tag: semiconductor manufacturing

7nm Lithography Choices
By Mark LaPedus - 07 Mar, 2016 - Comments: 2

Chipmakers are ramping up their 16nm/14nm logic processes, with 10nm expected to move into early production later this year. Barring a major breakthrough in lithography, chipmakers are using today’s 193nm immersion and multiple patterning for both 16/14nm and 10nm. Now, chipmakers are focusing on the lithography options for 7nm. For this, they hope to use a combination of two technologies ... » read more

Manufacturing Bits: Dec. 8
By Mark LaPedus - 08 Dec, 2015 - Comments: 0

Quantum computing At this week’s IEEE International Electron Devices Meeting (IEDM) in Washington, D.C., chipmakers, research institutes and universities presented a plethora of papers on several subjects. A large number of papers revolve around the same theme—How to extend Moore’s Law. For this, researchers are working on a number of short- and long-term technologies to propel device... » read more

Shrinking R&D Pool
By Ed Sperling - 20 Aug, 2015 - Comments: 2

The rule of thumb in business is that consolidation in a maturing industry improves the health of the surviving companies. In most market sectors that's true. In the semiconductor industry, that formula doesn't work. The reason is due to what might well be called foundational economics. While it's possible to reduce costs in making chips for years to come, at some point the basic building bl... » read more

GF Closes On IBM Chip Business Purchase
By Ann Mutschler - 01 Jul, 2015 - Comments: 0

By Ann Steffora Mutschler, Ed Sperling and Mark LaPedus GlobalFoundries completed its acquisition of IBM's Microelectronics Group today, creating a behemoth that is expected to extend well beyond the combined footprint of the existing companies. To begin with, GlobalFoundries will get two additional fabs, one of which makes RF SOI chips. But while IBM was hesitant to expand that business ... » read more

Semiconductors By The Numbers
By Ed Sperling - 22 Jan, 2015 - Comments: 0

Five economists presented their observations and predictions on a broad range of issues, from cycles to wafer fab materials to geopolitics and how they will affect semiconductor manufacturing at this month's SEMI's Industry Strategy Symposium. Comparing their different viewpoints would be to take them out of context, because their starting points are so different. To avoid confusion, Semicon... » read more

Next-Generation Sustainability Gets More Challenging
By Paula Doe - 28 Jul, 2014 - Comments: 0

The semiconductor industry has made major progress on reducing energy usage and water consumption, and effectively abating its emissions, as companies made sustainability a core requirement in their design of new processes and tools. But it’s about to get considerably harder. That means more opportunities to add value with innovative technologies, and also more need for collaboration. Next... » read more

Real Countries Have Fabs
By Ed Sperling - 17 Apr, 2014 - Comments: 3

Persistent rumblings about the sale of IBM’s semiconductor unit might have seemed absurd a couple decades ago—before IBM sold off its PC unit to Lenovo and lost the gaming chip business to AMD’s x86 chips—but no one is scoffing at the possibility these days. The reality is that IBM will never reach the volume necessary to be the No. 1 or No. 2 player in its segment. It’s not even i... » read more

Living On The Edge
By Ed Sperling - 17 Apr, 2014 - Comments: 0

Looking around the globe at the big foundries these days, many of them are in danger zones—geopolitical, seismological, or areas that have been the incubators for public health disasters in recent years. This is one of the risks of a global supply chain, and it’s one that should cause ulcers for any supply chain management executive. South Korea’s Samsung is within a short missile laun... » read more

Why Would IBM Sell Its Semi Group?
By Ed Sperling - 20 Feb, 2014 - Comments: 1

Rumors are always just rumors until proven otherwise in business, but in the case of IBM’s semiconductor business, hints about the sale of its semiconductor business are particularly noteworthy. Much has changed since the days when IBM—as International Business Machines—went head-to-head with AT&T’s quasi-public Bell Labs and Xerox’s Palo Alto Research Center (PARC). The breakup of... » read more

Leti Outlines FDSOI And Monolithic 3D IC Roadmaps
By Mark LaPedus - 14 Nov, 2013 - Comments: 0

Semiconductor Engineering discussed the future roadmaps for fully depleted silicon-on-insulator (FDSOI) technology and monolithic 3D chips with Maud Vinet, manager for the Innovative Devices Laboratory at CEA-Leti. SE: What are some of the technologies being developed at the Innovative Devices Laboratory? Vinet: The Innovative Devices Laboratory is involved with advanced CMOS. So basically... » read more

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