The Race To Replace Silicon


For over 75 years, silicon has been the dominant material in the evolution of modern electronics, powering everything from smartphones to satellites. But as chipmakers push toward smaller nodes, higher power efficiency, and quantum-scale precision, a pressing question is echoing across fabs and R&D labs worldwide: Is it time to move beyond silicon? In this blog post, we explore the growi... » read more

Marginal Wafer Defects Can Slip Past Electrical Testing


Final electrical test remains one of the best ways to assess a circuit’s ultimate viability. But we know that, unfortunately, even 100% end-of-line electrical testing of semiconductor wafers will not guarantee that chips will not fail in the field. Certain non-killer but marginal wafer defects can still slip through electrical testing if they have sufficient electrical connectivity, even thou... » read more

The Rise Of Panel-Level Packaging


An insatiable demand for logic to memory integration for AI and high-performance computing is driving progress toward very large-format packages, which are expected to approach 10 times the maximum reticle size in the next few years. These assemblies are best developed using fan-out panel-level packaging, replacing today’s wafer carrier with a panel. Fan-out packaging enables substantially... » read more

Semiconductor Virtual Fabrication And Its Applications


Semiverse Solutions, particularly SEMulator3D, can enhance semiconductor engineering in several ways. SEMulator3D is a software platform for semiconductor process modeling and virtual fabrication.1 Prototyping and visualization: Virtual fabrication aids in understanding and visualizing complex semiconductor structures in three dimensions, facilitating better design and prototyping. Unit... » read more

Semiconductor Manufacturing Cybersecurity Consortium (SMCC)—SEMI E187 Compliance Guidance Report


Cyber threats continue to increase at alarming rates, for instance according to Forbes, 2023 saw a 72% increase in data breaches since 2021, which held the previous all-time record and The Federal Bureau of Investigation’s (FBI) 2023 Internet Crime Report further revealed an 81% rise in financial losses due to cybersecurity complaints, escalating from $6.9 billion to $12.5 billion. The FBI re... » read more

40th EMLC Honors Three Decades Of Vision From Dr. Uwe Behringer


The European Mask Lithography Conference (EMLC), an annual event that brings together researchers from around the world to present the latest findings on photomask and lithography technology, returned to Dresden from June 16 to June 18, 2025, and took place for the 40th time – marking a memorable anniversary combined with a premiere. For over 30 years, Dr. Uwe Behringer shaped the conference ... » read more

CMOS 2.0: Layered Logic For The Post-Nanosheet Era


The semiconductor industry has relied on a simple equation for more than five decades — shrink the transistor, pack more onto every wafer, and watch performance soar as costs plummet. While each new node delivered predictable gains in speed, power efficiency, and density, that formula is rapidly running out of steam. As transistors approach single-digit nanometer processes, manufacturing c... » read more

Machine Learning Tools Help Bridge Design-To-Manufacturing Gap


More aggressive feature scaling and increasingly complex transistor structures are driving a steady increase in process complexity, increasing the risk that a specified pattern may not be manufacturable with an acceptable yield. A single layer now requires more process steps, and each of those entails more tunable parameters than ever before. To help manage design risk, foundries provide det... » read more

Five Questions To Ask When Selecting A Temporary Bonding And Debonding System


High-bandwidth memory blocks (HBM) memory, microprocessors, field-programmable gate arrays (FPGA), AI accelerators, and other devices used in advanced system-level packaging all rely on temporary bonding and debonding systems to shrink their footprint. Understanding which properties play the most crucial role in device reliability and efficient production will ensure you are maximizing your yie... » read more

AI In The IC Equipment Ecosystem


AI is playing an increasingly critical role in improving semiconductor equipment and processes, which are necessary as the industry moves to advanced manufacturing processes. This requires more steps, tighter integration and analysis of those various steps, and better optimization of tools. David Fried, corporate vice president at Lam Research, talks about how to accelerate the development of A... » read more

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