tag: lithography

Will 10nm Be The Last Big Node?
By Ed Sperling - 19 Feb, 2015 - Comments: 0

There is a great deal of attention being paid to established nodes these days and everything up to and including 10nm. What comes after that remains a mystery. Intel and a handful of others will keep pushing to the next nodes, of course. Still, where the commercial foundries—including Intel—place their next big bets is a matter of ongoing debate. There is no doubt that 7nm and 5nm will b... » read more

First Look: 10nm
By Ed Sperling - 29 Jan, 2015 - Comments: 6

As the semiconductor industry begins grappling with mass production at 14/16nm process nodes, work is already underway at 10nm. Tools are qualified, IP is characterized, and the first test chips are being produced. It's still too early for production, of course—perhaps three years too early—but there is enough information being collected to draw at least some impressions about just how toug... » read more

Tech Talk: Photomask Challenges
By Mark LaPedus - 22 Jan, 2015 - Comments: 0

GlobalFoundries' Bob Pack talks with Semiconductor Engineering about new problems experienced by photomask shops and how does lithography affects it all. [youtube vid=8hJwVhaZhFc] » read more

Tech Talk: Inverse Lithography
By Ed Sperling - 11 Dec, 2014 - Comments: 0

D2S’ Leo Pang talks with Semiconductor Engineering about lithography, inverse lithography, photomasks, where the problems are, and what needs to be done to move forward. [youtube vid=mn8JWaP8Z68] » read more

What’s The Other Guy Doing?
By Ed Sperling - 11 Dec, 2014 - Comments: 0

Competition is generally a good thing. It improves service, promotes innovation, forces efficiencies and price cuts where necessary, and it ratchets up the pressure to bring products and services to market faster. Those who can't keep up usually lose market share, and eventually the business sector consolidates until something comes along to disrupt it. That cycle has been repeated in every ... » read more

Manufacturing Bits: Dec. 2
By Mark LaPedus - 02 Dec, 2014 - Comments: 0

Storage ring EUV source Needless to say, extreme ultraviolet (EUV) lithography is delayed. Chipmakers hope to insert EUV at the 7nm node, but that’s not a given. As before, the big problem is the EUV light source. So far, the source can’t generate enough power to enable the required throughput for EUV in mass production. Researchers at the SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory have one p... » read more

Design Rules Explode At New Nodes
By Ed Sperling - 17 Nov, 2014 - Comments: 0

Semiconductor Engineering sat down changing design rules with Sergey Shumarayev, senior director of custom IP design at Altera; Luigi Capodieci, R&D fellow at [getentity id="22819" comment="GlobalFoundries"]; Michael White, director of product marketing for Calibre Physical Verification at [getentity id="22017" e_name="Mentor Graphics"], and Coby Zelnik, CEO of [getentity id="22478" e_name=... » read more

Photoresist Problems Ahead
By Ann Mutschler - 14 Nov, 2014 - Comments: 2

As the semiconductor industry begins its ramp to manufacturing at 10nm and below, activity is heating up involving lithography modeling. The goal is to be ready when all the pieces of the puzzle are in place. That includes [gettech id="31045" comment="EUV"], when it finally becomes commercially viable, as well as extending ArF [getkc id="80" comment="lithography"]. When it comes to lithogra... » read more

Future Directions Unknown
By Ed Sperling - 13 Nov, 2014 - Comments: 0

The semiconductor industry has been on cruise control when it comes to shrinking features, but as process technology progresses to 10nm and 7nm there will be some significant changes. For one thing, the cost per new design will continue to rise, which means only the largest companies with the biggest market opportunity will be able to invest at the leading-edge nodes. Chips for mobile phones... » read more

Transistor Options Narrow For 7nm
By Mark LaPedus - 13 Nov, 2014 - Comments: 0

Chipmakers are currently ramping up silicon-based finFETs at the 16nm/14nm node, with plans to scale the same technology to 10nm. Now, the industry is focusing on the transistor options for 7nm and beyond. At one time, the leading contenders involved several next-generation transistor types. At present, the industry is narrowing down the options and one technology is taking a surprising lea... » read more

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