What’s The Other Guy Doing?

By Ed Sperling - 11 Dec, 2014 - Comments: 0

Competition is generally a good thing. It improves service, promotes innovation, forces efficiencies and price cuts where necessary, and it ratchets up the pressure to bring products and services to market faster. Those who can't keep up usually lose market share, and eventually the business sector consolidates until something comes along to disrupt it. That cycle has been repeated in every ... » read more

Manufacturing Bits: Dec. 8

By Mark LaPedus - 08 Dec, 2014 - Comments: 1

Progress report on EUV resists The development of resists is a key part of extreme ultraviolet (EUV) lithography. “EUV resists are production ready,” said Kevin Cummings, Sematech’s director of lithography. “However, through Sematech’s work with the resist suppliers, we have observed a deceleration in the rate of improvements. As a result, Sematech is working not only with the re... » read more

Manufacturing Bits: Dec. 2

By Mark LaPedus - 02 Dec, 2014 - Comments: 0

Storage ring EUV source Needless to say, extreme ultraviolet (EUV) lithography is delayed. Chipmakers hope to insert EUV at the 7nm node, but that’s not a given. As before, the big problem is the EUV light source. So far, the source can’t generate enough power to enable the required throughput for EUV in mass production. Researchers at the SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory have one p... » read more

The Week In Review: Manufacturing

By Mark LaPedus - 26 Nov, 2014 - Comments: 2

Has extreme ultraviolet (EUV) lithography finally turned the corner after numerous delays and setbacks? The big test for EUV could reside at TSMC. “TSMC ordered two new EUV tools (from ASML), and is expected to use four EUV tools in total (with the two new orders) for its 10nm process (likely one layer, ramping in 2016 or 2017). EUV remains far from ready for broad adoption, in our view, but ... » read more

Design Rules Explode At New Nodes

By Ed Sperling - 17 Nov, 2014 - Comments: 0

Semiconductor Engineering sat down changing design rules with Sergey Shumarayev, senior director of custom IP design at Altera; Luigi Capodieci, R&D fellow at [getentity id="22819" comment="GlobalFoundries"]; Michael White, director of product marketing for Calibre Physical Verification at [getentity id="22017" e_name="Mentor Graphics"], and Coby Zelnik, CEO of [getentity id="22478" e_name=... » read more

Photoresist Problems Ahead

By Ann Mutschler - 14 Nov, 2014 - Comments: 2

As the semiconductor industry begins its ramp to manufacturing at 10nm and below, activity is heating up involving lithography modeling. The goal is to be ready when all the pieces of the puzzle are in place. That includes [gettech id="31045" comment="EUV"], when it finally becomes commercially viable, as well as extending ArF [getkc id="80" comment="lithography"]. When it comes to lithogra... » read more

Transistor Options Narrow For 7nm

By Mark LaPedus - 13 Nov, 2014 - Comments: 0

Chipmakers are currently ramping up silicon-based finFETs at the 16nm/14nm node, with plans to scale the same technology to 10nm. Now, the industry is focusing on the transistor options for 7nm and beyond. At one time, the leading contenders involved several next-generation transistor types. At present, the industry is narrowing down the options and one technology is taking a surprising lea... » read more

Executive Insight: Elmar Platzgummer

By Mark LaPedus - 13 Nov, 2014 - Comments: 0

Semiconductor Engineering sat down to discuss photomask and lithography trends with Elmar Platzgummer, chief executive of IMS Nanofabrication, an Austrian-based supplier of multi-beam e-beam tools for mask writing applications. SE: IMS has shipped the world’s first multi-beam e-beam system. Initially targeted for photomask writing, the tools are currently being tested in the field. How lon... » read more

Why Is My Device Better Than Yours?

By Ed Sperling - 23 Oct, 2014 - Comments: 0

Differentiation is becoming a big problem in the semiconductor industry with far-reaching implications that extend well beyond just chips. The debate over the future of [getkc id="74" comment="Moore's Law"] is well known, but it's just one element in a growing list that will make it much harder for chip companies, IP vendors and even software developers to stand out from the pack. And withou... » read more

EUV Still Matters…But Less

By Ed Sperling - 16 Oct, 2014 - Comments: 0

For all the chatter and occasional tirades about EUV missing its market window—it's true, EUV will have missed five market windows by 10nm—it still matters. And the sooner EUV hits the market with a viable power source, the better off the entire semiconductor manufacturing industry will be. But even EUV is a sideshow to some important shifts underway in technology. While technologically ... » read more

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Knowledge Centers
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