category: Manufacturing, Packaging and Materials

category: IoT, Security & Automotive

Terminology Beyond von Neumann
By Katherine Derbyshire - 21 Sep, 2017 - Comments: 0

Neural networks. Neuromorphic computing. Non-von Neumann architectures. As I’ve been researching my series on neuromorphic computing, I’ve encountered a lot of new terminology. It hasn’t always been easy to figure out exactly what’s being discussed. This explainer attempts to both clarify the terms used in my own articles and to help others sort through the rapidly growing literature in... » read more

Fab Equipment Spending Sets New Record
By Christian Dieseldorff - 21 Sep, 2017 - Comments: 0

Fab equipment spending (new and refurbished) is expected to increase by 37% for 2017, reaching a new annual spending record of about $55 billion. The World Fab Forecast also forecasts that in 2018, fab equipment spending will increase even more, another 5%, for a record high of about $58 billion. The last record spending was in 2011 with about $40 billion. The spending in 2017 is now expected t... » read more

Using Advanced Statistical Analysis To Improve FinFET Transistor Performance
By Jimmy Gu - 21 Sep, 2017 - Comments: 0

Trial and error wafer fabrication is commonly used to study the effect of process changes in the development of FinFET and other advanced semiconductor technologies. Due to the interaction of upstream unit process parameters (such as deposition conformality, etch anisotropy, selectivity) during actual fabrication, variations based upon process changes can be highly complex. Process simulators t... » read more

What Happened To ReRAM?
By Mark LaPedus - 21 Sep, 2017 - Comments: 8

Resistive RAM (ReRAM), one of a handful of next-generation memories under development, is finally gaining traction after years of setbacks. Fujitsu and Panasonic are jointly ramping up a second-generation ReRAM device. In addition, Crossbar is sampling a 40nm ReRAM technology, which is being made on a foundry basis by China’s SMIC. And not to be outdone, TSMC and UMC recently put ReRAM on ... » read more

Unsolved Litho Issues At 7nm
By Ed Sperling - 21 Sep, 2017 - Comments: 1

By Ed Sperling & Mark LaPedus EUV lithography is creating a new set of challenges on the photomask side for which there currently are no simple solutions. While lithography is viewed as a single technology, [gettech id="31045" comment="EUV"] actually is a collection of technologies. Not all of those technologies have advanced equally and simultaneously, however. For example, aberrations... » read more

Big Push For 3D Sensing With iPhone X
By Adrienne Downey - 21 Sep, 2017 - Comments: 0

3D sensing is a buzzword that has been thrown around quite a bit this year in connection with the rumors surrounding the tenth-anniversary iPhone. Although the iPhone X will be the first large-scale consumer push for 3D sensing, the technology has been around for years, particularly in industrial applications such as machine vision. 3D sensing is already used in the PC – think Intel’s RealS... » read more

Challenges Mount For Photomasks
By Mark LaPedus - 21 Sep, 2017 - Comments: 3

Semiconductor Engineering sat down to discuss photomask technologies with Naoya Hayashi, research fellow at Dai Nippon Printing (DNP); Banqiu Wu, principal member of the technical staff and chief technology officer of the Mask and TSV Etch Division at [getentity id="22817" e_name="Applied Materials"]; Weston Sousa, general manager of the Reticle Products Division at [getentity id="22876" commen... » read more

Node Warfare?
By Mark LaPedus - 20 Sep, 2017 - Comments: 6

By Mark LaPedus & Ed Sperling GlobalFoundries uncorked a 12nm finFET process, which the company said will provide a 15% increase in density and more than 10% improvement in performance over the foundry's existing 14nm process. This is GlobalFoundries' second 12nm process. It announced a 12nm FD-SOI process called 12FDX last September, although it first mentioned a 12nm process back in J... » read more

Manufacturing Bits: Sept. 19
By Mark LaPedus - 19 Sep, 2017 - Comments: 1

Ion implant lithography At a recent conference, the University of California at Berkeley presented more details about its efforts to develop a multiple patterning method using tilted ion implantation (TII) technology. TII is somewhat similar today’s self-aligned double patterning (SADP) processes in logic and memory. SADP and the follow-on technology, self-aligned quadruple (SAQP), enable... » read more

The Week In Review: Manufacturing
By Mark LaPedus - 15 Sep, 2017 - Comments: 0

Chipmakers Toshiba has changed its mind yet again about which group will buy its prized memory unit. On June 20, Toshiba chose a Japanese government-led consortium of INCJ/DBJ, Bain Capital and South Korea’s SK Hynix. Then, Toshiba changed its mind and selected a similar group with Western Digital (WDC), leaving SK Hynix on the outside looking in. This week, Toshiba signed a deal with a B... » read more

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