More Lithography/Mask Challenges (part 1)


Semiconductor Engineering sat down to discuss lithography and photomask technologies with Gregory McIntyre, director of the Advanced Patterning Department at [getentity id="22217" e_name="Imec"]; Harry Levinson, senior fellow and senior director of technology research at [getentity id="22819" comment="GlobalFoundries"]; Regina Freed, managing director of patterning technology at [getentity id="... » read more

New Applications, Multiple Approaches


It may be tempting to view the strong demand for semiconductors as just one more up-cycle in our traditionally cyclical industry, but what’s really driving things right now is the opening of entirely new horizons, made possible by the increased capabilities of today’s chips. Chip demand is no longer only being driven by the needs of computer and smartphone manufacturers. Now, a mushroomi... » read more

The Next 5 Years Of Chip Technology


Semiconductor Engineering sat down to discuss the future of scaling, the impact of variation, and the introduction of new materials and technologies, with Rick Gottscho, CTO of Lam Research; Mark Dougherty, vice president of advanced module engineering at GlobalFoundries; David Shortt, technical fellow at KLA-Tencor; Gary Zhang, vice president of computational litho products at ASML; and Shay... » read more

Manufacturing Bits: March 13


Gallium oxide substrates Kyma Technologies has rolled out a substrate line based on crystalline beta-phase gallium oxide (β-Ga2O3) materials. [caption id="attachment_24132458" align="alignleft" width="300"] Single crystal gallium oxide (ß-Ga2O3) substrates (Source: Kyma)[/caption] Crystalline beta gallium oxide is a promising wide bandgap semiconductor material. It has a large bandgap... » read more

The Week In Review: Manufacturing


Chipmakers and OEMs After more than four years as chief executive of GlobalFoundries, Sanjay Jha will hand over the company’s top position to Thomas Caulfield, senior vice president and general manager at the foundry vendor. Caulfield, who joined GlobalFoundries in 2014, will become CEO. He has been running the company's fab in New York. "Jha intends to work closely with the company’s shar... » read more

Manufacturing Bits: March 6


Security ICs with multi-beam Leti, a research institute of CEA Tech, and Mapper Lithography have developed a new application for its multi-beam, direct-write lithography technology—security. In 2016, Mapper Lithography introduced the FLX-1200, a direct-write, multi-beam e-beam system. Using a 5-kV acceleration voltage, a beam generator creates an electron beam about 3cm in diameter. Then,... » read more

Toward High-End Fan-Outs


Foundries and OSATs are working on more advanced fan-outs, including some with vertically stacked die inside the package, filling a middle ground between lower-cost fan-outs and systems in package on one side and 2.5D and 3D-ICs on the other. These new [getkc id="202" kc_name="fan-outs"] have denser interconnects than previous iterations, and in some cases they include multiple routing layer... » read more

The Week In Review: Manufacturing


Fab tools Samsung Electronics has broken ground on a new extreme ultraviolet (EUV) lithography facility in Hwaseong, South Korea. The new EUV facility is expected to be completed within the second half of 2019 with production slated for 2020. The initial investment in the new EUV line is projected to reach $6 billion by 2020. Imec and Cadence Design Systems have collaborated on the develop... » read more

Manufacturing Bits: Feb. 27


Magnesium-ion batteries Texas A&M University and others have discovered a new metal-oxide magnesium battery cathode material—a technology that promises to deliver a higher density of energy storage than today’s traditional lithium-ion (Li-ion) cells. Magnesium-ion battery technology is promising. A battery consists of an anode (negative), cathode (positive), electrolytes and a separat... » read more

The Week In Review: Manufacturing


Chipmakers Last year, Analog Devices Inc. (ADI) completed the acquisition of Linear Technology. Now, ADI plans to shut down one of Linear’s fabs as well as a test operation. “Analog Devices plans to close the smallest of its four wafer fabs, which was acquired as part of its March 2017 acquisition of Linear Technology and is located at Hillview Drive in Milpitas, California. This clo... » read more

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