tag: Bruker

Week In Review: Manufacturing, Test
By Mark LaPedus - 06 Aug, 2021 - Comments: 0

Chipmakers Taiwan’s Foxconn continues to expand its efforts in the semiconductor business. Foxconn has acquired a 6-inch wafer fab and the equipment from Taiwan’s Macronix for NT$2.52 billion (US$90.76 million). With the fab, Foxconn plans to enter the wideband gap semiconductor market, namely silicon carbide (SiC). SiC devices are used in electric vehicles, a market that Foxconn is making... » read more

Chip Shortages Grow For Mature Nodes
By Mark LaPedus - 22 Jul, 2021 - Comments: 0

The current wave of chip shortages is expected to last for the foreseeable future, particularly for a growing list of critical devices produced in mature process nodes. Chips manufactured at mature nodes typically fall under the radar, but they are used in nearly every electronic device, including appliances, cars, computers, displays, industrial equipment, smartphones, and TVs. Many of thes... » read more

IC Data Hot Potato: Who Owns And Manages It?
By Susan Rambo And Ed Sperling - 06 Jul, 2021 - Comments: 1

Modern inspection, metrology, and test equipment produces a flood of data during the manufacturing and testing of semiconductors. Now the question is what to do with all of that data. Image resolutions in inspection and metrology have been improving for some time to deal with increased density and smaller features, creating a downstream effect that has largely gone unmanaged. Higher resoluti... » 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

Finding, Predicting EUV Stochastic Defects
By Mark LaPedus - 17 Jun, 2021 - Comments: 0

Several vendors are rolling out next-generation inspection systems and software that locates problematic defects in chips caused by processes in extreme ultraviolet (EUV) lithography. Each defect detection technology involves various tradeoffs. But it’s imperative to use one or more of them in the fab. Ultimately, these so-called stochastic-induced defects caused by EUV can impact the perf... » read more

Reliability Costs Becoming Harder To Track
By Ed Sperling And Susan Rambo - 08 Jun, 2021 - Comments: 0

Ensuring reliability in chips is becoming more complex and significantly more expensive, shifting left into the design cycle and right into the field. But those costs also are becoming more difficult to define and track, varying greatly from one design to the next based upon process node, package technology, market segment, and which fab or OSAT is used. As the number of options increases fo... » read more

Characterization Of CMP Processes With White Light Interferometry
By Bruker - 08 Jun, 2021 - Comments: 0

Faster computer and electronic processors require smaller features for integrated circuits (IC), which in turn require smaller and smoother substrate surfaces. Chemical mechanical polishing (CMP) has become one of the most critical semiconductor fabrication technologies because it offers a superior means of removing unwanted topography in interlevel dielectric layers and achieving sufficient pl... » read more

The Increasingly Uneven Race To 3nm/2nm
By Mark LaPedus and Ed Sperling - 24 May, 2021 - Comments: 2

Several chipmakers and fabless design houses are racing against each other to develop processes and chips at the next logic nodes in 3nm and 2nm, but putting these technologies into mass production is proving both expensive and difficult. It's also beginning to raise questions about just how quickly those new nodes will be needed and why. Migrating to the next nodes does boost performance an... » read more

Demand, Lead Times Soar For 300mm Equipment
By Mark LaPedus - 20 May, 2021 - Comments: 0

A surge in demand for various chips is causing select shortages and extended lead times for many types of 300mm semiconductor equipment, photomask tools, wafers, and other products. For the last several years, 200mm equipment has been in short supply in the market, but issues are now cropping up throughout the 300mm supply chain, as well. Traditionally, lead times have been three to six mont... » read more

Week In Review: Manufacturing, Test
By Mark LaPedus - 07 May, 2021 - Comments: 0

Chipmakers and OEMs IBM has unveiled what the company says is the world’s first 2nm chip. The device is based on a next-generation transistor architecture called a nanosheet FET. The nanosheet FET is an evolutionary step from finFETs, which is today’s state-of-the-art transistor technology. Targeted for 2024, IBM’s 2nm chip features a novel multi-Vt scheme, a 12nm gate length, and a n... » read more

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