Case Studies in P&R Double-Patterning Debug


In my last article, we looked at some case studies of the unique types of issues related to double patterning (DP) that place and route (P&R) and chip finishing engineers have to deal with. I’ve got some more interesting case studies to show you this time. In modern P&R designs, the metal routes on a particular layer are unidirectional (or at least primarily unidirectional). Long p... » read more

Patterning Interconnects At 10nm And Below


By Connie Duncan Chip manufacturers today build billions of transistors on a chip, delivering incredible computing power to consumers. What often gets overlooked is how hard it’s getting to create the many miles of ultra-thin copper wiring used to connect each of the transistors. Patterning these electrical pathways is becoming increasingly challenging as they grow denser and finer, and any ... » read more

Challenges And Opportunities for China in the Semiconductor Industry


By Allen Lu China’s new industry investment and government promotion policies represent major opportunities for China and global semiconductor companies. The global industry is closely watching the details of the policy and its implementation ─ both because of the resources China’s government has dedicated and the potential impact to the global semiconductor manufacturing supply chain. I... » read more

Complementary E Beam Lithography


Multibeam Chairman David Lam looks at complementary E-Beam lithography (CEBL) and the impact of 1D design and pitch division. [youtube vid=nyvplBl4HA4] » read more

Pathfinding Beyond 10nm


After higher aspect-ratio finFETs and higher mobility SiGe and III-V materials, the industry will move to lateral nanowires and then to vertical nanowire transistors, and to new tunnel junction FETs or spin wave architectures ─ or to various combinations of these technologies for different applications, reported An Steegan, Imec senior vice president of process technology, during SEMICON West... » read more

Multiple Lithography Options Still Remain in Play


The throughput and uptime of EUV, and the overlay accuracy of 193nm immersion lithography, continue to steadily improve, though neither is yet ready for 10nm production, according to speakers at SEMICON West. Mike Lercel, ASML director, Product Marketing, reported several EUV tool sites achieved 70 percent uptime for more than a week, and one customer site had done so for more than four ... » read more

The Great Imbalance


The number of options for chipmakers is growing while the number of chipmakers is shrinking. So what does this mean for the semiconductor industry? Short answer: No one is quite sure yet. But a lot more people are beginning to ask that question these days, including investors and analysts. There are a number of factors at play here. To begin with, there are more nodes to choose from than at ... » read more

It’s a Materials World, With Positive Forecast


By Michael Fury What’s the latest in materials forecasts for ALD/CVD precursors, CMP consumables, electronic gases, silicon wafers and sputtering targets? Techcet gives us an update. Metal Gate and Electrode Precursors to Double in Five Years Use of front-end Ta and W metal gate and Hf gate dielectric precursors will grow over 2.5x by 2020, according to a new report from Techcet, “20... » read more

The Fill Ecosystem Evolves Again


Several years ago, we wrote about the ecosystem of fill, and how 20nm technology required a much tighter relationship between the foundry, designers and EDA vendors. While the players remain the same, there have been some interesting shifts in fill techniques and usage as designers move to even-smaller technologies. What continues with each node is the additional complexity of the design flo... » read more

Surprises At SEMICON West


As companies such as TSMC and Intel spend less on capital expenditures this year, expectations for SEMICON West 2015 were pretty bleak. I thought I’d have fewer appointments and nothing to really write home about. Au contraire. Although traffic on the show floor was nothing compared to events like CES, there are three things that are driving growth and excitement at semiconductor equipment... » read more

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