tag: TSMC

The Week In Review: Manufacturing
By Mark LaPedus - 20 Mar, 2015 - Comments: 0

For years, Altera’s sole foundry was TSMC. Then, not long ago, Altera selected Intel as its foundry partner for 14nm. TSMC still handles 20nm and above work for Altera. Now, Altera will soon select a foundry partner for 10nm. “Altera will make a decision on which foundry partner it will choose for 10nm finFET at the end of 1Q15, noting it will decide between Intel and TSMC,” said John Vin... » read more

5 Reasons EUV Will Or Won’t Be Used
By Michael Watts - 19 Mar, 2015 - Comments: 1

Digging into this subject, there are five metrics that count in a lithography tool: resolution, throughput, defects, overlay, and reliability. So what does the best data tell us about the current state and realistic prognosis for [gettech id="31045" comment="EUV"]. Semiconductor Engineering posed this question to Matt Colburn, senior manager for patterning research at [getentity id="22306" comm... » read more

5 Issues Under The SPIE Radar
By Mark LaPedus - 19 Mar, 2015 - Comments: 0

As usual, the recent SPIE Advanced Lithography Conference was a busy, if not an overwhelming, event. At the event, there were endless presentations on the usual subjects, such as design, patterning, metrology and photoresists. And as in past years, one left the event with more questions than answers. At this year’s event, the most obvious question was (and still is) clear: Will extreme ult... » read more

Issues And Options At 5nm
By Mark LaPedus - 19 Mar, 2015 - Comments: 0

While the foundries are ramping up their processes for the 16nm/14nm node, vendors are also busy developing technologies for 10nm and beyond. In fact, chipmakers are finalizing their 10nm process offerings, but they are still weighing the technology options for 7nm. And if that isn’t enough, IC makers are beginning to look at the options at 5nm and beyond. Today, chipmakers can see a p... » read more

The Week In Review: Manufacturing
By Mark LaPedus - 13 Mar, 2015 - Comments: 0

Look out below! Intel has lowered its first-quarter revenue outlook. The company now expects first-quarter revenue to be $12.8 billion, plus or minus $300 million, compared to the previous expectation of $13.7 billion, plus or minus $500 million. “Intel may be experiencing greater-than-expected seasonal declines in both notebooks and desktops,” said Doug Freedman, an analyst with RBC Capita... » read more

More Lithography Options?
By Mark LaPedus - 03 Mar, 2015 - Comments: 1

Lithographers face some tough decisions at 10nm and beyond. At these nodes, IC makers are still weighing the various patterning options. And to make it even more difficult, lithographers could soon have some new, and potentially disruptive, options on the table. On one front, the traditional next-generation lithography (NGL) technologies are finally making some noticeable progress. For examp... » read more

How To Deal With Electromigration
By Katherine Derbyshire - 02 Mar, 2015 - Comments: 8

The replacement of aluminum with copper interconnect wiring, first demonstrated by IBM in 1997, brought the integrated circuit industry substantial improvements in both resistance to electromigration and line conductivity. Copper is both a better and more stable conductor than aluminum. Difficult though the transition was, it helped extend device scaling for another eighteen years (and counting... » read more

Extra! Extra! Read All About It!
By Marc David Levenson - 26 Feb, 2015 - Comments: 1

ASML announced that they are going into the pellicle business at 2:15pm on February 25 at the SPIE Advanced Lithography Symposium in San Jose. These are not your garden variety plastic membrane pellicles, mind you, but rather EUV pellicles made out of 50nm thick polysilicon film and stretched on frames that can be attached, removed and reattached on EUV masks. Dr. Carmen Zoldesi of ASML reveal... » read more

Power/Performance Bits: Feb. 24
By Jesse Allen - 24 Feb, 2015 - Comments: 0

Simulating ultrafast phenomena Interesting phenomena can happen when electronic states in materials are excited during dynamic processes. As an example, electrical charge transfer can take place on quadrillionth-of-a-second, or femtosecond, timescales. Numerical simulations in real-time provide the best way to study these processes. Such simulations, however, can be extremely expensive. R... » read more

Manufacturing Bits: Feb. 24
By Mark LaPedus - 24 Feb, 2015 - Comments: 0

EUV progress report At the SPIE Advanced Lithography conference in San Jose, Calif., ASML Holding said that one customer, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. Ltd. (TSMC), has exposed more than 1,000 wafers on an NXE:3300B EUV system in a single day. This is one step towards the insertion of EUV lithography in volume production. During a recent test run on the system, TSMC exposed 1,022 w... » read more

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