category: Manufacturing, Packaging and Materials

category: IoT, Security & Automotive

Big Changes In Patterning
By Ed Sperling - 22 Feb, 2017 - Comments: 0

Aki Fujimura, CEO of [getentity id="22864" comment="D2S"], sat down with Semiconductor Engineering to discuss patterning issues at 10nm and below, including mask alignment, the need for GPU acceleration, EUV's future impact on the total number of masks, and what the re-introduction of curvilinear shapes will mean for design. SE: Patterning issues are getting a lot of attention at 10nm and 7n... » read more

Manufacturing Bits: Feb. 21
By Mark LaPedus - 21 Feb, 2017 - Comments: 0

AFM-on-a-chip An atomic force microscope (AFM) is a metrology tool that can measure and characterize structures in three dimensions. It uses a tiny probe to enable measurements in chip structures, but the instrument itself is often a large and bulky system. In response, the University of Texas at Dallas has devised an AFM-on-a-chip technology. The AFM is roughly the size of a dime. Based on... » read more

Semiconductor Process Development: Finding A Faster Way To Profitability
By Katherine Gambino - 20 Feb, 2017 - Comments: 0

Building a chip fabrication facility requires billions of dollars in investment for land, buildings, processing equipment, chemical and hazardous material safety, not to mention the deployment of hundreds of highly experienced process engineering and manufacturing personnel. Bringing up an advanced semiconductor process in any fab, new or established, is a several-hundred-million dollar effort,... » read more

Semiconductor CapEx To Increase 4.3% In 2017
By Adrienne Downey - 20 Feb, 2017 - Comments: 0

Semiconductor capital expenditures are an important bellwether for the industry. Based on preliminary findings, Semico Research predicts 2017’s total will increase 4.3% to $69.7 billion, a record high, and a slightly larger increase than in 2016. Semico tracks more than 80 companies for CapEx and R&D spending, although many of those companies have merged, have been acquired, or gone ba... » read more

Get Ready For Nanotube RAM
By Mark LaPedus - 20 Feb, 2017 - Comments: 6

The memory market is going in several different directions at once. On one front, the traditional memory types, such DRAM and flash, remain the workhorse technologies in systems despite undergoing some changes in the business. Then, several vendors are readying the next-generation memory types in the market. As part of an ongoing series, Semiconductor Engineering will explore where the new a... » read more

The Week In Review: Manufacturing
By Mark LaPedus - 17 Feb, 2017 - Comments: 0

Chipmakers Toshiba’s problems have gone from bad to worse. “Toshiba postponed its earnings call by up to one month, and the chairman resigned. The provisional results show large losses in its nuclear power business, while the NAND operations remain very profitable,” said Weston Twigg, an analyst with Pacific Crest Securities, in a research note. “The next few months appear very uncerta... » read more

The Return Of Time Sharing
By Ed Sperling - 16 Feb, 2017 - Comments: 0

As early as the 1960s, it wasn't uncommon to hear that transistors would be free. Those were pretty bold statements at the time, considering most computers in those days cost $1 million, required special rooms, and budding computer scientists usually had to sign up to use mainframe computers for one-hour time slots—often in the middle of the night or on weekends. Still, those predictions ... » read more

Battling Fab Cycle Times
By Mark LaPedus - 16 Feb, 2017 - Comments: 9

The shift from planar devices to finFETs enables chipmakers to scale their processes and devices from 16nm/14nm and beyond, but the industry faces several challenges at each node. Cost and technical issues are the obvious challenges. In addition, cycle time—a key but less publicized part of the chip-scaling equation—also is increasing at every turn, creating more angst for chipmakers and... » read more

What’s Next For NOR Flash?
By Mark LaPedus - 16 Feb, 2017 - Comments: 0

The flash memory market is the tale two of cities. Today, NAND and NOR are the two main flash memory types. Over the years, the NAND flash market has exploded. Targeted for data storage, NAND flash has moved into flash cards, solid-state storage drives (SSDs) and other products. The excitement for NAND continues to mount, as the technology is moving from planar to a 3D structure. In fact, 3D... » read more

China Moves To Top Spot In Fab Equipment Spending
By Clark Tseng - 16 Feb, 2017 - Comments: 0

By Clark Tseng, Dan Tracy & Gavin Wang of SEMI With 20, and possibly more, new fab projects underway or announced in China since 2016, spending on fab equipment will surge to $10 billion or more, annually, by 2018 and to even higher levels in the following two years. As a result, China is projected to be the top spending region for fab equipment in 2019 and 2020. Robert Maire, of Semicon... » read more

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