Week In Review: Manufacturing, Test


Chipmakers Foxconn is in talks to build a fab in Zhuhai, China, according to a report from Nikkei. The fab, to cost $9 billion, would make chips for Foxconn and outside companies, the report said, which says the company will enter the foundry business. The European Commission has approved funding for 1.75 billion euros ($2 billion) of public investment for projects in the microelectronics... » read more

Manufacturing Bits: Dec. 18


Gallium oxide breakthroughs Crystalline beta gallium oxide is a promising wide bandgap semiconductor material. It has a large bandgap of 4.8–4.9 eV with a high breakdown field of 8 MV/cm. The technology has a high voltage figure of merit, which is more than 3,000 times greater than silicon, more than 8 times greater than silicon carbide (SiC) and more than 4 times greater than that of... » read more

Will AI Drive Scaling Forward?


The almost ubiquitous rollout of AI and its offshoots—machine learning, deep learning, neural nets of all types—will require significantly more processing power as the amount of data that needs to be processed continues to grow by orders of magnitude. What isn't clear yet is how that will affect semiconductor manufacturing or how quickly that might happen. AI is more than the latest buz... » read more

Fab Equipment Challenges For 2019


After a period of record growth, the semiconductor equipment industry is facing a slowdown in 2019, in addition to several technical challenges that still need to be resolved. Generally, the equipment industry saw enormous demand in 2017, and the momentum extended into the first part of 2018. But then the memory market began deteriorating in the middle of this year, causing both DRAM and NAND ... » read more

Foundries See Growth, New Issues In 2019


The silicon foundry business is poised for growth in 2019, although the industry faces several challenges across a number of market segments next year. Generally, foundry vendors saw steady growth in 2018, but many are ending the year on a sour note. Weak demand for Apple’s new iPhone XR and a downturn in the cryptocurrency market have impacted several IC suppliers and foundries, causing t... » read more

5 Observations From Intel’s Event


Not long ago, Intel hosted its “Architecture Day,” where top executives from the chip giant revealed the company’s latest products and next-generation technologies. The company also discussed its strategy. To be sure, it’s a critical time for Intel. In June, Brian Krzanich was forced out as chief executive and the company is still looking for a permanent CEO. Plus, Intel has delayed it... » read more

What’s A Mott FET?


The unique physics of two-dimensional semiconductors offers the potential for new kinds of switches that could extend the usefulness of conventional MOSFETs into a variety of new areas. A MOSFET applies a voltage to one side of the gate capacitor. The resulting electric field in the channel shifts the band structure and facilitates or impedes the flow of carriers. So as devices shrink, the g... » read more

What’s Changing In Memory


As emerging big data and artificial intelligence (AI) applications, including machine learning, drive innovations across many industries, the issue of how to advance memory technologies to meet evolving computing requirements presents several challenges for the industry. The mainstream memory technologies, DRAM and NAND flash, have long been reliable industry workhorses, each optimized for s... » read more

Mixed Outlook For Fab Equipment


As 2018 dawned, the semiconductor industry appeared to be poised for a rare fourth consecutive year of equipment investment growth. That rosy outlook is about to change as clouds gather in what until now has been the sunny sky. The latest edition of the World Fab Forecast Report, published by SEMI in December 2018, reveals a downward revision of total fab equipment spending growth for 2018 ... » read more

Achieve High Hotspot Detection Accuracy by Pattern Scoring


In this paper, we combined the hotspot pattern library and the rule-based scoring system into a modularized hotspot-checking rule deck running on an automatic flow. Several DFM (design for manufacture) properties criteria will be defined to build a “score board” for hotspot candidates. When hotspots in the input design are highlighted, the scoring system can identify whether a hotspot is a ... » read more

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