Addressing The ABF Substrate Shortage With In-Line Monitoring


Ajinomoto build-up film (ABF) substrate has been a key component in chip manufacturing since its introduction shortly before the turn of the millennium. Substrates made with Ajinomoto build-up film – an electrical insulator designed for complex circuits – are found in PCs, routers, base stations, and servers. Looking ahead, the ABF substrate market will continue to grow, with revenue up ... » read more

Auto Chipmakers Dig Down To 10ppb


How do engineers deliver 10 defective parts per billion (Dppb) to auto makers if they only screen 1 million parts per year? Answer: By comprehending failure mechanisms and proactively screening for them. Modern automobiles contain nearly 1,000 ICs that must perform over the vehicle’s life (15 years). This drives quality expectations ever higher. While 10 Dppm used to be a solid benchmark, ... » read more

Weaving Digital Threads Into A Global Fabric Of Enterprise Knowledge


How smart manufacturing software provides visibility and control of all phases of the semiconductor manufacturing process. Run-to-run (R2R) automated process control gathers critical data from each production run and automatically adjusts process parameters for the next run based on sophisticated models of process performance. Click here to read more. » read more

Unknowns Driving Up The Cost Of Auto IC Reliability


Automotive chipmakers are considering a variety of options to improve the reliability of ICs used for everything from sensors to artificial intelligence. But collectively they could boost the number of process steps, increase the time spent in manufacturing and packaging, and stir up concerns about the amount of data that needs to be collected, shared, and stored. Accounting for advanced pro... » read more

Critical Moves: Advanced Logic Devices And CIS Benefit From Applications Using IRCD Metrology


As 3D NAND continues to scale vertically — all in the name of increasing capacity and speed and reducing inefficiency and cost — maintaining channel hole critical dimension (CD) and shape uniformity becomes even more challenging. Faced with rising high-aspect ratios, addressing these challenges requires new inline non-destructive metrology to provide real-time process control. Infrared crit... » read more

Week In Review: Manufacturing, Test


Fabs Intel has announced plans for an initial investment of more than $20 billion in the construction of two new leading-edge fabs in Ohio. Planning for the first two factories will start immediately, with construction expected to begin late in 2022. Production is expected to come online in 2025. As part of the announcement, Air Products, Applied Materials, Lam Research and Ultra Clean Technol... » read more

200mm Shortages May Persist For Years


A surge in demand for chips at more mature process nodes is causing shortages for both 200mm foundry capacity and 200mm equipment, and it shows no signs of letting up. In fact, even with new capacity coming on line this year, shortages are likely to persist for years, driving up prices and forcing significant changes across the semiconductor supply chain. Shortages for both 200mm foundry cap... » read more

Week In Review: Manufacturing, Test


Chipmakers, OEMs TSMC reported sales of $15.736 billion for the fourth quarter of 2021, up 5.7% sequentially. Net income grew 6.4% quarter-over-quarter. In the fourth quarter, shipments of 5nm accounted for 23% of total wafer revenues, while 7nm accounted for 27%. In the first quarter of 2022, TSMC’s sales are expected to be between $16.6 billion to $17.2 billion. TSMC also expects its 20... » read more

Week In Review: Auto, Security, Pervasive Computing


Security Kyocera is using Rambus’ RT-130 Root of Trust and AES-IP-38 AES Accelerator IP for data security on Kyocera Evolution Series MFPs (multi-function printers). Connected printers are notorious targets for malicious actors to gain access a network or data. The Evolution Series MFPs’ data security mets Federal Information Processing Standards (FIPS) 140-2 Cryptographic Module Validatio... » read more

The Gargantuan 5G Chip Challenge


Blazing fast upload and download speeds for cellular data are coming, but making the technology function as expected throughout its expected lifetime is an enormous challenge that will require substantial changes across the entire chip ecosystem. While sub-6GHz is an evolutionary step from 4G LTE, the real promise of 5G kicks in with millimeter-wave (mmWave) technology. But these higher-freq... » read more

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