tag: process control

The Specialty Device Surge Part 3: Solving The Process Control Challenges Of MEMS, Photonics, Co-Packaged Optics, And More
By Christopher Haire - 12 May, 2026 - Comments: 0

Every day, consumers rely on an invisible network of specialty semiconductor devices without realizing it. The smartphone in your pocket is a good place to start. It knows when you rotate the screen thanks to MEMS sensors, and its camera delivers crisp images through advanced CMOS image sensors. Meanwhile, fast charging technology, wireless connectivity, facial recognition, and high-frequency c... » read more

Smart Test Collides With The Data Chain
By Gregory Haley - 12 May, 2026 - Comments: 0

Key Takeaways: The promise of smart test is a data-chain problem before it is an algorithm problem. A device can pass every checkpoint and still carry a latent defect the test record never captured. As test grows more adaptive, the validity of the measurement environment matters as much as the measurement itself. For years, the test roadmap has pointed toward more adaptive f... » read more

When Semiconductor Materials Misbehave
By Gregory Haley - 27 Apr, 2026 - Comments: 0

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

The Specialty Device Surge Part 2: The Process Control Challenges Of MEMS, Co-Packaged Optics, And More
By Christopher Haire - 07 Apr, 2026 - Comments: 0

In a world where high-bandwidth memory, GPUs, and advanced AI packages are all the rage, it is easy to forget the important role specialty devices play. These unsung heroes of modern life perform critical functions across a wide range of industries, including automotive, telecommunications, data centers, emerging AI hardware ecosystems, and consumer electronics, just like the smartphone in your... » read more

Mid-infrared Ellipsometry For Optical Critical Dimension Metrology
By Onto Innovation - 07 Apr, 2026 - Comments: 0

Abstract "Mid-infrared ellipsometry offers a powerful approach for non-destructive optical critical dimension (OCD) metrology in advanced semiconductor manufacturing. This technique supports in-line measurements of high aspect ratio structures, such as those found in 3D NAND memory devices. The incorporation of quantum cascade lasers and fast phase modulation allows rapid acquisition of Muel... » read more

The Specialty Device Surge, Part 1: Wafer Size Transitions Are Powering The Future Of Specialty Devices And Bringing New Challenges
By Christopher Haire - 10 Mar, 2026 - Comments: 0

Specialty devices are the unsung heroes of modern life. For many in the semiconductor industry today, the spotlight is on the SiC and GaN power devices used in automotive, green energy, fast-charge consumer electronics (CE), and high-performance computing (HPC) applications (Figures 1 and 2). However, specialty devices are more than just power devices. They are a broad class of semiconductor... » read more

When Cleaning Chips Isn’t Clean Enough
By Gregory Haley - 19 Feb, 2026 - Comments: 0

Key Takeaways Contamination is becoming much more difficult to identify at the most advanced nodes, forcing fabs to rethink how control is achieved. Issues may show up as electrical or statistical anomalies, not particles, and not at time zero. Reliable classification is needed to identify critical contamination and reduce time and effort spent on nuisance failures. For much... » read more

Every Atom Now Counts In Advanced Chip Manufacturing
By Gregory Haley - 22 Jan, 2026 - Comments: 0

Artificial-intelligence workloads are pushing semiconductor design to a point where traditional scaling strategies are running out of room. Performance improvements that once came from shrinking transistors now depend increasingly on how devices are stacked, interconnected, and isolated. Transistor scaling still matters, but advanced device architectures no longer can accommodate the power dens... » read more

Smaller Geometries, Bigger Demands: The Role Of OCD In GAA Logic And Vertical Gate DRAM Process Control
By Jiangtao Hu - 09 Dec, 2025 - Comments: 0

AI workloads are pushing the boundaries of compute, memory, and interconnect architectures, and to meet these goals, manufacturers are rapidly accelerating advanced logic and DRAM development. Chief among these innovations: gate-all-around (GAA) logic transistor and vertical gate (VG) DRAM, two device architectures that promise higher performance, improved power efficiency, and greater scalabil... » read more

Enhancing CMP Process Control with Intelligent Line Monitoring & Integrated Metrology
By Onto Innovation - 09 Dec, 2025 - Comments: 0

New logic transistor designs, 3D NAND stacking, and DRAM integration introduce more CMP layers and tighter process windows. Traditional metrology approaches struggle to keep pace, especially with the need for high sampling rates, multiple control zones, and improved signal-to-noise ratios. Onto Innovation’s Intelligent Line Monitoring & Control with Integrated Metrology offers a new appro... » read more

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