The Week In Review: Manufacturing & Design


GT Advanced Technologies has entered into a multi-year supply agreement with Apple for sapphire materials. GT will own and operate its furnaces and related equipment to produce the sapphire materials at an Apple-owned facility in Arizona. GT expects to employ more than 700 people in the facility. Apple will provide GT with a prepayment of about $578 million. “We believe Apple likely has signi... » read more

The Week In Review: Manufacturing & Design


Silver surfers represent a more important technology market than “Generation X” and “Generation Y,” according to research from Gartner. Silver surfers are people in middle age or approaching old age. Although most technologists fail to recognize this fact, they are very interested in using technology and also have the time and the resources to pursue their interests, according to Gartne... » read more

Temporary Bonding, Debonding Remains Challenging For TSV Adoption


By Jeff Chappell One issue with the adoption of TSVs in 3D ICs in mainstream semiconductor applications revolves around the throughput of the temporary wafer bonding and debonding process. This doesn't necessarily equate to a roadblock, but work certainly remains to be done on this and related issues. On one hand, TSVs already are being used in the manufacturing of compound semiconductors ... » read more

There’s A New Paradigm In Town


I recently wrote an article in the October 9th issue of EETimes that appears to have rattled the semiconductor industry a bit. Entitled “Wake Up, Semi Industry: System OEMs Might Not Need You,” the article conveyed the fact that many system-level OEMs now have the capability — and desire — to develop their own application-specific chips. This may be news to many. But a simple review... » read more

TSVs: Welcome To The Era Of Probably Good Die


Among the challenges of a widespread adoption of 3D ICs is how to test them, particularly when it comes to through-silicon vias (TSVs). While not necessarily presenting a roadblock, TSVs use in the mainstream will almost certainly change traditional test strategies. In fact for many chipmakers looking to stack their silicon, they may come to rely less on the traditional known good die (KGD) ... » read more

The Week In Review: Oct. 11


By Mark LaPedus & Ed Sperling Demand is running high for DRAMs, thanks to last month’s fab fire at Hynix’ China plant. “The impact from Hynix' fab fire seems to be far more extensive than we had originally thought. We now think the factory is most likely up at the earliest by May/June 2014, which certainly provides robust pricing support for DRAM. Hynix is in the process of convertin... » read more

The Week In Review: Sept. 23


By Mark LaPedus For some time, Apple’s iPhones have incorporated a separate RF switch and diversity switch from Peregrine Semiconductor (PSMI). The switches are based on a silicon-on-insulator (SOI) variant called silicon-on-sapphire (SOS). Murata takes Peregrine’s RF switches and integrates them into a module. Doug Freedman, an analyst with RBC Capital, said Apple is no longer using PSMI�... » 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

The Week In Review: Aug. 26


By Mark LaPedus The evolving relationship between humans and machines is the key theme of Gartner’s most "hyped” technologies in 2013. Gartner has chosen to feature the relationship between humans and machines due to the increased hype around smart machines, cognitive computing and the Internet of Things. Gartner also released its updated chart of hyped technologies. SunEdison, formerly... » read more

The Week In Review: Aug. 19


By Mark LaPedus Applied Materials named Gary Dickerson, who has been serving as president of the company, as CEO. Mike Splinter, who held the reins since 2003, was elevated to executive chairman of the board. Dickerson served as the CEO of Varian, which Applied acquired in 2011, as well as the president and COO of KLA-Tencor. Applied Materials also announced its Q3 results. The company rep... » read more

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