GaN Application Base Widens, Adoption Grows


Gallium nitride (GaN) is beginning to show up across a broad range of power semiconductor applications due to its wide bandgap, enabling fast-charging, very high speeds, and much smaller form factors than silicon-based chips. Unlike silicon carbide (SiC), another wide-bandgap technology, GaN is a lateral rather than a vertical device. GaN tops out at about 900 volts, which limits its use in ... » read more

Manufacturing Bits: May 25


Higher voltage GaN Imec and Aixtron have demonstrated the ability to extend gallium-nitride (GaN) to new voltage levels in the power semiconductor market, enabling the technology to compete in much broader segments. Imec and Aixtron have demonstrated epitaxial growth of GaN buffer layers qualified for 1,200-volt applications on specialized 200mm substrates with a hard breakdown exceeding 1,... » read more

MOCVD Vendors Eye New Apps


Several equipment makers are developing or ramping up new metalorganic chemical vapor deposition (MOCVD) systems in the market, hoping to capture the next wave of growth applications in the arena. Competition is fierce among the various MOCVD equipment suppliers in the market, namely Aixtron, AMEC and Veeco. In addition, MOCVD equipment suppliers are looking for renewed growth in 2020, but b... » read more

Can Germany’s Auto Industry Keep Pace?


Germany's strength for the past half-century has been its automotive industry. The big question now is whether that also will become its biggest vulnerability. Challenged on all fronts by fundamental shifts in automotive technology, the German auto industry is struggling to transform itself from precision metal bending to advanced electronics, and so far its future in the face of competitors... » read more

The Week In Review: Manufacturing


Market research For the first time since 1993, the semiconductor industry has a new number one supplier in terms of sales—Samsung. Samsung is forecast to top Intel as the #1 semiconductor supplier in 2017, according to IC Insights. "Samsung first charged into the top spot in 2Q17 and displaced Intel, which had held the number 1 ranking since 1993," according to the firm. "In 1Q16, Intel’s ... » read more

The Week In Review: Manufacturing


Market research Earlier this year, the IC and equipment markets were projected to be flat. More recently, though, analysts have raised their forecast, including Pacific Crest Securities. “We are raising our 2017 capex outlook meaningfully, with the upside coming predominantly from Samsung,” said Weston Twigg, an analyst with Pacific Crest Securities, in a report. "We're raising our 2017 se... » read more

Sizing up China’s Fab Tool Biz


China is pouring billions of dollars into its semiconductor industry and is building several new fabs. As reported, China is bolstering its IC industry for good reason. China is trying to reduce its huge trade imbalance in ICs. The country continues to import a large percentage of its chips from foreign vendors. Behind the scenes, China also continues to develop its domestic semiconductor eq... » read more

The Week In Review: Manufacturing


Chipmakers At this week’s IEEE International Electron Devices Meeting (IEDM) in San Francisco, TSMC as well as the team of GlobalFoundries, IBM and Samsung separately presented papers on 7nm finFET technology. Qualcomm has begun sampling the world’s first 10nm server processor. As the first in the Qualcomm Centriq product family, the ARM-based processor has up to 48-cores and is built ... » read more

The Week In Review: Manufacturing


R&D Amid budget cuts in the U.S. government, federal funding for R&D at higher education institutions in the United States declined for a fourth straight year, according to a new report from the National Center for Science and Engineering Statistics (NCSES). Overall, universities reported $68.8 billion in R&D expenditures in 2015, a 2.2% increase from 2014, according to the NCSES, part of t... » read more

The Week In Review: Manufacturing


Chipmakers As expected, Qualcomm has signed a definitive agreement to acquire NXP. The value of the deal is approximately $47 billion. With the deal, Qualcomm is diversifying from a maturing handset market into the growing automotive, IoT and security sectors, according to Genuity semiconductor analyst Matthew Ramsay, in a recent research note. “Automotive infotainment, ADAS, IoT and ot... » read more

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