Mobility Gets A Boost With Expanded Epi Applications


By Jeremy Zelenko Even as industry moves into the era of the high k metal gate (HKMG) and FinFET transistor, chipmakers continue to seek ways to improve device performance. One of the latest advances and the subject of an Applied Materials announcement made today is to extend epitaxial deposition from PMOS to NMOS transistors. Implementing an NMOS epitaxy (epi) process in addition to the estab... » read more

The Week In Review: July 15


By Mark LaPedus There are more problems surfacing with extreme ultraviolet (EUV) lithography. Yes, the light source remains a problem, but the resists appear to be in decent shape. “The next challenge is the mask blank,” said Stefan Wurm, director of Sematech’s lithography program. The new problem involves ion beam deposition, which apparently is causing defects and overfill on EUV masks... » read more

Speeding Up NMOS


By Ed Sperling For years—decades, in fact—the NMOS transistor world has been on cruise control. NMOS is naturally faster and its performance has scaled better than PMOS. PMOS has had a cost advantage. But lately, it has been catching up in performance, too. In fact, at 20nm the two transistor types have proven nearly equal in performance—but not for long. NMOS is about to get a big bo... » read more

New Apps For 3D Chips


By Mark LaPedus Semiconductor Manufacturing and; Design sat down to discuss the 3D device challenges and applications with Peter Ramm, head of the department for device and 3D integration at Fraunhofer EMFT Munich, one of Europe’s largest research organizations. SMD: Fraunhofer was a pioneer in 3D chip R&D, right? Ramm: We are the oldest microelectronics institute in Germany. We st... » read more

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