Monolithic Vs. Heterogeneous Integration


Experts at the Table: Semiconductor Engineering sat down to discuss two very different paths forward for semiconductors and what's needed for each, with Jamie Schaeffer, vice president of product management at GlobalFoundries; Dechao Guo, director of advanced logic technology R&D at IBM; Dave Thompson, vice president at Intel; Mustafa Badaroglu, principal engineer at Qualcomm; and Thomas Po... » read more

Americas Chip Funding Energizes Industry


This is the second in a series of articles tracking government chip investments. See part one here (global),  part 3 covering EMEA is here and Asia here. Since the first announcement of a non-binding preliminary memorandum of terms with BAE Systems in December 2023, the U.S. Department of Commerce has rolled out comprehensive plans to support more than a dozen companies in order to shore up... » read more

Government Chip Funding Spreads Globally


This is the first in a series of articles tracking government chip investments. See part two for Americas-focused funding and part three for the UK and EMEA, and part four for Asia. Countries around the world are ramping up investments into their semiconductor industries as part of new or existing approaches. The increased government activity stems from growing awareness of the strategic imp... » read more

Preparing For Ferroelectric Devices


The discovery of ferroelectricity in materials that are compatible with integrated circuit manufacturing has sparked a wave of interest in ferroelectric devices. Ferroelectrics are materials with a permanent polarization, the direction of which can be switched by an applied field. This polarization can be used to raise or lower the threshold voltage of a transistor, as in FeFETs, or it can c... » read more

Emerging Technologies Driving Heterogeneous Integration


As chips are disaggregated into chiplets, more features are being added into these devices that chipmakers were unable to include in the past due to reticle size limits and the high cost of scaling everything to the latest process node. This has opened the door to new architectures, new materials such as glass substrates, and a variety of new challenges. Dick Otte, president and CEO of Promex I... » read more

Optimizing Wafer Edge Processes For Chip Stacking


Stacking chiplets vertically using short and direct wafer-to-wafer bonds can reduce signal delay to negligible levels, enabling smaller, thinner packages with faster memory/processor speeds and lower power consumption. The race is on to implement wafer stacking and die-to-wafer hybrid bonding, now considered essential for stacking logic and memory, 3D NAND, and possibly multi-layer DRAM stac... » read more

Novel Molded FCBGA Package Platform For Highly Reliable Automotive Applications


The conventional flip chip ball grid array (FCBGA) package platform has wide industry usage and provides high electrical performance. However, as high performance requirements increased, it encounters significant challenges. FCBGA packages frequently encounter underfill cracks after long term reliability or harsh reliability test conditions for automotive devices. Figure 1 shows the typical und... » read more

Reducing Transistor Capacitance At The 5nm Node Using A Source/Drain Contact Recess


In logic devices such as FinFETs (field-effect transistors), metal gate parasitic capacitance can negatively impact electrical performance. One potential way to reduce this parasitic capacitance is to add a source/drain contact (CT) recess step when building the source/drain metal structure. However, this additional structure can potentially increase the source/drain to via resistance. Using... » read more

Legacy Process Nodes Are Critical To Many Industries


As the semiconductor industry continues to push the boundaries of innovation with advanced nodes, it is easy to overlook the critical role that ICs manufactured at legacy process nodes play in our everyday lives. While the spotlight often shines on the leading-edge advancements of 5nm technology and below, it’s the mature nodes, those above 28nm and even above 130nm, that are the unsung ch... » read more

Semiconductor Photomask Market Poised For Another Year Of Growth


The semiconductor photomask market, a crucial component in chip manufacturing, is on track for another year of robust growth. This growth trajectory is supported by a series of technological advancements and market trends that continue to drive innovation in the industry. As the annual SPIE Photomask Technology Conference approaches in early October in Monterey, California, it presents an oppor... » read more

← Older posts Newer posts →