Yearly Archives: 2015

Analog ICs are critical to nearly all electronic devices. The world electronics market will consume over 121 billion analog ICs in 2015. This translates to several analog ICs per electronic device.

Analog ICs experienced stronger than average growth over the last several years as the mobility product segment grew at double digit rates. These products have a higher than average analog content, thus growth has exceeded the overall semiconductor market. However, this appears to be changing as the markets for end applications like smartphones and tablets are now growing at a slower rate as these markets saturate and replacements become the growth driver.

“The Internet of Things presents a great growth potential for analog and sensors, but large volumes for that market are still a few years away,” said Jim Feldhan, president of Semico Research.  “Consequently, we are seeing an inflection point in the analog market. Over the next five years, analog sales growth will slow to a CAGR of 4.4% in dollar terms and 5.3% in unit terms.” This growth rate will lead to a market size of $56.5 billion by 2020.

Semico Research’s newest report, Analog Market: Making Digital Systems Come Alive, forecasts 35 analog product categories from general purpose analog to power management to automotive and medical chips. The accompanying Excel spreadsheet includes quarterly data for these categories. Many of these products are made on older process technologies and account for 41.3% of total analog revenues. This report also includes regional data and detailed analog wafer demand data.

 

A recent report from Navigant Research analyzes the global market opportunity for residential Internet of Things (IoT) devices, including forecasts for shipments, installed base, and revenue, segmented by region and device type, through 2025.

According to the report, global revenue from shipments of these residential IoT devices is expected to total more than $330 billion from 2015 to 2025. The report also concludes that yearly revenue will grow from $7.3 billion in 2015 to $67.7 billion in 2025. Through devices such as smart thermostats that allow users to remotely control household temperatures or LED lights that can be switched on and off from a smartphone, the much-hyped IoT concept has arrived in the residential setting. Major companies are beginning to recognize the opportunity that these communicating devices offer for increased efficiency, automation, security, and comfort in the home.

“The IoT is like putting together a jigsaw puzzle without any edge pieces, with the number of pieces growing exponentially into the billions,” says Neil Strother, principal research analyst with Navigant Research. “Communicating devices in the IoT traverse a wide range of industries and sectors—virtually all areas of life can expect to see some form of this connected world.”

Despite the many drivers for the residential IoT market, there are at present multiple protocols and standards that are creating an interoperability barrier, according to the report. Wi-Fi, ZigBee, Bluetooth, and others are all vying for market viability, which is creating confusion for consumers and stalling overall adoption.

The report, IoT (Internet of Things) for Residential Customers, defines the emerging residential IoT market and examines the global market opportunity related to IoT technologies. The study provides an analysis of the key market drivers and barriers associated with residential IoT devices, including smart meters, smart thermostats, lighting, smart appliances, security and management systems, and smart plugs. Global market forecasts for shipments, installed base, and revenue, segmented by region and device type, extend through 2025. The report also examines the key technologies related to residential IoT devices, as well as the competitive landscape. An Executive Summary of the report is available for free download on the Navigant Research website.

Cambridge, UK — November 9, 2015 — Xaar plc, a world leader in industrial inkjet technology, and Lawter, along with its parent company Harima Chemicals Group (HCG), announced a collaboration to optimize the performance of a line of nanosilver conductive inks in the Xaar 1002 industrial inkjet printhead. The combined solution will be of particular interest to manufacturers of consumer electronics goods looking for a robust and reliable method for printing antennas and sensors with silver nanoparticle ink as part of their manufacturing processes.

Industrial inkjet offers significant advantages over traditional print technologies to manufacturers of consumer electronics products. Inkjet is a cleaner process than other methods of printing silver inks; this is especially relevant when printing onto a substrate, such as a display, in which any yield loss is very expensive. With inkjet, manufacturers can very precisely control the amount of ink dispensed in certain areas of a pattern so that the ink or fluid deposited can be thicker in some areas and thinner in others. Similarly, inkjet enables the deposition of a much thinner layer of fluids than traditional methods, which is significant for the manufacturers looking to produce thinner devices. In addition, inkjet is one of the few technologies able to print a circuit over a substrate that has a structured surface.

“This is an excellent opportunity to showcase our latest technological breakthroughs and demonstrate the unique value that our revolutionary nanoparticle inkjet solutions can play as part of an integrated system solutions in the PE world,” says Dr. Arturo Horta Ph.D., Business Development Manager for Lawter Innovation Group.

HCG pioneered the development and manufacture of silver nanoparticle conductive inks for the printed electronics industry over 20 years ago and has over 100 patents related to its nanoparticle dispersion technology. This line of nanosilver conductive inks for inkjet printing offers a unique combination of low temperature sintering and high circuit conductivity. In addition, Lawter’s novel inks are compatible with a range of photonic curing tools as well as a variety of substrates.  These value-added features, together for the first time in a single product, provide increased project efficiency, decreased raw material costs and finer line printing.  All of this adds up to significant, quantifiable benefits for the end-user.

Xaar, also a major player in industrial manufacturing applications, has been delivering inkjet technology for 25 years. Its leading printhead, the Xaar 1002 is particularly suitable for Lawter’s nanosilver conductive inks due to the printhead’s unique TF Technology™ (fluid recirculation) which ensures a continuous flow of the heavy particulate in the ink to deliver uninterrupted high volume production printing.

“The applications that will benefit from the combination of Lawter’s nanosilver conductive inks and Xaar’s 1002 printhead are exciting,” says Keith Smith, Director of Advanced Manufacturing at Xaar. “We are seeing more and more that the consumer electronics market is looking for a printing solution that provides the quality of the Lawter ink and production reliability of the Xaar GS6 1002 to allow designers to make thinner devices.  The printhead and ink combination, along with photonic sintering, is unlocking mechanical and electrical designs never thought possible before.”

