category: Blogs – MD

category: IoT, Security & Automotive

Funding China’s 200mm Fabs
By Clark Tseng - 07 Jul, 2017 - Comments: 0

China’s ambitious plans to build a world-class semiconductor manufacturing supply chain domestically certainly has the industry’s attention. With over a dozen new 300mm fab announcements lately from Foundries, DRAM, 3D NAND, and as well as CMOS image sensor companies (either from international semiconductor makers or from indigenous players), China has launched a huge investment in wafer fa... » read more

Foundry Roadmaps: Real Solutions, Or Just Hedging?
By Joanne Itow - 19 Jun, 2017 - Comments: 1

Major semiconductor foundries have revealed their advanced technology roadmaps for the next few years. They’re all investing billions of dollars into the development of process technologies and packaging options. The number of alternatives has been described as ‘dizzying’. How can all the foundries remain profitable? How does the customer decide which ‘route’ to take? For the 2... » read more

Architecture First, Node Second
By Ed Sperling - 15 Jun, 2017 - Comments: 0

What a difference a node makes. A couple of rather important changes have occurred in the move from 16/14 to 10/7nm (aside from more confusing naming conventions). First, companies that require more transistors—processor companies such as [getentity id="22846" e_name="Intel"], AMD, [getentity id="22306" comment="IBM"] and [getentity id="22676" e_name="Qualcomm"]—have come to grips with t... » read more

Inside Chip R&D
By Mark LaPedus - 15 Jun, 2017 - Comments: 1

Semiconductor Engineering sat down to discuss R&D challenges, EUV and other topics with Luc Van den hove, president and chief executive of Imec, an R&D organization in Belgium. What follows are excerpts of that conversation. SE: Clearly, Moore’s Law is slowing down. The traditional process cadence is extending from 2 years to roughly 2.5 to 3 years. Yet, R&D is not slowing down, right? ... » read more

CMOS Image Sensors (CIS): Past, Present & Future
By Sofiane Guissi - 15 Jun, 2017 - Comments: 6

Over the last decade, CMOS Image Sensor (CIS) technology has made impressive progress. Image sensor performance has dramatically improved over the years, and CIS technology has enjoyed great commercial success since the introduction of mobile phones using onboard cameras. Many people, including scientists and marketing specialists, predicted 15 years earlier that CMOS image sensors were going t... » read more

Going Vertical?
By Debra Vogler - 15 Jun, 2017 - Comments: 0

The topic of transistor scaling has been traditionally covered at SEMICON West in its own right. This year’s event, however, will also explore scaling in 3D, as well as using packaging to accomplish similar objectives. Along with traditional transistor scaling, speakers will tackle design and metrology considerations for scaling the package, and address the economic decisions that inform dens... » read more

Fab Spending Hits New High
By Christian Dieseldorff - 07 Jun, 2017 - Comments: 0

The latest update to the World Fab Forecast report, published on May 31, 2017 by SEMI, reveals record spending for fab construction and fab equipment. Korea, Taiwan, and China all see large investments, and spending in Europe has also increased significantly. In 2017, over US$49 billion will be spent on equipment alone, a historic record for the semiconductor industry. Spending on new fab cons... » read more

Making Interconnects Faster
By Mehul Naik - 22 May, 2017 - Comments: 3

In integrated circuits, interconnect resistance is a combination of wire and via resistance. Wire resistance of a conductor depends on several factors, one of which is the electron scattering at various surfaces and grain boundaries. Via resistance, on the other hand, is a function of the thickness or resistivity of the layers at the bottom of the via through which current must travel. T... » read more

Will Higher Production Costs Hamper IoT Growth?
By Joanne Itow - 22 May, 2017 - Comments: 0

No question, 2017 is expected to be a good year for the semiconductor industry. Semiconductor revenues for 2017 are expected to increase more than 9% this year. A 6% increase in unit sales, as well as higher average selling prices for memory products, will help drive the revenue growth rate to its highest level since 2010. Wafer demand is forecast to grow by almost 8%. The higher revenue growth... » read more

High-Stakes Litho Game
By Ed Sperling - 18 May, 2017 - Comments: 0

The commercial introduction of EUV looks all but assured these days. There is enough history to show it works. Uptime and throughput are improving, and systems are shipping today. The question now is how to measure its success. In the short-term, this is a fairly simple financial exercise for companies like ASML and Zeiss, which have been closely collaborating to get these massive systems ou... » read more

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