Risks And Faults We Can Detect Using Machine Learning And Physics


In its earliest form, technicians manually took condition status readings from individual pieces of equipment and used them to shape maintenance conclusions. Today, critical machine and system data can be streamed continuously, automatically, from industrial internet of things (IIoT) sensors for real-time analytics, diagnostics, and suggested actions. Click here to read more. » read more

SEMI’s Year-End Total Semiconductor Equipment Forecast — OEM Perspective, 2022


Global sales of total semiconductor manufacturing equipment by original equipment manufacturers are forecast to reach a new high of $108.5 billion in 2022, rising 5.9% from the previous industry record of $102.5 billion in 2021, SEMI announced today in its Year-End Total Semiconductor Equipment Forecast – OEM Perspectiveat SEMICON Japan 2022. The record high caps three consecutive years of re... » read more

Chipping In For Equipment Suppliers: The Equipment Multiplier Effect On The Chip Shortage


By Ajit Manocha and Sanjay Malhotra Global semiconductor supply imbalances have hindered countless industries including essential segments such as automotive and medical as well as workers and consumers. Around the world, policymakers are increasing semiconductor manufacturing capacity to strengthen supply chains and meet growing demand for semiconductors through robust incentive packages to... » read more

Cloudy Outlook Seen For IC Biz


After a slowdown in the first half of 2019, chipmakers and equipment vendors face a cloudy outlook for the second half of this year, with a possible recovery in 2020. Generally, the semiconductor industry began to see a slowdown starting in mid- to late-2018, which extended into the first half of 2019. During the first half of this year, memory and non-memory vendors were negatively impacted... » read more

Weighing Wafers Simplifies Metrology


Building semiconductors is an incredibly exacting process, with critical dimensions posing significant equipment challenges—and with the possibility that small process excursions can cause the yield to decrease. For this reason, it has always been important to measure and monitor the most critical process steps to ensure that no further processing is done on a faulty lot and so that equipment... » read more

Fab Equipment Challenges For 2019


After a period of record growth, the semiconductor equipment industry is facing a slowdown in 2019, in addition to several technical challenges that still need to be resolved. Generally, the equipment industry saw enormous demand in 2017, and the momentum extended into the first part of 2018. But then the memory market began deteriorating in the middle of this year, causing both DRAM and NAND ... » read more

2012 Year-End Consensus Forecast


By Lara Chamness While the first half of the year started out with strong booking and billing activity, continued economic uncertainty has led many device manufacturers to cut back on their equipment investments during the second half of this year. The recently published SEMI Year-End Consensus Forecast predicts that the new equipment market will contract 12.2 percent for this year (to $38.2 b... » read more