A Solution to the 450mm Equipment Problem?

By Joanne Itow - 19 Jul, 2011 - Comments: 0

By Joanne Itow Another SEMICON West has come and gone. This was a good year. Although there are signs that things have slowed a bit, the general outlook was positive. In addition to the need for more semiconductor capacity due to continued growth in tablets, cell phones and a host of other electronic applications, the increased complexity of advanced processes has created a positive outlook... » read more

Wafer Demand Outpaces Semiconductor Unit Growth in 2011

By Joanne Itow - 28 Jun, 2011 - Comments: 0

By Joanne Itow Semiconductor unit sales remain strong and are expected to reach 718 billion in 2011, an 8.6% growth over 2010. Unit sales are driving wafer demand at both advanced and mature fabs. Total silicon demand is expected to grow by 10% in 2011. In the first quarter of 2011, semiconductor unit sales increased 1.3% over Q4 2010, reflecting an unusually healthy growth compared to the ... » read more

More Than Trees Growing in Luther Forest

By Joanne Itow - 07 Jun, 2011 - Comments: 0

By Joanne Itow Last week Semico visited the GLOBALFOUNDRIES’ Fab 8 construction site and was impressed for several reasons. Not only is the infrastructure significant but the people and surrounding community have welcomed GLOBALFOUDNRIES, embraced the project as well as the invasion of businesses and people that go along with the project. This made our visit extremely pleasant and trouble... » read more

The Economics of Innovation …Daunting

By Joanne Itow - 13 May, 2011 - Comments: 0

By Joanne Itow The convergence of mobility, communication and computing has produced multifunctional end applications that are placing huge demands on semiconductor manufacturers. These new devices require low power, high performance, and a lot of advanced manufacturing capacity at a low cost. At the 2011 Semico Summit, Gregg Bartlett, Senior Vice President of Technology and Research a... » read more

Wafer Demand: Good to Grow in 2011

By Joanne Itow - 25 Apr, 2011 - Comments: 0

By Joanne Itow The foundries are ramping 32nm/28nm production but that’s only one of the reasons wafer demand is forecast to grow at above average rates this year. MEMS and sensors will help to grow wafer demand at the ≥1000nm technology nodes. Wafers processed at ≥1000nm technology will grow by 10.2% in 2011. That’s on top of the 25% growth experienced in 2010. Microcontrolle... » read more

Power Issues In 3D

By Ed Sperling - 14 Apr, 2011 - Comments: 0

By Ann Steffora Mutschler The challenges associated with implementing IP subsystems range from maintaining a consistent I/O voltage, achieving consistency in metal stacks to managing a clock distribution network and creating adequate isolation between subsystems on a chip. It’s enough to make your brain hurt. Add to that 3D or 2.5D stacking and the engineering considerations grow substantial... » read more

Finally! Solid Data For The Semiconductor Secondary Equipment Market

By Joanne Itow - 12 Apr, 2011 - Comments: 0

By Joanne Itow The semiconductor industry grabs headlines as companies such as Intel announce the construction of multi-billion-dollar state-of-the-art research and manufacturing facilities. High performance servers, PCs and most of our electronic devices would not exist today if it weren’t for the continual advancements made in semiconductor manufacturing technology. While the most advanced... » read more

Forecasting Wafer Demand: Technology Migration, Bottlenecks and Confetti

By Joanne Itow - 09 Apr, 2011 - Comments: 0

By Joanne Itow If you cover a long enough time period, the small ups and downs of a graphed line can look very smooth. Semico’s semiconductor wafer demand data goes back to 1991. When wafer demand is graphed from 1991 to 2016, wafer growth appears to have a very steady upward trend with only a few minor interruptions. Wafer demand grows at a compound annual growth rate of about 8-9%. When ... » read more

A Change in Capex for 2011?

By Adrienne Downey - 22 Mar, 2011 - Comments: 0

By Adrienne Downey The disaster unfolding in Japan due to the Tohoku earthquake has raised much uncertainty in the semiconductor industry. It would be easy for us to look at the worst possible scenario, but is this the most likely one? Semico recently released a semiconductor capital expenditure forecast of 15% growth for this year, which is on top of the 91% increase seen in 2010. In ... » read more

Japan Quake Update

By Jim Feldhan - 18 Mar, 2011 - Comments: 0

By Jim Feldhan, Semico Research Nuclear Power Situation The damaged nuclear generating facilities continue to spiral out of control. Not only are there three reactors damaged, now the spent fuel storage facilities are in serious trouble. Similar to the reactors, the storage units need to be water-cooled. The largest storage unit at the Daiichi Plant, containing 130 metric tons of n... » read more

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Knowledge Centers
Entities, people and technologies explored

Shift Left Is The Tip Of The Iceberg

A transformative change is underway for semiconductor design and EDA. New languages, models, and abstractions will need to be created.

by Brian Bailey

Partitioning In The Chiplet Era

Understanding how chiplets interact under different workloads is critical to ensuring signal integrity and optimal performance in heterogeneous designs.

by Ann Mutschler

3.5D: The Great Compromise

Pros and cons of a middle-ground chiplet assembly that combines 2.5D and 3D-IC.

by Ed Sperling

AI’s Role In Chip Design Widens, Drawing In New Startups

Focus is on letting engineers do much more with the same or fewer resources — and less drudgery.

by Karen Heyman

Key Technologies To Extend EUV To 14 Angstroms

Alongside high-NA EUV will be better-performing photoresists, reduced roughness using passivation and etch, and lateral etching to reduce tip-to-tip dimensions.

by Laura Peters

What Comes After HBM For Chiplets

The standard for high-bandwidth memory limits design freedom at many levels, but that is required for interoperability. What freedoms can be taken from other functions to make chiplets possible?

by Brian Bailey

Memory Fundamentals For Engineers

eBook: Nearly everything you need to know about memory, including detailed explanations of the different types of memory; how and where these are used today; what's changing, which memories are successful and which ones might be in the future; and the limitations of each memory type.

by The SE Staff

Why Small Fab And Assembly Houses Are Thriving

Megafabs churning out the most advanced processors are not the only game in town.

by Bryon Moyer

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