The Week In Review: Manufacturing


EUV lithography remains a mixed bag, according to analysts. "We are downgrading shares of ASML to 'Sector Perform' from 'Outperform' as we think shares appear fully valued based on midterm lithography demand and our view that meaningful EUV adoption is still several years out," said Weston Twigg, an analyst with Pacific Crest Securities, in a new report. "We think the reality is that it is not ... » read more

More Lithography Options?


Lithographers face some tough decisions at 10nm and beyond. At these nodes, IC makers are still weighing the various patterning options. And to make it even more difficult, lithographers could soon have some new, and potentially disruptive, options on the table. On one front, the traditional next-generation lithography (NGL) technologies are finally making some noticeable progress. For examp... » read more

The Week In Review: Manufacturing


At the SPIE Advanced Lithography conference in San Jose, Calif., there were several takeaways. First, the battle for lithography share is heating up at Intel. “We believe Nikon still holds a decent position at Intel, but with ASML gaining some share at 10nm. Nikon could regain some share with its new platform at 7nm, in our view, but it is early to tell. We believe Nikon has improved its posi... » read more

Extra! Extra! Read All About It!


ASML announced that they are going into the pellicle business at 2:15pm on February 25 at the SPIE Advanced Lithography Symposium in San Jose. These are not your garden variety plastic membrane pellicles, mind you, but rather EUV pellicles made out of 50nm thick polysilicon film and stretched on frames that can be attached, removed and reattached on EUV masks. Dr. Carmen Zoldesi of ASML reveal... » read more

Manufacturing Bits: Feb. 24


EUV progress report At the SPIE Advanced Lithography conference in San Jose, Calif., ASML Holding said that one customer, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. Ltd. (TSMC), has exposed more than 1,000 wafers on an NXE:3300B EUV system in a single day. This is one step towards the insertion of EUV lithography in volume production. During a recent test run on the system, TSMC exposed 1,022 w... » read more

The Week In Review: Manufacturing


For years, chipmakers have attempted to build fabs in India. So far, however, India has failed to set up modern fabs and for good reason. There are issues in terms of obtaining dependable power and water for a fab in India, according to Will Strauss, president of Forward Concepts, who added that India also suffers from government bureaucracy. India is still trying. Last week, Cricket Semicon... » read more

5 Disruptive Mask Technologies


Photomask complexity and costs are increasing at each node, thereby creating a number of challenges on several fronts. On one front, for example, traditional single-beam e-beam tools are struggling to keep up with mask complexity. As a result, the write times and costs continue to rise. Mask complexity also impacts the other parts of the tool flow, such as inspection, metrology and repair. I... » read more

How To Extend Litho Scaling


IC mask [getkc id="80" comment="lithography"] today is sophisticated and complex. It's also a work in progress with a lot of unknowns as the industry struggles to increase productivity while reducing risk. The bulk of the work currently is focused on trying to figure out what would be a practical scheme for patterning lithography that could be used at 10nm and 7nm, said Gandharv Bhatara, Ca... » read more

One-On-One: Dave Hemker


Semiconductor Engineering sat down to discuss process technology, transistor trends and other topics with Dave Hemker, senior vice president and chief technology officer at [getentity id="22820" comment="LAM Research"]. SE: On the technology front, the IC industry is undergoing some new and dramatic changes. What are some of those changes? Hemker: We focus on what we call the inflections.... » read more

First Look: 10nm


As the semiconductor industry begins grappling with mass production at 14/16nm process nodes, work is already underway at 10nm. Tools are qualified, IP is characterized, and the first test chips are being produced. It's still too early for production, of course—perhaps three years too early—but there is enough information being collected to draw at least some impressions about just how toug... » read more

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