Shaping A Sustainable $1 Trillion Era


The semiconductor industry remains on course to reach a total of US$1 trillion in global revenue by 2030, with the journey from US$600 billion expected to take just a decade. At the CEO Summit during SEMICON Europa 2023, SEMI Europe President Laith Altimime attributed this remarkable growth to powerful megatrends, most notably artificial intelligence (AI). AI, in turn, is creating new opport... » read more

Important Process Parameter And Its Sensitivity Check By Virtual Fabrication: Channel Hole Profile Impact On Advanced 3D NAND Structure


A virtual DOE-based process sensitivity check was performed for two tiers of channel holes in a 3D NAND device. The channel hole tilt distance, twist angle, and their sensitivities to the visible area in silicon-oxide-nitride-oxide (SONO) punch process were analyzed. The results show that controlling the upper tilt distance is more important for offering a larger visible area. Also, a negative ... » read more

Making Heterogeneous Integration More Predictable


Experts at the Table: Semiconductor Engineering sat down to discuss problems and potential solutions in heterogeneous integration with Dick Otte, president and CEO of Promex Industries; Mike Kelly, vice president of chiplets/FCBGA integration at Amkor Technology; Shekhar Kapoor, senior director of product management at Synopsys; John Park, product management group director in Cadence's Custom I... » read more

Big Shifts In Power Electronics Packaging


The power semiconductor market is poised for remarkable growth in the next several years, fueled by the adoption of electric vehicles and renewable energy, but it also driving big changes in the packaging needed to protect and connect these devices. Packaging is playing an increasingly critical role in the transition to higher power densities, enabling more efficient power supplies, power deli... » read more

IC Manufacturing Targets Less Water, Less Waste


Fabs, OSATs, and equipment makers are accelerating their efforts to consume less water while recycling more material waste in a trend toward better sustainability. With chips, sustainability is heavily focused on carbon emissions, and energy consumption is a significant contributor. But there is an equal effort underway to reduce water consumption and pollution. Across the globe, the number ... » read more

LAB Flip Chip Reflow Process Robustness Prediction By Thermal Simulation


By Gabriel Chang and Ricky Zang Nowadays, there are many interconnects in IC chips. One of the packaging goals is to connect an IC to the next level of subsystem circuitry (package substrates/print circuit boards). Mass reflow (MR) of solder joints is a widely adapted and stable process in the industry. The applications of MR include flip chip, ball mounting, surface mount technology (SMT), ... » read more

Increasing AI Energy Efficiency With Compute In Memory


Skyrocketing AI compute workloads and fixed power budgets are forcing chip and system architects to take a much harder look at compute in memory (CIM), which until recently was considered little more than a science project. CIM solves two problems. First, it takes more energy to move data back and forth between memory and processor than to actually process it. And second, there is so much da... » read more

What Is TCAD And Why It Is Essential For The Semiconductor Industry


Modern technology computer-aided design (TCAD) technologies have been around now for years. Yet, many semiconductor engineers still run experiments directly on wafers to examine chip fabrication processes and device operation. While it can be challenging to become proficient in TCAD, conducting experiments on wafers isn’t exactly easy, nor is it quick or cost-effective to do. As with so ma... » read more

Center For Deep Learning In Electronics Manufacturing: Bringing Deep Learning To Production For Photomask Manufacturing


The Center for Deep Learning in Electronics Manufacturing (CDLe) was formed as an alliance between D2S, Mycronic and NuFlare Technology in autumn 2018. Assignees from each alliance partner worked with deep learning (DL) experts under the leadership of Ajay Baranwal, director of CDLe. The CDLe’s mission was to 1) turn DL into a core competency inside each of the companies and 2) do DL projects... » read more

Analysis Of BEOL Metal Schemes By Process Modeling


The semiconductor industry has been diligently searching for alternative metal line materials to replace the conventional copper dual damascene scheme, because as interconnect dimensions shrink, the barrier accounts for an increasing fraction of the total line volume. The barrier layer's dimensions cannot be scaled down as quickly as the metal line width (figure 1). Popular barrier materials su... » read more

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