What Comes Next?


The latest manufacturing, materials and production developments for emerging and adjacent markets will be featured at SEMICON West 2014 (www.semiconwest.org), to be held on July 8-10 at the Moscone Center in San Francisco, Calif. The co-location of emerging and adjacent market focused exhibitors and technical presentations within the framework of SEMICON West maximizes the synergies between sem... » read more

The Week In Review: Manufacturing


As semiconductor technology becomes more challenging, expect more mergers and acquisitions in the fab tool sector. In a research report issued this week, Weston Twigg, an analyst with Pacific Crest Securities, sees several possible M&A scenarios in the future. There is no evidence that any deal is pending right now. But according to Twigg, here are some possible M&As that could happen i... » read more

Multi-beam Sees The Light


The multiple-beam electron-beam market is going in two separate directions at once. Multi-beam for photomask writing is set to take off. The other market--multi-beam for direct-write lithography applications—is still in the early stages and remains in flux. In the multi-beam direct-write segment, for example, multiple sources indicate that KLA-Tencor is exiting this market to focus on its ... » read more

The Week In Review: Manufacturing


IC Insights has released its rankings of the Q1 ‘14 top 25 semiconductor suppliers. Outside of the top five spots, there were numerous changes. MediaTek jumped up four positions. Also, last year’s Micron/Elpida merger created a new giant semiconductor company with Micron’s sales expected to be over $17 billion this year. Toshiba will demolish the No. 2 semiconductor fabrication facilit... » read more

The Bumpy Road To FinFETs


The shift from planar transistors to finFETs is a major inflection point in the IC industry. FinFETs are expected to enable higher performance chips at lower voltages. And the next-generation transistor technology also could allow the industry to extend CMOS to the 10nm node and perhaps beyond. But as it turns out, finFET technology is also harder to master than previously thought. For exam... » read more

One-On-One: Linyong Pang


Semiconductor Engineering sat down to discuss trends in the lithography and photomask business with Linyong “Leo” Pang, the new chief product officer and executive vice president at D2S, which focuses on model-based mask data preparation as well as other mask writing technologies. What follows are excerpts of that conversation. SE: Before you arrived at D2S you were at Luminescent, whic... » read more

Gaps In Metrology Could Impact Yield


For some time, chipmakers have been developing new and complex chip architectures, such as 3D NAND, finFETs and stacked die. But manufacturing these types of chips is no simple task. It requires a robust fab flow to enable new IC designs with good yields. In fact, yield is becoming a more critical part of the flow. Yield is a broad term that means different things to different parts of the ... » read more

Billions And Billions Invested


Over the years, next-generation [getkc id="80" kc_name="lithography"] (NGL) has suffered various setbacks and delays. But until recently, the industry basically shrugged its shoulders and expressed relatively little anxiety about the NGL delays. After all, optical lithography was doing the job in the fab and NGL would eventually materialize. Today, however, the mood is different. In fact, th... » read more

Under The Radar At SPIE


At the SPIE Advanced Lithography symposium, the best and brightest minds in the lithography, metrology, resist and design-for-manufacturing (DFM) fields assemble for a week. The annual event is a good way to get a pulse on the current state of lithography. At this year’s SPIE, it was simple to get a reading. Extreme ultraviolet (EUV) lithography remains delayed. The other next-generation l... » read more

Advanced Lithography: Moore’s Law Moves On


Every February, experts in nano patterning technologies converge in San Jose, Calif., to present their road maps, brainstorms and results at the SPIE Advanced Lithography Symposium. This year, there was more confusion than ever, partly the result of sessions in unlabeled (but beautiful) new ballrooms at the Convention Center, but mostly because of industry divergences. There is no longer a s... » read more

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