Week In Review: Design


Deals eSilicon teamed up with Sunflower Mission once again to present 59 university scholarships for engineering and technology students in Vietnam. Foxconn, the huge Taiwanese contract manufacturer (aka Hon Hai Precision Industry), already announced plans to build a chip plant in Zhuhai, outside of Hong Kong. Now it has developed plans to assemble high-end iPhones in India next year. What'... » read more

Fab Equipment Challenges For 2019


After a period of record growth, the semiconductor equipment industry is facing a slowdown in 2019, in addition to several technical challenges that still need to be resolved. Generally, the equipment industry saw enormous demand in 2017, and the momentum extended into the first part of 2018. But then the memory market began deteriorating in the middle of this year, causing both DRAM and NAND ... » read more

Correlation Study of Actual Temperature Profile and In-line Metrology Measurements for Within-Wafer Uniformity Improvement and Wafer Edge Yield Enhancement


Authors: Fang Fang (a), Alok Vaid (a), Alina Vinslava (a), Richard Casselberry (a), Shailendra Mishra (a), Dhairya Dixit (a), Padraig Timoney (a), Dinh Chu (b), Candice Porter (b), Da Song (b), Zhou Ren (b) Key: (a) GLOBALFOUNDRIES, 400 Stone Break Extension, Malta, NY 12020; (b) KLA-Tencor Corporation, One Technology Drive, Milpitas, CA 95035   ABSTRACT With advances in new techn... » read more

Packaging Biz Faces Challenges in 2019


The IC packaging industry is bracing for slower growth, if not uncertainty, in 2019, even though advanced packaging remains a bright spot in the market. Generally, IC packaging houses saw strong demand in the first part of 2018, but the market cooled in the second half of the year due to a slowdown in memory. Going forward, the slower IC packaging market is expected to extend into the first ... » read more

EUV Mask Blank Battle Brewing


Amid the ramp of extreme ultraviolet (EUV) lithography in the market, suppliers of EUV mask blanks are expanding their production. And a new player—Applied Materials—is looking to enter the market. AGC and Hoya, the two main suppliers of EUV mask blanks, are adding capacity for these critical components that are used for EUV photomasks. A mask blank serves as the substrate for a photomas... » read more

Matching Between Simulations and Measurements As a Key Driver for Reliable Overlay Target Design


By S. Lozenko, B. Schulz, L. Fuerst, C. Hartig, and M. Ruhm of GlobalFoundries and T. Shapoval, G. Ben-Dov, Z. Lindenfeld,  R. Haupt, and R. Wang of KLA-Tencor Abstract Numerical simulation of overlay metrology targets has become a de-facto standard in advanced technology nodes. While appropriate simulation software is widely available in the industry alongside with metrics that allow sel... » read more

Week In Review: Manufacturing, Test


Trade SEMI has voiced support and encouragement for trade discussions between U.S. President Donald Trump and the People's Republic of China President Xi Jinping. The talks are planned for Dec. 1 during the G20 Summit in Argentina. SEMI expressed hope for a deal and offered principles beneficial to the microelectronics supply chain. Recent tariffs and trade tensions, on top of rumored expor... » read more

Panel Fan-out Ramps, Challenges Remain


After years of R&D, panel-level fan-out packaging is finally beginning to ramp up in the market, at least in limited volumes for a few vendors. However, panel-level fan-out, which is an advanced form of today’s fan-out packaging, still faces several technical and cost challenges to bring this technology into the mainstream or high-volume manufacturing. Moreover, several companies are d... » read more

Week In Review: Manufacturing, Test


Chipmakers A U.S. federal grand jury has indicted Chinese DRAM maker Jinhua Integrated Circuit Co. (JHICC), Taiwan's UMC and three individuals, charging them with alleged crimes related to a conspiracy to steal, convey, and possess stolen trade secrets from Micron Technology for the benefit of a company controlled by the China government. In addition, the U.S. filed a civil lawsuit seeking... » read more

Week In Review: Manufacturing, Test


Chipmakers GlobalFoundries and the Chengdu municipality have signed an amendment and changed the strategy of their joint fab investment in Chengdu, China. Originally, GlobalFoundries was supposed to install 180nm/130nm processes in the China-based 300mm fab. The partners have decided to bypass that technology. Intead, the fab will start with GlobalFoundries’ 22nm FD-SOI process. “Ch... » read more

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