What’s Next In Fab Tool Technologies?


Experts at the Table: Semiconductor Engineering sat down to discuss extreme ultraviolet (EUV) lithography and other next-generation fab technologies with Jerry Chen, head of global business development for manufacturing & industrials at Nvidia; David Fried, vice president of computational products at Lam Research; Mark Shirey, vice president of marketing and applications at KLA; and Aki Fuj... » read more

How Extensively Will Curvilinear ILT Be Used For EUV Photomasks?


Curvilinear shapes on photomasks lead to improved process windows, as the first installment of this blog series discussed. Our blog series continues with a video panel discussion of the benefits that curvilinear shapes have for EUV photomasks (masks) and whether curvilinear shapes will be used beyond today’s usage for hotspots. Our panellists approached the question of curvilinear ILT for ... » read more

Week In Review: Manufacturing, Test


Chipmakers and OEMs Several foundry vendors are building new fabs. The memory vendors, such as Samsung and SK Hynix, are also building new capacity. In another example, Taiwan DRAM supplier Nanya Technology plans to construct a new 300mm fab in the Taishan Nanlin Technology Park in New Taipei City. The plant will produce DRAMs with Nanya’s in-house developed 10nm-class process technologies a... » read more

Foundry Wars Begin


Leading-edge foundry vendors are gearing up for a new, high-stakes spending and technology race, setting the stage for a possible shakeup across the semiconductor manufacturing landscape. In March, Intel re-entered the foundry business, positioning itself against Samsung and TSMC at the leading edge, and against a multitude of foundries working at older nodes. Intel announced plans to build ... » read more

The Quest For Curvilinear Photomasks


The semiconductor industry is making noticeable progress on the development of advanced curvilinear photomasks, a technology that has broad implications for chip designs at the most advanced nodes and the ability to manufacture those chips faster and cheaper. The question now is when will this technology move beyond its niche-oriented status and ramp up into high-volume manufacturing. For ye... » read more

EUV Pellicles Finally Ready


After a period of delays, EUV pellicles are emerging and becoming a requirement in high-volume production of critical chips. At the same time, the pellicle landscape for extreme ultraviolet (EUV) lithography is changing. ASML, the sole supplier of EUV pellicles, is transferring the assembly and distribution of these products to Mitsui. Others are also developing pellicles for EUV, a next-gen... » read more

Why New Photoresist Technology Is Critical


As chipmakers move to advanced technology nodes, they are challenged to resolve ever finer features. One of the major roadblocks involves the material used to transfer chip design to the wafer. That material is rapidly reaching its limit to accurately transfer designs. To keep next-generation device scaling on track, a breakthrough technology has been introduced: dry resist. To better understan... » read more

Long Lead Times Seen For Equipment


There are a number of big stories in the semiconductor market thus far in 2021. Automotive chip shortages and tight foundry capacity are among the bigger ones. That’s just for starters. What hasn’t received much attention is the ongoing shortages and long lead times for semiconductor equipment. In some cases, lead times have stretched out to 12 months or more for some equipment. Some t... » read more

Manufacturing Bits: March 8


Two-beam EUV lithography At the recent SPIE Advanced Lithography conference, Nikon gave a presentation on a two-beam extreme ultraviolet (EUV) lithography technology. Still in the conceptual phase, Nikon’s so-called EUV Projection Optical Wafer Exposure Ruling Machine, or EUV Power Machine, is designed for the 1nm node or so. The proposed system has a minimum resolution of 10nm for lines ... » read more

Manufacturing Bits: March 2


Next-gen AFM At the recent SPIE Advanced Lithography conference, Imec, Infinitesima and others described a new metrology tool technology called a Rapid Probe Microscope (RPM). Infinitesima has shipped its first RPM 3D system, enabling three-dimensional (3D) metrology applications for leading-edge chips. The system was jointly developed with Imec. In the IEDM paper, Imec and Infinitesima... » read more

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