Systematic Yield Issues Now Top Priority At Advanced Nodes


Systematic yield issues are supplanting random defects as the dominant concern in semiconductor manufacturing at the most advanced process nodes, requiring more time, effort, and cost to achieve sufficient yield. Yield is the ultimate hush hush topic in semiconductor manufacturing, but it's also the most critical because it determines how many chips can be profitably sold. "At older nodes, b... » read more

Adopting Predictive Maintenance On Fab Tools


Predictive maintenance, based on more and better sensor data from semiconductor manufacturing equipment, can reduce downtime in the fab and ultimately cut costs compared with regularly scheduled maintenance. But implementing this approach is non-trivial, and it can be disruptive to well-honed processes and flows. Not performing maintenance quickly enough can result in damage to wafers or the... » read more

Chip Industry’s Technical Paper Roundup: Dec. 5


New technical papers added to Semiconductor Engineering’s library this week. [table id=67 /] If you have research papers you are trying to promote, we will review them to see if they are a good fit for our global audience. At a minimum, papers need to be well researched and documented, relevant to the semiconductor ecosystem, and free of marketing bias. There is no cost involved for u... » read more

Week In Review: Semiconductor Manufacturing, Test


With the European Council’s adoption of its negotiating mandate for the European Chips Act, member states and the Czech Presidency of the Council have reached a critical milestone in supporting Europe’s efforts to advance manufacturing and supply of critical components, while bolstering R&D capacities for development of next-generation semiconductor innovations, according to SEMI. Ch... » read more

MAC Operation on 28nm High-k Metal Gate FeFET-based Memory Array with ADC (Fraunhofer IPMS/GF)


A technical paper titled "Demonstration of Multiply-Accumulate Operation With 28 nm FeFET Crossbar Array" was published by researchers at Fraunhofer IPMS and GlobalFoundries. Abstract "This letter reports a linear multiply-accumulate (MAC) operation conducted on a crossbar memory array based on 28nm high-k metal gate (HKMG) Complementary Metal Oxide Semiconductor (CMOS) and ferroelectric fi... » read more

EDA Tools For Quantum Chips


Commercially viable quantum computers are at least several years away, but some researchers already are questioning whether existing EDA tools will be sufficient for designing quantum chips and systems. That’s because quantum design requirements at times transcend classical rules about materials, temperature, and structure — rules that are foundational for the majority of EDA products on th... » read more

Chip Industry’s Technical Paper Roundup: Nov. 21


New technical papers added to Semiconductor Engineering’s library this week. [table id=65 /] » read more

3-to-1 Reconfigurable Analog Signal Modulation Circuit On A Single Device


A new technical paper titled "Three-to-one analog signal modulation with a single back-bias-controlled reconfigurable transistor" was published by researchers at NaMLab gGmbH, GlobalFoundries, and TU Dresden. "Reconfigurable field effect transistors are an emerging class of electronic devices, which exploit a structure with multiple independent gates to selectively adjust the charge carrier ... » read more

Week In Review: Semiconductor Manufacturing, Test


Chinese memory chip maker YMTC and dozens of other Chinese entities are "at risk" of being added to a trade blacklist as soon as Dec. 6, a U.S. Commerce Department official said in prepared remarks seen by Reuters. SMIC co-CEO Zhao Haijun said on an earnings call that recent export controls from the United States will have an "adverse impact" on the company's production. The U.K. has rule... » read more

Where All The Semiconductor Investments Are Going


Companies and countries are funneling huge sums of money into semiconductor manufacturing, materials, and research — at least a half-trillion dollars over the next decade, and maybe much more — to guarantee a steady supply of chips and know-how to support growth across a wide swath of increasingly data-centric industries. The build-out of a duplicate supply chain that can guarantee capac... » read more

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