tag: Lam Research

Blog Review: July 29
By Jesse Allen - 29 Jul, 2015 - Comments: 0

NASA estimates they could reduce the cost of colonizing the moon to $10 billion, with mining fuel from the lunar surface potentially making the satellite a gas station on the way to Mars or beyond. This week's top five articles from Ansys' Bill Vandermark are mostly out of this world, but there's a down-to-earth aspect as airless tires roll closer to inclusion in consumer vehicles. How will ... » read more

Fab Issues At 7nm And 5nm
By Mark LaPedus - 23 Jul, 2015 - Comments: 2

The race toward the 7nm logic node officially kicked off in July, when IBM Research, GlobalFoundries and Samsung jointly rolled out what the companies claim are the industry’s first 7nm test chips with functional transistors. They're not alone, of course. Intel and TSMC also are racing separately to develop 7nm technology. And in the R&D labs, chipmakers also are working on technologies f... » read more

Rethinking Manufacturing Models
By Ed Sperling - 23 Jul, 2015 - Comments: 0

The perennial uncertainty surrounding EUV lithography and complications stemming from the most advanced nodes are creating a domino effect across the semiconductor industry. Rather than stalling the market, though, which is what happened with the transition to 20nm, vendors now are accelerating their product rollouts and adjusting business plans to capitalize on those delays. That includes m... » read more

What Will 7nm And 5nm Look Like?
By Mark LaPedus - 23 Jul, 2015 - Comments: 0

Citing an assortment of undisclosed manufacturing issues, Intel in July pushed out the introduction of its 10nm chip and process technology to the second half of 2017. This is roughly six or more months later than expected. With the delay at 10nm, [getentity id="22846" e_name="Intel"] also pushed out its process cadence from 2 to 2.5 years. Other foundries, meanwhile, are struggling to keep ... » read more

Is EUV Making Progress?
By Ann Mutschler - 18 Jun, 2015 - Comments: 4

By Ann Steffora Mutschler & Ed Sperling EUV has been promised for a couple of decades, counted on for at least three process nodes on the ITRS roadmap, and considered essential to chip manufacturing since 22nm. Billions of dollars have been invested in R&D, engineering teams from around the world have contributed to its development, and still serious problems persist. Just how close... » read more

Semiconductor R&D Crisis?
By Mark LaPedus - 11 Jun, 2015 - Comments: 3

Research and development is a sometimes forgotten but critical element in the semiconductor industry. The delicate R&D ecosystem enables many of the key breakthroughs in the business. But there could be a troubling trend, if not a crisis, brewing on two fronts in the R&D arena. On one front, R&D costs for semiconductor technologies are escalating at each node. Higher R&D costs are not only ... » read more

Blog Review: May 27
By Jesse Allen - 27 May, 2015 - Comments: 0

With the launch of UNICEF and ARM's 'Wearables for Good' design challenge, David Maidment digs into the program's details and how unobtrusive wearables and sensor technology benefits not only consumers in affluent countries, but could improve conditions for those in the developing world as well. From an ultracompact beamsplitter that could boost processing power for supercomputers within the... » read more

10nm Fab Challenges
By Mark LaPedus - 21 May, 2015 - Comments: 1

After a promising start in 2015, the semiconductor equipment industry is currently experiencing a slight lull. The pause is expected to be short-lived, however. Suppliers of [getkc id="208" comment="3D NAND"] devices are expected to add more fab capacity later this year. And about the same time, foundries are expected to order the first wave of high-volume production tools for 10nm. At 10nm... » read more

Next EUV Challenge: Mask Inspection
By Mark LaPedus - 16 Apr, 2015 - Comments: 2

Extreme ultraviolet ([gettech id="31045" comment="EUV"]) lithography is still not ready for prime time, but the technology finally is moving in the right direction. The EUV light source, for example, is making progress after years of delays and setbacks. Now, amid a possible breakthrough in EUV, the industry is revisiting a nagging issue and asking a simple question: How do you inspect EUV p... » read more

Flash Dance For Inspection And Metrology
By Mark LaPedus - 16 Apr, 2015 - Comments: 0

Chipmakers are moving from planar technology to an assortment of 3D-like architectures, such as 3D NAND and finFETs For these devices, chipmakers face a multitude of challenges in the fab. But one surprising and oft-forgotten technology is emerging as perhaps the biggest challenge in both logic and memory—process control. Process control includes metrology and wafer inspection. Metrolo... » read more

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