When Semiconductor Materials Misbehave


Key Takeaways Material behavior in production depends on the process context that no development environment can fully replicate. In advanced packaging, the interactions that cross domain boundaries are increasingly where failures originate. The most accurate materials data is also the most commercially sensitive, leaving simulation models calibrated against generic inputs rather tha... » read more

Breaking The Copper Bottleneck With Molybdenum Hybrid Metallization


Scaling the back end of line (BEOL) in advanced semiconductor logic devices is a major challenge. Metal lines and via filling in BEOL have historically used copper (Cu) as the electrical conductor. But as device dimensions shrink, Cu use has become problematic. The small critical dimensions (CD) of the Cu metal lines and vias in the latest BEOL structures have created an increase in resistance,... » read more

Scaling Memory With Molybdenum


Molybdenum is looking increasingly promising as a replacement for a variety of metals commonly used in semiconductor manufacturing today, especially at leading-edge nodes. One by one, chipmakers are crossing metals off the list at advanced nodes. While ruthenium liners are nearly ready for production, the metal is not ready to replace copper in highly scaled interconnects. Ruthenium is very ... » read more

Power Delivery Challenges For AI Chips


As artificial intelligence (AI) workloads grow larger and more complex, the various processing elements being developed to process all that data are demanding unprecedented levels of power. But delivering this power efficiently and reliably, without degrading signal integrity or introducing thermal bottlenecks, has created some of the toughest design and manufacturing challenges in semiconducto... » read more

Molybdenum: Transforming Semiconductor Manufacturing For Next-Generation Technologies


One trillion semiconductors produced in a single year. A digital foundation powering AI's explosive growth. The next frontier requires chips that are smaller, faster, and exponentially more powerful. A new white paper from Counterpoint Research  reveals how advanced metallization—specifically molybdenum—is becoming a critical enabler for semiconductor manufacturing in this new era. Th... » read more

Interconnects Approach Tipping Point


As leading devices move to next generation nanosheets for logic, their interconnections are getting squeezed past the point where they can deliver low resistance pathways. The 1nm (10Å) node will have 20nm pitch and larger metal lines, but the interconnect stack already consumes a third of device power and accounts for 75% of the chip's RC delay. Changing this dynamic requires a superior co... » read more

High-Temperature Processing of Molybdenum Interconnects


A technical paper titled "Solving the Annealing of Mo Interconnects for Next-Gen Integrated Circuits" was published by researchers at the National University of Singapore, A*STAR, and imec. Abstract "Recent surge in demand for computational power combined with strict constraints on energy consumption requires persistent increase in the density of transistors and memory cells in integrated ... » read more

Interconnects: Criteria For Alternative Metal Benchmarking And Selection (Imec, KU Leuven)


A technical paper titled “Selecting Alternative Metals for Advanced Interconnects” was published by researchers at imec and KU Leuven. Abstract “Today, interconnect resistance and reliability are key limiters for the performance of advanced CMOS circuits. As transistor scaling is slowing, interconnect scaling has become the main driver for circuit miniaturization, and interconnect lim... » read more

Comparing Thermal Properties In Molybdenum Substrate To Si And Glass For A System-On-Foil Integration (RIT, Lux)


A technical paper titled “Comparative Analysis of Thermal Properties in Molybdenum Substrate to Silicon and Glass for a System-on-Foil Integration” was published by researchers at Rochester Institute of Technology and Lux Semiconductors. Abstract: "Advanced electronics technology is moving towards smaller footprints and higher computational power. In order to achieve this, advanced packag... » read more

Backside Power Delivery Gears Up For 2nm Devices


The top three foundries plan to implement backside power delivery as soon as the 2nm node, setting the stage for faster and more efficient switching in chips, reduced routing congestion, and lower noise across multiple metal layers. The benefits of using this approach are significant. By delivering power using slightly fatter, less resistive lines on the backside, rather than inefficient fro... » read more

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