tag: fabs

Macro Defect Inspection For Mission-Critical Defense, Aerospace, And Advanced R&D Fabs
By Errol Akomer - 18 Dec, 2025 - Comments: 0

Some fabs build consumer chips that sit inside phones and laptops. Others build chips that must survive in orbit, under the Arctic ice, or deep beneath the Earth’s surface. Fabs serving defense, aerospace, national laboratories, and other advanced R&D programs operate under some of the most stringent requirements in the industry. For these facilities, yield is not the only concern. Sec... » read more

From Latency To Reaction: Simulating The Next Wafer Demand Inflection
By Sungho Yoon - 21 Aug, 2025 - Comments: 0

The semiconductor industry faces an unprecedented paradox: AI demand is booming, fab investments are rising, yet wafer shipments remain stubbornly flat. What's driving this disconnect, and when will it break? As of mid-2025, the global silicon wafer market appears calm on the surface, but underlying structural tensions are quietly mounting. The demand for AI semiconductors remains resilient,... » read more

Aftermarket Sensors Boost Yield In Wafer Fabs
By Anne Meixner - 10 Dec, 2024 - Comments: 0

Third-party sensors are being added into fab equipment to help boost yield and to extend the life of expensive tools, supplementing the sensors that come with equipment used in fabs. The data gleaned from those sensors has broad uses within the fab. It can measure process module performance, identify defect sources, and alert fabs of impending equipment failure. And when coupled with machine... » read more

Building Smarter, Better Fabs
By Laura Peters - 15 Aug, 2024 - Comments: 0

Battling labor shortages, faster ramp rates, and data overload, the process of designing and building greenfield fabs requires a combination of tech tools, failing earlier approaches and superior planning from day one. The complexity and scale of semiconductor fabs is skyrocketing as is the capital cost. Chipmakers are looking to ramp multibillion dollar fabs faster despite the hurdles of la... » read more

Using ML For Improved Fab Scheduling
By Katherine Derbyshire - 25 Jul, 2023 - Comments: 0

Expanding fab capacity is slow and expensive even under ideal circumstances. It has been still more difficult in recent years, as pandemic-related shortages have strained equipment supply chains. When integrated circuit demand rises faster than expansions can fill the gap, fabs try to find “hidden” capacity through improved operations. They hope that more efficient workflows will allow e... » read more

Goals of Going Green
By Anne Meixner - 25 Jul, 2023 - Comments: 0

The chip industry is stepping up efforts to be seen as environmentally friendly, driven by growing pressure from customers and government regulations. Some manufacturers have been addressing sustainability challenges for more than a decade, but they are becoming more aggressive in their efforts, while others are joining them. A review of sustainability reports across the semiconductor indust... » read more

Multi-Beam Writers Are Driving EUV Mask Development
By Jan Hendrik Peters - 25 Jul, 2023 - Comments: 1

By Jan Hendrik Peters (bmbg consult) and Ines Stolberg (Vistec Electron Beam) The European Mask and Lithography Conference (EMLC) 2023, held in Dresden this past June, was attended by about 180 people and over 60 talks and posters were presented. With several keynote and invited talks over two and a half days, the conference gave an overview of the semiconductor and technology landscape in E... » read more

Using Advanced Analytics To Meet ESG Goals
By Mike McIntyre - 06 Jun, 2023 - Comments: 0

With the continued advancement of environmental, social and governance goals, corporations are increasingly focused on reducing their carbon footprints. To accomplish this, these companies are being asked to operate their businesses more efficiently than ever before, whether the matter is reducing waste, water usage or power consumption. This is true for the semiconductor industry as well. A... » read more

Smarter Ways To Manufacture Chips
By Anne Meixner - 20 Apr, 2023 - Comments: 0

OSAT and wafer fabs are beginning to invest in Industry 4.0 solutions in order to improve efficiency and reduce operating costs, but it's a complicated process that involves setting up frameworks to evaluate different options and goals. Semiconductor manufacturing facilities have relied on dedicated automation teams for decades. These teams track and schedule chip production, respond to equi... » read more

Slowdown, But No Correction
By Ed Sperling - 06 Apr, 2022 - Comments: 1

The market for chips will continue to grow over the next few years, but not as quickly as over the past couple years when the work-at-home market drove up demand for everything from laptops and TVs to home video equipment. Economists painted a mixed picture for the semiconductor industry at this week's SEMI Industry Strategy Symposium, projecting continue growth in all major markets, but tem... » read more

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