The Week In Review: Manufacturing


Fab tools Applied Materials has launched a suite of products that will enable cobalt metallization schemes for contacts and interconnects in chips at advanced nodes. The products from Applied enable a complete cobalt fill process. The tools include CMP, CVD, PVD and RTP systems. At advanced nodes, cobalt promises to reduce unwanted resistance in the critical parts of a chip. Cobalt is bein... » read more

The Week In Review: Manufacturing


Chipmakers The IC industry continues to consolidate. For example, Qualcomm has a proposed plan to buy NXP. And then, Broadcom wants to buy Qualcomm. Who is next? In a research note, RBC Capital Markets analyst Mitch Steves said: “According to Bloomberg, Microsemi is exploring a sale and we think logical acquirers could include Skyworks. We continue to view Microsemi as a notable strategic as... » read more

Filtering Out Fab Problems


Bertrand Loy, president and CEO of Entegris, sat down to discuss the semiconductor industry, process challenges and filter technology with Semiconductor Engineering. What follows are excerpts of that conversation. SE: What is the outlook for the IC industry? Loy: A lot of positive things are happening. Eighty percent of what we do are consumables, which would be chemistries and filters. ... » read more

Good Filters, Poor Resists


Shrinking feature sizes and more complex lithography schemes are increasing the pressure on all aspects of the lithography process, including resists and resist filtration. As Clint Haris, vice president and general manager for liquid micro contamination control at Entegris explained, fabs are pushing resist manufacturers toward more stringent control of both contaminants and “soft particl... » read more

Case Study: A CEO’s Journey And Learning In M&A


Executives at this year’s SEMI International Technology Partners Conference (ITPC) assessed a number of forces currently shaping the semiconductor industry, including such topics as Internet of Things (IoT) investment, mounting technology complexity, the ascent of China, and pervasive industry consolidation. Participants particularly valued ITPC as a thought-leadership platform for sharing st... » read more

Electronic Gas Concerns On The Rise


In the grand scheme of the semiconductor supply chain, electronic gases are something most engineers and scientists never think about. Behind the gleaming machinery and brightly labeled tubes, however, these gases allow wafers to be etched, kept at optimum temperatures, and prepared for the application of thin films. Electronic gases are remarkably well managed in high-volume fabs, which is ... » read more

Fab Tool Biz Faces Challenges In 2015


After a slight downturn in 2013, the semiconductor equipment industry rebounded and experienced a solid upturn in 2014. The recovery was primarily driven by tool spending in the foundry and [getkc id="93" kc_name="DRAM"]sectors. Another big and ongoing story continued to unfold in 2014. In late 2013, [getentity id="22817" e_name="Applied Materials"] announced a definitive agreement to acquir... » read more

Week In Review: Manufacturing, Design, Test


This is no surprise, but it could be the end of an era. IBM is exploring a sale of its semiconductor business, according to FT.com. A survey, conducted by Harris Interactive on behalf of Crucial.com, revealed that when asked to choose between these two specific types of men, 84% of women who prefer to be involved with men prefer their male love interest to be "super handy" with computers an... » read more

The Week In Review: Sept. 3


By Mark LaPedus The cellular chip supplier landscape is littered with corpses. So will 4G lead to the destruction of Qualcomm and Intel? That’s highly unlikely, according to a blog from Strategy Analytics. “With the recent announcement of a multimode LTE chipset from Intel, it seems likely that Qualcomm and Intel will maintain their status as the top two cellular radio chipset suppliers in... » read more

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