tag: Applied Materials

Week In Review: Semiconductor Manufacturing, Test
By Gregory Haley - 16 Jun, 2023 - Comments: 0

Applied Materials sued its Chinese-owned rival, Mattson, over an alleged 14-month effort to steal valuable trade secrets, reports Bloomberg. In court filing, Applied Materials claimed that Mattson engaged in a spree of employee-poaching and covertly transferring semiconductor equipment designs. Global semiconductor materials revenue grew 8.9% to $72.7 billion in 2022, surpassing the previous... » read more

Week In Review: Semiconductor Manufacturing, Test
By Gregory Haley - 26 May, 2023 - Comments: 1

The Cyberspace Administration of China recommended a ban of Micron chips for critical information infrastructure (CII), alleging serious network security risks. According to a statement from China's Network Security Review Office, "Micron's products have relatively serious potential network security issues, which pose a major security risk to [China's] critical information infrastructure supply... » read more

Etch Processes Push Toward Higher Selectivity, Cost Control
By Laura Peters - 18 May, 2023 - Comments: 0

Plasma etching is perhaps the most essential process in semiconductor manufacturing, and possibly the most complex of all fab operations next to photolithography. Nearly half of all fab steps rely on a plasma, an energetic ionized gas, to do their work. Despite ever-shrinking transistor and memory cells, engineers continue to deliver reliable etch processes. “To sustainably create chips... » read more

Managing Yield With EUV Lithography And Stochastics
By Katherine Derbyshire - 18 May, 2023 - Comments: 1

Identifying issues that actually affect yield is becoming more critical and more difficult at advanced nodes, but there is progress. Although they are closely related, yield management and process control are not the same. Yield management seeks to maximize the number of functioning devices at the end of the line. Process control focuses on keeping each individual device layer within its des... » read more

Assist Layers: The Unsung Heroes of EUV Lithography
By Katherine Derbyshire - 20 Apr, 2023 - Comments: 0

Most discussions of advanced lithography focus on three elements — the exposure system, photomasks, and photoresists — but that's only part of the challenge. Successfully transferring a pattern from the photomask to a physical structure on the wafer also depends on a variety of films working together, including the underlayers, the developers, and a variety of surface treatments. In fact... » read more

Week In Review: Semiconductor Manufacturing, Test
By Karen Heyman - 14 Apr, 2023 - Comments: 0

U.S. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said he launched an effort to establish rules on artificial intelligence to address national security and education concerns, Reuters reported. "Time is of the essence to get ahead of this powerful new technology to prevent potentially wide-ranging damage to society and national security and instead put it to positive use by advancing strong, bipartisan... » read more

Challenges Grow For CD-SEMs At 5nm And Beyond
By Gregory Haley - 11 Apr, 2023 - Comments: 1

CD-SEM, the workhorse metrology tool used by fabs for process control, is facing big challenges at 5nm and below. Traditionally, CD-SEM imaging has relied on a limited number of image frames for averaging, which is necessary both to maintain throughput speeds and to minimize sample damage from the electron beam itself. As dimensions get smaller, these limitations result in higher levels of n... » read more

Metrology Strategies For 2nm Processes
By Laura Peters - 07 Mar, 2023 - Comments: 3

Metrology and wafer inspection processes are changing to keep up with evolving and new device applications. While fab floors still have plenty of OCD tools, ellipsometers, and CD-SEMs, new systems are taking on the increasingly 3D nature of structures and the new materials they incorporate. For instance, processes like hybrid bonding, 3D NAND flash devices, and nanosheet FETs are pushing the bo... » read more

Week In Review: Semiconductor Manufacturing, Test
By Gregory Haley - 03 Mar, 2023 - Comments: 0

Semiconductor Research Corporation (SRC) released an interim roadmap for Microelectronic and Advanced Packaging Technologies (MPAT) that targets 10- to 15-year goals for 3D integration and multi-chiplet packaging. The roadmap is open for comments. Participants in the MPAT include AMD, IBM, Intel, Texas Instruments, Purdue University, SUNY Binghamton and the Georgia Institute of Technology. It i... » read more

Week In Review: Semiconductor Manufacturing & Test
By Gregory Haley - 17 Feb, 2023 - Comments: 0

The Biden Administration’s export bans for semiconductor manufacturing equipment are delaying expansion plans for Chinese chipmakers, Nikkei Asia reports. Yangtze Memory Technologies (YMTC) has halted work on its second memory plant near Wuhan, and ChangXin Memory Technologies (CMTX) says its second production facility, slated to open in 2023, will be delayed until 2024 or 2025. In an effo... » read more

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