields. “Domain walls can have completely different properties from the neighboring domains they s... » read more

Chip Industry Week in Review


Podcast: imec's roadmap and a one-on-one interview with the European research house's chief strategy officer. China's Xiaomi debuted an in-house-designed 10-core mobile SoC built on a 3nm process. The company did not identify the foundry. It also announced plans to invest 50 billion yuan (~$7B) over the next decade to develop high-end smartphone chips, as part of a 200 billion yuan (~$28B) c... » read more

Doping Mechanism Of Pure Nitric Oxide In Tungsten Diselenide Transistors (Purdue, MIT, NYCU)


A technical paper titled "Uncovering the doping mechanism of nitric oxide in high-performance P-type WSe2 transistors" was published by researchers at Purdue University, MIT and National Yang Ming Chiao Tung University (with support from Intel Corporation). "Atomically thin two-dimensional (2D) semiconductors are promising candidates for beyond-silicon electronic devices. However, an excessi... » read more

Maximizing Signal Integrity: Fine-Tuning Via Impedance In HDFO Architectures


The most different aspect between a normal lamination structure and High-Density Fan-out (HDFO) is the routing scale. That aspect is also the challenge and focus of this study. At an HDFO scale, most of the electrical properties cannot be measured by instruments. Therefore, this study uses the indirect method to determine the impedance information of the via and match the impedance. Since the v... » read more

Revolutionizing Semiconductor Development With GPU-Enhanced Atomistic Modeling


There are many challenges in the development of a modern semiconductor chip, from front-end architecture simulation to final signoff. Volume manufacturing has its own set of challenges, while silicon lifecycle management (SLM) extends into field deployment and aging concerns. Underlying this entire development flow, however, lie the materials used to build the actual chips. Guiding the explorat... » read more

Cooling Chips Still A Top Challenge


Increasing levels of semiconductor integration means more work needs to be done in smaller spaces, which in turn generates more heat that needs to be dissipated. Managing heat dissipation in advanced node dies and in multi-die assemblies is critical to their functionality and their longevity. And while much of the focus has been on improving power efficiency, which reduces the rate of power ... » read more

Mask Complexity, Cost, And Change


Experts at the Table: As leading-edge lithography nodes push further into EUV and beyond, mask-making has become one of the most critical and costly aspects of semiconductor manufacturing. At the same time, non-EUV applications are stretching the lifetime of older tools and processes, challenging the industry to find new solutions for both ends of the spectrum. Semiconductor Engineering sat dow... » read more

Laser-Focused Results: Improving EUV Line Edge Roughness With Ion Beam Etching


Extreme ultraviolet (EUV) lithography exposed resist patterns can exhibit excessive line edge roughness (LER) and line width roughness (LWR) due to random or shot noise. Increasing the EUV exposure dose can reduce LER/LWR, but it also decreases wafer throughput, which is highly undesirable given the EUV tool’s high operating costs. Ion beam etching (IBE) can directionally etch away roug... » read more

Molybdenum: Transforming Semiconductor Manufacturing For Next-Generation Technologies


One trillion semiconductors produced in a single year. A digital foundation powering AI's explosive growth. The next frontier requires chips that are smaller, faster, and exponentially more powerful. A new white paper from Counterpoint Research  reveals how advanced metallization—specifically molybdenum—is becoming a critical enabler for semiconductor manufacturing in this new era. Th... » read more

Energy-Efficient Computing Systems For Sustainable AI


As artificial intelligence (AI) proliferates rapidly, AI models and datasets are also growing rapidly in size. This growth far outpaces performance improvement in hardware systems, and is increasing AI’s energy consumption unsustainably. To address these challenges and explore collaborative solutions, SEMI’s Smart Data-AI Initiative – as part of its Future of Computing focus – r... » read more

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