Startup Funding: July 2021


The trend of big funding for Chinese autonomous driving companies continued in July, with three startups each drawing $100M or more for efforts in ADAS and computer vision for automotive. The month also saw one electric vehicle manufacturer get a massive boost as it begins production on its first models, while significant funding also went to a company that wants to recycle used up EV batteries... » read more

June’19 Startup Funding


During the month of June, there were 15 startups that brought in funding rounds of $100 million or more, as investors continued to chase deals in cybersecurity, automotive technology, semiconductors, and a variety of services. There were no billion-dollar deals as spring slid into summer; yet, those 15 companies together raised a total of about $3.13 billion. Aurora Innovation, the developer... » read more

DSA Re-Enters Litho Picture


By Mark LaPedus and Ed Sperling Directed self-assembly (DSA) is moving back onto the patterning radar screen amid ongoing challenges in lithography. Intel continues to have a keen interest in [gettech id="31046" t_name="DSA"], while other chipmakers are taking another hard look at the technology, according to multiple industry sources. DSA isn't like a traditional [getkc id="80" kc_name="... » read more

The Week In Review: Manufacturing


Chipmakers and OEMs After more than four years as chief executive of GlobalFoundries, Sanjay Jha will hand over the company’s top position to Thomas Caulfield, senior vice president and general manager at the foundry vendor. Caulfield, who joined GlobalFoundries in 2014, will become CEO. He has been running the company's fab in New York. "Jha intends to work closely with the company’s shar... » read more

The Week In Review: Manufacturing


Fab tools Samsung Electronics has broken ground on a new extreme ultraviolet (EUV) lithography facility in Hwaseong, South Korea. The new EUV facility is expected to be completed within the second half of 2019 with production slated for 2020. The initial investment in the new EUV line is projected to reach $6 billion by 2020. Imec and Cadence Design Systems have collaborated on the develop... » read more

Directed Self-Assembly Gains Momentum


At last year’s SPIE Advanced Lithography symposium, directed self-assembly (DSA) grabbed the spotlight as chipmakers provided the first glimpse of their initial work and results with the technology. The results were stunning, thereby propelling DSA from a curiosity item to a possible patterning solution for next-generation devices. Last year, in fact, GlobalFoundries, IBM, Intel and Sams... » read more

Manufacturing Bits: Feb. 25


Intel joins DSA consortium Arkema, ASML, Intel and others have formed a new consortium in the emerging directed self-assembly (DSA) arena.The group, dubbed PLACYD, is a European funded consortium. Part of the Seventh Framework European Programme (FP7) and funded by ENIAC JU (European Technology Platform for Nanoelectronics), the project includes Arkema, CEA-Leti, STMicroelectronics, Intel,... » read more

DSA, Multi-beam Make Steady Progress


Semiconductor Engineering sat down to discuss current and future lithography challenges with Laurent Pain, lithography lab manager at CEA-Leti. What follows are excerpts of that conversation. SE: CEA-Leti has two major programs in lithography. One is in directed self-assembly (DSA) and the other is in multi-beam e-beam. Let’s start with multi-beam. What is Leti doing in multi-beam and what... » read more

DSA: High Stakes Game Of Alphabet Soup


By Mark LaPedus Directed self-assembly (DSA) is making progress for potential use in semiconductor production, but the industry must make some major advances in a sometimes forgotten and unsung segment—materials. DSA is a complementary patterning technology that makes use of block copolymer materials to enable fine pitches in chip designs. But today’s block copolymers based on poly (MMA... » read more

The Hidden Costs Of Directed Self-Assembly


By Mark LaPedus Directed self-assembly (DSA) has been billed by some as a potential paradigm shift in semiconductor manufacturing, but it may not turn out to be quite the panacea its proponents suggest—or at least not yet. There are many questions surrounding DSA, an alternative lithography technology that makes use of block copolymers to enable fine pitches. Key among those questions ar... » read more