tag: Applied Materials

The Week In Review: Manufacturing
By Mark LaPedus - 19 Sep, 2014 - Comments: 0

Gartner predicts that by 2016 smartwatches will comprise about 40% of consumer wristworn devices. Gartner said that nine out of the top 10 smartphone vendors have entered the wearables market to date or are about to ship a first product, while a year ago only two vendors were in that space. The eBeam Initiative announced the completion of its third annual survey. In one of the highlights of ... » read more

Wanted: Multi-beam E-Beam Inspection
By Mark LaPedus - 18 Sep, 2014 - Comments: 0

The IC industry is making a giant leap from planar devices to a range of next-generation architectures, such as 3D NAND and finFETs. But it’s taking longer than expected to ramp up these new technologies in the market. And the challenges are expected to mount for the next round of chips. It’s difficult to pinpoint the exact issues with 3D NAND and finFETs. On the manufacturing front alo... » read more

Predictive Fab Management
By Michael Watts - 18 Sep, 2014 - Comments: 0

Managing variation requires a different approach in fab management, moving from reactive to predictive methodologies. This is easier said than done, however. Predictive fab management requires a much more detailed understanding of everything happening in the fab, including process variation, equipment variation, mix variation—all of which must be managed with dispatch strategies to produc... » read more

Navigating The Used Equipment Market
By Mark LaPedus - 18 Sep, 2014 - Comments: 0

For years, the used semiconductor equipment market has been an important but obscure part of the IC manufacturing supply chain. In fact, nearly all chipmakers have bought used tools over the years. Buying used equipment is a quick and relatively inexpensive way to fill a particular need in both 200mm and 300mm fabs. But after years of flying under the radar, the used IC equipment market is h... » read more

Blog Review: Sept. 17
By Ed Sperling - 17 Sep, 2014 - Comments: 0

Ansys’ Benoit Debbaut looks at the Pitch drop experiment, which was started in 1927 (yes, that date is correct) to observe the excruciatingly slow movement of a thick liquid weighted down by gravity. Since inception, a total of nine drops have fallen. So when will the tenth drop fall? Place your bets...when you get around to it. Mentor’s Matthew Ballance highlights an interesting challe... » read more

The Week In Review: Manufacturing
By Mark LaPedus - 12 Sep, 2014 - Comments: 0

Front-end fab equipment spending is projected to increase by 20% in 2015 to $42 billion, according to SEMI. In 2015, equipment spending could mark a historical record high, surpassing the previous peak years of 2007 ($39 billion) and 2011 ($40 billion). In 2014, the report predicts growth of approximately 21% for front-end fab equipment spending, for total spending of $34.9 billion. SEMI rep... » read more

More Problems Ahead
By Ed Sperling - 10 Sep, 2014 - Comments: 0

Semiconductor Engineering sat down to discuss future scaling problems with Lars Liebmann, a fellow at IBM; Adam Brand, managing director of transistor technology at Applied Materials; Karim Arabi, vice president of engineering at Qualcomm; and Srinivas Banna, a fellow for advanced technology architecture at GlobalFoundries. SE: Where are the most severe issues these days? Is it on the design... » read more

The Week In Review: Manufacturing
By Mark LaPedus - 05 Sep, 2014 - Comments: 0

Tesla Motors plans to build a new 35-GWh, lithium-ion cell production facility for its electric vehicles. It sounds like a good idea. But the factory will bring about only a modest reduction in battery costs, and could create significant overcapacity in the arena, according to Lux Research. “The Gigafactory will only reduce the Tesla Model 3’s cost by $2,800, not enough to sway the success ... » read more

What Happened To Next-Gen Lithography?
By Mark LaPedus - 03 Sep, 2014 - Comments: 2

Chipmakers continue to march down the process technology curve. Using today’s optical lithography and multiple patterning, the semiconductor industry is scaling its leading-edge devices far beyond what was once considered possible. The question is how far can the industry extend 193nm immersion [getkc id="80" comment="lithography"] and multiple patterning before these technologies become t... » read more

Blog Review: Sept. 3
By Ed Sperling - 03 Sep, 2014 - Comments: 0

Ansys’ Bill Vandermark flags the top five engineering technology articles of the week. A couple of these are unusual, such as e-mailing brain waves, and hoverbikes, which could really improve bike safety—as long as you don’t hit a bird. Synopsys’ Marc Greenberg looks at just how fast DDR4 can run. But what do you call it when you overclock everything? Is that still DDR4? Cadence�... » read more

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