tag: Onto Innovation

A Star Is Born: Gallium Nitride And The Coming Age Of Compound Semiconductors
By Wei Zhao - 07 Feb, 2023 - Comments: 0

Not so long ago, Blu-ray was hailed as a technological advancement in the world of digital video. But in the streaming era, Blu-ray’s luster has faded. However, the technology responsible for the blue laser diode that gave the Blu-ray player its name – gallium nitride (GaN) – is emerging as one of a number of exciting new developments in the semiconductor industry. Today, GaN is used b... » read more

Chip Industry’s Earnings Roundup
By Linda Christensen - 06 Feb, 2023 - Comments: 0

Editor's Note: Updated throughout February 2023 for additional earnings releases. Many companies reported revenue growth in the most recent quarter, but the latest round of chip industry earnings releases reflected some major themes: Demand for consumer electronics softened due to inflation, rising interest rates, and post-pandemic market saturation, creating a slump in the memory chip ... » read more

Metrology Options Increase As Device Needs Shift
By Laura Peters - 10 Jan, 2023 - Comments: 1

Semiconductor fabs are taking an ‘all hands on deck’ approach to solving tough metrology and yield management challenges, combining tools, processes, and other technologies as the chip industry transitions to nanosheet transistors on the front end and heterogenous integration on the back end. Optical and e-beam tools are being extended, while X-ray inspection is being added on a case-by-... » read more

The March Toward Chiplets
By Ed Sperling and Karen Heyman - 15 Dec, 2022 - Comments: 0

The days of monolithic chips developed at the most advanced process nodes are rapidly dwindling. Nearly everyone working at the leading edge of design is looking toward some type of advanced packaging using discrete heterogeneous components. The challenge now is how to shift the whole chip industry into this disaggregated model. It's going to take time, effort, as well as a substantial reali... » read more

Systematic Yield Issues Now Top Priority At Advanced Nodes
By Laura Peters - 06 Dec, 2022 - Comments: 0

Systematic yield issues are supplanting random defects as the dominant concern in semiconductor manufacturing at the most advanced process nodes, requiring more time, effort, and cost to achieve sufficient yield. Yield is the ultimate hush hush topic in semiconductor manufacturing, but it's also the most critical because it determines how many chips can be profitably sold. "At older nodes, b... » read more

Adopting Predictive Maintenance On Fab Tools
By Anne Meixner - 06 Dec, 2022 - Comments: 0

Predictive maintenance, based on more and better sensor data from semiconductor manufacturing equipment, can reduce downtime in the fab and ultimately cut costs compared with regularly scheduled maintenance. But implementing this approach is non-trivial, and it can be disruptive to well-honed processes and flows. Not performing maintenance quickly enough can result in damage to wafers or the... » read more

Metrology Sampling Plans Are Key For Device Analytics And Traceability
By Mike McIntyre - 06 Dec, 2022 - Comments: 0

A mother steps on the brakes, bringing her car to a stop as she drops her kids off for dance lessons. At the time, she doesn't notice anything wrong, but when she takes her car in for its regular service appointment, the mechanic conducts a diagnostic check and discovers that the primary brake system on the car had failed because of a faulty braking controller without anyone realizing it. Fortu... » read more

Next Steps For Improving Yield
By Laura Peters - 08 Nov, 2022 - Comments: 0

Chipmakers are ramping new tools and methodologies to achieve sufficient yield faster, despite smaller device dimensions, a growing number of systematic defects, immense data volumes, and massive competitive pressure. Whether a 3nm process is ramping, or a 28nm process is being tuned, the focus is on reducing defectivity. The challenge is to rapidly identify indicators that can improve yield... » read more

Heterogeneous Integration: Correcting Overlay Errors On Advanced Integrated Circuit Substrates (AICS)
By John Chang - 08 Nov, 2022 - Comments: 0

By John Chang, with Corey Shay, James Webb, and Timothy Chang For high-performance computing, artificial intelligence, and data centers, the path ahead is certain, but with it comes a change in substrate format and processing requirements. Instead of relying on the quest for the next technology node to bring about future device performance gains, manufacturers are charting a future based inc... » read more

Legacy Tools, New Tricks: Optical 3D Inspection
By Karen Heyman - 08 Nov, 2022 - Comments: 0

Stacking chips is making it far more difficult to find existing and latent defects, and to check for things like die shift, leftover particles from other processes, co-planarity of bumps, and adhesion of different materials such as dielectrics. There are several main problems: Not everything is visible from a single angle, particularly when vertical structures are used; Various struc... » read more

← Older posts Newer posts →

  • Sponsors

About

Navigation

Connect With Us

Copyright ©2013-2025 SMG   |  Terms of Service  |  Privacy Policy