tag: inspection

Searching For EUV Defects
By Mark LaPedus - 19 Apr, 2018 - Comments: 1

Chipmakers hope to insert extreme ultraviolet (EUV) lithography at 7nm and/or 5nm, but several challenges need to be solved before this oft-delayed technology can be used in production. One lingering issue that is becoming more worrisome is how to find defects caused by [gettech id="31045" comment="EUV"] processes. These processes can cause random variations, also known as stochastic effects... » read more

The Next 5 Years Of Chip Technology
By Ed Sperling - 18 Dec, 2017 - Comments: 0

Semiconductor Engineering sat down to discuss the future of scaling, the impact of variation, and the introduction of new materials and technologies, with Rick Gottscho, CTO of [getentity id="22820" comment="Lam Research"]; Mark Dougherty, vice president of advanced module engineering at [getentity id="22819" comment="GlobalFoundries"]; David Shortt, technical fellow at [getentity id="22876" co... » read more

What’s Missing In Packaging
By Ed Sperling - 06 Nov, 2017 - Comments: 0

The growth of advanced packaging on the leading edge of design is inching backwards into older nodes. With most technology—tools, methodologies, materials and processes—this is business as usual. But in packaging, it's both counterintuitive and potentially problematic. The main reason that companies began investing in advanced packaging—OSATs, foundries, chipmakers such as Intel and Qu... » read more

Inside Panel-Level Fan-Out Technology
By Mark LaPedus - 11 Sep, 2017 - Comments: 0

Semiconductor Engineering sat down to discuss panel-level fan-out packaging technology with Tanja Braun, deputy group manager at the Fraunhofer Institute for Reliability and Microintegration IZM, and Michael Töpper, business development manager at Fraunhofer IZM. Braun is responsible for the Panel Level Packaging Consortium at Fraunhofer IZM, as well as the group manager for assembly and encap... » read more

200mm Crisis?
By Mark LaPedus - 18 May, 2017 - Comments: 7

Over the last year or so, the IC industry has experienced an acute shortage of both 200mm fab capacity and 200mm equipment amid a surge of demand for certain chips. Right now, though, the 200mm shortfall is much worse than before. But this situation isn’t expected to improve for both elements in the second half of 2017, and perhaps beyond. On the capacity front, chipmakers are generally... » read more

2.5D, Fan-Out Inspection Issues Grow
By Ed Sperling - 12 May, 2017 - Comments: 0

As advanced packaging moves into the mainstream, packaging houses and equipment makers are ratcheting up efforts to solve persistent metrology and inspection issues. The goal is to lower the cost of fan-outs, [getkc id="82" kc_name="2.5D"] and [getkc id="42" kc_name="3D-IC"], along with a number of other packaging variants consistent with the kinds of gains that are normally associated with Moo... » read more

Mask Maker Worries Grow
By Mark LaPedus - 22 Sep, 2016 - Comments: 0

Photomasks are becoming more complex and expensive at each node, thereby creating a number of challenges on several fronts. For one thing, the features on the [getkc id="265" kc_name="photomask"] are becoming smaller and more complex at each node. Second, the number of masks per mask-set are increasing as a result of multiple patterning. Third, it costs more to build and equip a new mask fab... » read more

E-beam Vs. Optical Inspection
By Mark LaPedus - 11 Jul, 2016 - Comments: 0

The wafer inspection business is heating up as chipmakers encounter new and tiny killer defects in advanced devices. Last month ASML Holding entered into an agreement to acquire Hermes Microvision (HMI), the world’s largest e-beam inspection vendor, for $3.1 billion. The proposed move propelled ASML into the e-beam wafer inspection market. In addition, [getentity id="22817" e_name="Appl... » read more

Insider’s Guide To Photomasks
By Mark LaPedus - 17 Mar, 2016 - Comments: 1

Semiconductor Engineering sat down to talk about photomasks and lithography with Franklin Kalk, executive vice president of technology at Toppan Photomasks, a merchant photomask supplier. What follows are excerpts of that conversation. SE: What’s hot in mask technology these days? Kalk: It’s everything from the bleeding-edge like EUV to much more mature manufacturing. On the mature si... » read more

Inside Inspection And Metrology
By Mark LaPedus - 18 Dec, 2015 - Comments: 0

Semiconductor Engineering sat down to talk about inspection, metrology and other issues with Mehdi Vaez-Iravani, vice president of advanced imaging technologies at Applied Materials. What follows are excerpts of that conversation. SE: Today, the industry is working on a new range of complex architectures, such as 3D NAND and finFETs. For these technologies, the industry is clearly struggling... » read more

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