tag: Brewer Science

Are Surfaces Of Silicon Hardmasks Adaptive?
By Brewer Science - 15 Sep, 2021 - Comments: 0

Silicon hardmask (Si-HM) materials used in lithography processes play a critical role in transferring patterns to desired substrates. In addition, these materials allow for the tuning of optical properties such as reflectivity and optical distribution for better lithography. Si-HM materials also need to possess good compatibility with photoresists before and after optical exposure, during which... » read more

Angstrom-Level Measurements With AFMs
By Mark LaPedus - 19 Aug, 2021 - Comments: 0

Competition is heating up in the atomic force microscopy (AFM) market, where several vendors are shipping new AFM systems that address various metrology challenges in packaging, semiconductors and other fields. AFM, a small but growing field that has been under the radar, involves a standalone system that provides surface measurements on structures down to the angstrom level. (1 angstrom = 0... » read more

Marangoni Effect-Based Under-Layer For A Dual Damascene Via-First Approach
By Brewer Science - 19 Aug, 2021 - Comments: 0

One of the main challenges of a Dual Damascene (DD) via-first process is the control of the Critical Dimensions (CDs) in the lithography of the trenches. The PhotoResist (PhR) thickness presents variations from the via arrays to the open areas, which cause the variation of CDs: the swing effect. The planarization of a DD via-first process is reported. A dual-layer solution is used to demonst... » read more

Week In Review: Auto, Security, Pervasive Computing
By Susan Rambo - 30 Jul, 2021 - Comments: 0

Automotive SGS-TÜV Saar certified that Cadence’s Tensilica Xtensa processors with FlexLock meets the ISO 26262:2018 standard to ASIL-D level. The new FlexLock feature is key to the certification because it supports lockstep, a fault-tolerant method that runs the same operation on two cores at the same time and then compares the output. Any difference in the output can be examined for issues... » read more

Eco-Friendly Initiatives For Semiconductor Sustainability
By Jessica Albright - 22 Jul, 2021 - Comments: 0

Global warming is a hot topic lately, pun intended, contributing to an over 2-degree temperature increase in the last two centuries—which might not seem significant until you factor in the larger stress it puts on our ecosystem (and economy): fire threats, water shortages, and increases in natural disasters. In the last four decades, damages from climate disasters have cost the US 2 trillion... » read more

Piecing Together Chiplets
By Mark LaPedus - 22 Jul, 2021 - Comments: 3

Several companies are implementing the chiplet model as a means to develop next-generation 3D-like chip designs, but this methodology still has a long way to go before it becomes mainstream for the rest of the industry. It takes several pieces to bring up a 3D chip design using the chiplet model. A few large players have the pieces, though most are proprietary. Others are missing some key co... » read more

Underlayer Optimization Method For EUV Lithography
By Brewer Science - 21 Jul, 2021 - Comments: 0

Photoresist and underlayer combine to serve a central role in EUVL for patterning. Layers will be very thin in future, because high numerical aperture (NA) and tight pitches will require very thin layers in the lithography stack. This thinness will make chemical interactions at the photoresist-underlayer interface more common. Adhesion between these layers will be critical to overcome pattern c... » read more

Week In Review: Manufacturing, Test
By Mark LaPedus - 09 Jul, 2021 - Comments: 0

Chipmakers and OEMs China has been working on compound semiconductors, such as gallium-nitride (GaN) and silicon carbide (SiC). Now, a China-backed company has taken a big step in the SiC and related markets. Chip supplier Nexperia, a subsidiary of China’s Wingtech Technology, has acquired Newport Wafer Fab (NWF), a U.K.-based manufacture of power and compound semiconductors, including Si... » read more

Week In Review: Auto, Security, Pervasive Computing
By Susan Rambo - 02 Jul, 2021 - Comments: 0

Security The U.S. government agencies put out a warning that Russian military has been using a Kubernetes cluster to attempt distributed and anonymized brute force access against hundreds of government and private sector targets worldwide. Department of Homeland Security (DHS)’s Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), the National S... » read more

Bumps Vs. Hybrid Bonding For Advanced Packaging
By Mark LaPedus - 23 Jun, 2021 - Comments: 3

Advanced packaging continues to gain steam, but now customers must decide whether to design their next high-end packages using existing interconnect schemes or move to a next-generation, higher-density technology called copper hybrid bonding. The decision is far from simple, and in some cases both technologies may be used. Each technology adds new capabilities in next-generation advanced pac... » read more

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