Reliability Risks Shift To The Materials Stack


The semiconductor industry’s push into 3D integration and large-format substrates has fundamentally changed the role of materials in packaging. What were once structural supports and electrical insulators have become critical performance limiters. Modern packages contain far more polymers, adhesives, advanced dielectrics, thermal materials, and composite laminates than previous generations... » read more

Precision Under Pressure: Managing Materials Complexity In Advanced Packaging


In the race to extend Moore's Law through advanced packaging, the limits of precision are no longer defined solely by lithography. Increasingly, they are dictated by the unpredictable behavior of materials. Semiconductor packaging today is no longer limited to just silicon and copper. It includes an expanding range of polymers, adhesives, dielectrics, exotic metals, along with substrates suc... » read more

Research Bits: August 11


Fluorine-free ferroelectrics Researchers from Case Western Reserve University, Vanderbilt University, Pennsylvania State University, Brookhaven National Laboratory, Tennessee State University, and University of Tennessee created a ferroelectric polymer for infrared detectors and sensors in wearable electronics that is made without fluorine. The most common ferroelectric polymer is poly(vinylid... » read more

Block Copolymer and Sub-10nm Line Patterns By Directed Self-Assembly (Tokyo Tech)


A technical paper titled "Chemically tailored block copolymers for highly reliable sub-10-nm patterns by directed self-assembly" was published by researchers at Tokyo Institute of Technology and Tokyo Ohka Kogyo Co. Abstract "While block copolymer (BCP) lithography is theoretically capable of printing features smaller than 10 nm, developing practical BCPs for this purpose remains challeng... » read more

New Strategies For Enhancing Transport Properties of Conducting Polymers (Cambridge, et al.)


A new technical paper titled "Non-equilibrium transport in polymer mixed ionic–electronic conductors at ultrahigh charge densities" was published by researchers at Cambridge University, Grenoble Alpes University, CNRS, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, et al. Abstract "Conducting polymers are mixed ionic–electronic conductors that are emerging candidates for neuromorphic computing, bioel... » read more

Making Electric Vehicles Go Further With New Materials


It’s no secret that vehicle original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) are aggressively pursuing electric vehicle (EV) development. Among the headwinds they face in selling their technology to consumers are price and vehicle range. Not surprisingly, there is a direct correlation between the two — in 2021, for any EV under $40,000, the average vehicle range was 187 miles, while the lowest veh... » read more

Atomic Force Microscopy Covers The Landscape Of Polymer Characterization


"Materials scientists designing a polymer-based material for a specific application must analyze how and why all these factors come together to impact the final product. Understanding the structure and properties at the microscopic level is critical to a complete understanding of the material. “Everybody wants to make their materials perform better at the macroscale,” says Bede Pittenger, a... » read more

Review of essential use of fluorochemicals in lithographic patterning and semiconductor processing


New academic paper by researchers from Cornell University.   Abstract "We identify and describe categories of fluorochemicals used to produce advanced semiconductors within the lithographic patterning manufacturing processes. Topics discussed include the per- and polyfluoroalkyl substance (PFAS) materials used and their necessary attributes for successful semiconductor manufacturing... » read more

Development Of Planarizing Spin-On Carbon Materials For High-Temperature Processes


Multilayer lithography is used for advanced semiconductor processes to pattern complex structures. As more and more procedures incorporate a high-temperature process, such as chemical vapor deposition (CVD), the need for thermally stable materials increases. For certain applications, a spin-on carbon (SOC) layer under the CVD layer is required to survive through a high-temperature process. ... » read more

Power/Performance Bits: April 14


Undoped polymer ink Researchers at Linköping University, Chalmers University of Technology, University of Washington, University of Cologne, Chiba University, and Yunnan University developed an organic ink for printable electronics that doesn't need to be doped for good conductivity. "We normally dope our organic polymers to improve their conductivity and the device performance. The proces... » read more

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