A New Type Of Switch


Back in July, Applied Materials announced that we’d been selected by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) to develop technology for AI. While Applied is engaged on the development of many disruptive technologies, it’s not often that we’re in a position to discuss them in early development. Thanks to the vision of DARPA’s Electronics Resurgence Initiative and their ... » read more

Cryogenic Etch Re-Emerges


After years in R&D, a technology called cryogenic etch is re-emerging as a possible option for production as the industry faces new challenges in memory and logic. Cryogenic etch removes materials in devices with high aspect ratios at cold temperatures, although it has always been a challenging process. Cryogenic etch is difficult to control and it requires specialized cryogenic gases in... » read more

Variation’s Long, Twisty Tail Worsens At 7/5nm


Variation is becoming a bigger challenge at each new node, but not just for obvious reasons and not always from the usual sources. Nevertheless, dealing with these issues takes additional time and resources, and it can affect the performance and reliability of those chips throughout their lifetimes. At a high level, variation historically was viewed as a mismatch between what design teams in... » read more

More Fabs, More Equipment Spending


Global fab equipment spending will increase 14 percent this year to US$62.8 billion and is expected to rise 7.5 percent, to US$67.5 billion, in 2019, marking the fourth consecutive year of spending growth and the highest investment year for fab equipment in the history of the industry, according to the latest World Fab Forecast Report published by SEMI. Investments in new fab construction are a... » read more

Design Compliant Source Mask Optimization (SMO)


Source Mask Optimization (SMO) is required to extend the use of 193 water immersion lithography to the 22nm technology node. Although SMO is being aggressively pushed in volume production the layout design implications of this technology have not been openly discussed. In this paper, the impact of layout design style on simultaneous SMO of Logic and SRAM is studied. In particular the improvemen... » read more

SiC Chip Demand Surges


The silicon carbide (SiC) power semiconductor market is experiencing a sudden surge in demand amid growth for electric vehicles and other systems. But the demand also is causing a tight supply of SiC-based devices in the market, prompting some vendors to add fab capacity in the midst of a tricky wafer-size transition. Some SiC device makers are transitioning from 4- to 6-inch wafers in the f... » read more

Industry 4.0: The Smart Industrial Revolution


As consumers, we see evidence of the Internet of Things (IoT) all around us. A growing number of everyday objects in our homes and cars are now digitally connected in a way that allows us to interact with them. Even mundane items such as keychains and wallets can be made smart with trackers and mobile device apps. A similar revolution is occurring in some workplaces, with the growing ability to... » read more

Manufacturing Bits: Sept. 18


Flexible nanowires The University of Glasgow has developed a new contact-printing system that prints and embeds silicon nanowires into flexible surfaces. The technology enables new forms of flexible electronics. It can be used to develop low-power circuits in flexible substrates, such as plastic, paper and fabrics. Researchers from the University of Glasgow have developed a new contact-p... » read more

Survey: EUV Optimism Grows


The confidence level remains high for extreme ultraviolet (EUV) lithography, although the timing of the insertion remains a moving target, according to a new survey released by the eBeam Initiative. At the same time, the outlook for the overall photomask industry is bullish, according to the survey. On the downside, however, there appears to be no progress in terms of improving mask turnaro... » read more

Week In Review: Manufacturing, Test


Fab/mask manufacturing An alliance of companies have formed the Center for Deep Learning in Electronics Manufacturing (CDLe). NuFlare, Mycronic and D2S have established the San Jose, Calif.-based center to advance the state-of-the-art in deep learning for its industry-specific applications. Imec.xpand, an early-stage and growth fund that is initiated by Imec, has closed its first fund at 11... » read more

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