tag: Applied Materials

Collaborate Or Go Home
By Jeff Chappell - 14 Nov, 2013 - Comments: 0

Technology is hard. It's no secret that it's more difficult than ever to keep devices shrinking while increasing performance. It's also old news that it is increasingly costly to be at the leading edge, as semiconductor production technology gets ever more complex — even as a maturing chip industry becomes ever more dependent on low-cost consumer devices. But it has made for some strang... » read more

Tunnel FETs Emerge In Scaling Race
By Mark LaPedus - 14 Nov, 2013 - Comments: 2

Traditional CMOS scaling will continue for the foreseeable future, possibly to the 5nm node and perhaps beyond, according to many chipmakers. In fact, chipmakers already are plotting out a path toward the 5nm node, but needless to say, the industry faces a multitude of challenges along the road. Presently, the leading transistor candidates for 5nm are the usual suspects—III-V finFETs; gate... » read more

The Week In Review: Manufacturing & Design
By Mark LaPedus - 08 Nov, 2013 - Comments: 0

GT Advanced Technologies has entered into a multi-year supply agreement with Apple for sapphire materials. GT will own and operate its furnaces and related equipment to produce the sapphire materials at an Apple-owned facility in Arizona. GT expects to employ more than 700 people in the facility. Apple will provide GT with a prepayment of about $578 million. “We believe Apple likely has signi... » read more

Blog Review: Oct. 30
By Ed Sperling - 30 Oct, 2013 - Comments: 0

Mentor’s Nazita Saye has stumbled on a phone that you can build yourself from various components. When something breaks, you simply change out what’s broken. Wasn’t that the concept behind the original Volkswagen Beetle? Cadence’s Brian Fuller launches into the discussion about 16nm headaches, including finFET parasitics, pin access and wire resistance. Looks like the transition to f... » read more

Week In Review: Manufacturing & Design
By Mark LaPedus - 25 Oct, 2013 - Comments: 0

Don’t look now, but Intel is expanding its foundry business. Previously, Intel garnered a small collection of foundry customers. But Intel would not entertain foundry customers that had competitive products based on ARM chips. Apparently, Intel is having a change of heart. “I think they’ve changed their position,” said Nathan Brookwood, a research fellow at Insight 64. “They will do A... » read more

Blog Review: Oct. 23
By Ed Sperling - 23 Oct, 2013 - Comments: 0

It was a good week for good questions. Cadence’s Brian Fuller asks what applications dream about—or rather what’s their potential. In the context of technology development, that’s worth pondering. Mentor’s Mike Jensen asks what will you be remembered for. There are a couple other important addendums to that, such as how long you will be remembered. And perhaps even more important, ... » read more

The Week In Review: Oct. 18
By Mark LaPedus - 18 Oct, 2013 - Comments: 0

By Mark LaPedus & Ed Sperling The problems continue with extreme ultraviolet (EUV) lithography. ASML promised to deliver an 80 Watt power source by year’s end. Now, the company said it only will have a 70 Watt source by mid-2014. “We are focusing on reaching the 70 Watts by the middle of next year,” said Peter Wennink, ASML’s CEO, in a conference call to discuss the company’s res... » read more

Applied-TEL Watch
By Mark LaPedus - 17 Oct, 2013 - Comments: 0

By Mark LaPedus So far this year, the biggest story in the fab tool industry is fairly obvious—Applied Materials recently signed a definitive agreement to acquire rival Tokyo Electron Ltd. (TEL) for about $9.3 billion. The blockbuster announcement will likely be the top story of 2013. Of course, the integration of Applied and TEL will be a challenge. In any case, the Applied-TEL deal is i... » read more

Debate Heats Up Over Bigger Glass
By Mark LaPedus - 17 Oct, 2013 - Comments: 0

For more than two decades, photomask makers have been talking about moving to a new and larger mask size, sometimes called “bigger glass” by the industry. Generally, the discussions about “bigger glass” have been all talk and no action. But now, some chipmakers are turning up the volume in the discussions and are pushing for a larger mask size. A larger mask size would require the ph... » read more

Challenges Mount For EUV Masks
By Mark LaPedus - 17 Oct, 2013 - Comments: 0

ASML Holding’s first production-worthy scanners for extreme ultraviolet (EUV) lithography are expected to ship this year, but there are still a number of challenges to bring the technology into high-volume manufacturing. As before, the three main challenges for EUV are the power sources, resists and photomasks. To date, the resists are making progress, while the EUV power sources remain a ... » read more

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