category: Blogs – MD

category: IoT, Security & Automotive

Improving Patterning Yield At The 5nm Semiconductor Node
By Benjamin Vincent - 29 Mar, 2018 - Comments: 0

Engineering decisions are always data-driven. As scientists, we only believe in facts and not in intuition or feelings. At the manufacturing stage, the semiconductor industry is eager to provide data and facts to engineers based upon metrics such as the quantity of wafers produced per hour and sites/devices tested on each of those wafers. The massive quantity of data generated in semiconduct... » read more

Wafer Demand: Under Pressure But Still Growing
By Joanne Itow - 19 Mar, 2018 - Comments: 1

Wafer demand grew 10.7% in 2017 while total semiconductor units grew 13.4%. Due to the tight supply of silicon wafers and increased prices, most manufactures placed an even higher priority on improving yields. The industry’s focus on yield improvements is relentless but especially important when the cost of key input materials is on the rise. In 2017 the semiconductor products that con... » read more

Trump Wants Critical Metals
By Mark LaPedus - 15 Mar, 2018 - Comments: 0

In recent times, President Trump has taken an active role in the electronics and related sectors, notably the U.S. administration’s move to block Broadcom’s unsolicited, $117 billion takeover bid for Qualcomm. The Trump administration has also raised eyebrows by blocking other deals as well. And with little or no fanfare, the administration is also taking a role in another area—critica... » read more

How Atomic Layer Deposition Works
By Dennis Hausmann - 15 Mar, 2018 - Comments: 0

Imagine being able to deposit a film of material just a few atomic layers at a time. As impossible as that sounds, atomic layer deposition (ALD) is a reality. In fact, it’s being used in an ever-increasing number of applications as an extremely precise and controllable process for creating thin films. Together with its etch counterpart – atomic layer etching (ALE) – ALD is enabling the us... » read more

Mixing 4G And 5G
By Mike Rosa - 15 Mar, 2018 - Comments: 0

5G networks will impact the number and types of ICs in end-user devices and the base stations used to transmit the signals (including the repeaters that rebroadcast those signals). And this is before we begin to consider the technology impact to the infrastructure required to support the data generated in a 5G ecosystem (servers, memory and so on). First, 5G is expected to transmit up to 10 ... » read more

Counting On Cryptocurrency
By Clark Tseng - 15 Mar, 2018 - Comments: 1

While cryptocurrencies may still be in the infancy of market development and adoption, the semiconductor industry has certainly felt the potential of blockchain technologies. In its fourth quarter 2017 earnings conference, TSMC commented on the strong demand from cryptocurrency-related businesses since the second half of 2017. These “mining” markets are driving leading-edge business at TSMC... » read more

New Applications, Multiple Approaches
By Gary Patton - 15 Mar, 2018 - Comments: 0

It may be tempting to view the strong demand for semiconductors as just one more up-cycle in our traditionally cyclical industry, but what’s really driving things right now is the opening of entirely new horizons, made possible by the increased capabilities of today’s chips. Chip demand is no longer only being driven by the needs of computer and smartphone manufacturers. Now, a mushroomi... » read more

How To Build A Better MEMS Microphone
By Chris Welham - 21 Feb, 2018 - Comments: 0

We are seeing a lot of interest in simulating noise, particularly for condenser microphones. With any transducer, noise reduction is always a plus, and with microphones there are two specific applications that need low noise. One is where the microphone is positioned away from the sound source, such as in video calling or when using voice commands with tablet computers. The other is where multi... » read more

5 Takeaways From ISS 2018
By Mark LaPedus - 15 Feb, 2018 - Comments: 0

At the recent Industry Strategy Symposium (ISS) in Half Moon Bay, Calif., there were a multitude of presentations on a number of subjects. The event, sponsored by SEMI, had presentations on the outlook for ICs and equipment. As part of the program, ISS also discussed the latest business and technology trends. In no particular order, here are my five takeaways from ISS: Ranging forecasts ... » read more

What EUV Brings To The Table
By Moshe Preil - 15 Feb, 2018 - Comments: 0

After many years of hearing that EUV is almost ready for prime time, the tide is finally coming in. A decade of slow but steady progress has resulted in exposure tools that can expose on the order of 1,000 wafers a day on a regular basis. This may be shy of the requirements for high volume manufacturing (HVM), but it is certainly more than enough to support solid development programs and pilot ... » read more

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