 

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. — Silver nanowires hold promise for applications such as flexible displays and solar cells, but their susceptibility to damage from highly energetic UV radiation and harsh environmental conditions has limited their commercialization.

New research suggests wrapping the nanowires with an ultrathin layer of carbon called graphene protects the structures from damage and could represent a key to realizing their commercial potential.

“We show that even if you have only a one-atom-thickness material, it can protect from an enormous amount of UV radiation damage,” said Gary Cheng, an associate professor of industrial engineering at Purdue University.

The lower images depict how graphene sheathing protects nanowires even while being subjected to 2.5 megawatts of energy intensity per square centimeter from a high-energy laser, an intensity that vaporizes the unwrapped wires. The upper images depict how the unwrapped wires are damaged with an energy intensity as little as .8 megawatts per square centimeter. (Purdue University image)

The lower images depict how graphene sheathing protects nanowires even while being subjected to 2.5 megawatts of energy intensity per square centimeter from a high-energy laser, an intensity that vaporizes the unwrapped wires. The upper images depict how the unwrapped wires are damaged with an energy intensity as little as .8 megawatts per square centimeter. (Purdue University image)

Devices made from silver nanowires and graphene could find uses in solar cells, flexible displays for computers and consumer electronics, and future “optoelectronic” circuits for sensors and information processing. The material is flexible and transparent, yet electrically conductive, and is a potential replacement for indium tin oxide, or ITO. Industry is seeking alternatives to ITO because of drawbacks: It is relatively expensive due to limited abundance of indium, and it is inflexible and degrades over time, becoming brittle and hindering performance, said Suprem Das, a former Purdue doctoral student and now a postdoctoral researcher at Iowa State University and The Ames Laboratory.

However, a major factor limiting commercial applications for silver nanowires is their susceptibility to harsh environments and electromagnetic waves.

“Radiation damage is widespread,” said Das, who led the work with Purdue doctoral student Qiong Nian (pronounced Chung Nee-an). “The damage occurs in medical imaging, in space applications and just from long-term exposure to sunlight, but we are now seeing that if you wrap silver nanowires with graphene you can overcome this problem.”

Findings appeared in October in the journal ACS Nano, published by the American Chemical Society. The paper was authored by Das; Nian; graduate students Mojib Saei, Shengyu Jin and Doosan Back; previous postdoctoral research associate Prashant Kumar; David B. Janes, a professor of electrical and computer engineering; Muhammad A. Alam, the Jai N. Gupta Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering; and Cheng.

Raman spectroscopy was performed by the Purdue Department of Physics and Astronomy. Findings showed the graphene sheathing protected the nanowires even while being subjected to 2.5 megawatts of energy intensity per square centimeter from a high-energy laser, which vaporizes the unwrapped wires. The unwrapped wires were damaged with an energy intensity as little as .8 megawatts per square centimeter. (The paper is available at http://pubs.acs.org/doi/abs/10.1021/acsnano.5b04628.)

“It appears the graphene coating extracts and spreads thermal energy away from the nanowires,” Das said. The graphene also helps to prevent moisture damage.

The research is a continuation of previous findings published in 2013 and detailed in this paper: http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/adfm.201300124/full. The work is ongoing and is supported by the National Science Foundation and a National Research Council Senior Research Associateship.

Santa Clara, Calif. — November 5, 2015 — GLOBALFOUNDRIES today announced it has demonstrated silicon success on the first AMD products using GLOBALFOUNDRIES’ most advanced 14nm FinFET process technology. As a result of this milestone, GLOBALFOUNDRIES’ silicon-proven technology is planned to be integrated into multiple AMD products that address the growing need for high-performance, power-efficient compute and graphics technologies across a broad set of applications, from personal computers to data centers to immersive computing devices.

AMD has taped out multiple products using GLOBALFOUNDRIES’ 14nm Low Power Plus (14LPP) process technology and is currently conducting validation work on 14LPP production samples.  Today’s announcement represents another significant milestone towards reaching full production readiness of GLOBALFOUNDRIES’ 14LPP process technology, which will reach high-volume production in 2016. The 14LPP platform taps the benefits of three-dimensional, fully-depleted FinFET transistors to enable customers like AMD to deliver more processing power in a smaller footprint for applications that demand the ultimate in performance.

“FinFET technology is expected to play a critical foundational role across multiple AMD product lines, starting in 2016,” said Mark Papermaster, senior vice president and chief technology officer at AMD. “GLOBALFOUNDRIES has worked tirelessly to reach this key milestone on its 14LPP process. We look forward to GLOBALFOUNDRIES’ continued progress towards full production readiness and expect to leverage the advanced 14LPP  process technology across a broad set of our CPU, APU, and GPU products.”

“Our 14nm FinFET technology is among the most advanced in the industry, offering an ideal solution for demanding high-volume, high-performance, and power-efficient designs with the best die size,” said Mike Cadigan, senior vice president of product management at GLOBALFOUNDRIES. “Through our close design-technology partnership with AMD, we can help them deliver products with a performance boost over 28nm technology, while maintaining a superior power footprint and providing a true cost advantage due to significant area scaling.”

GLOBALFOUNDRIES’ 14LPP FinFET is ramping with production-ready yields and excellent model-to-hardware correlation at its Fab 8 facility in New York. In January, the early-access version of the technology (14LPE) was successfully qualified for volume production, while achieving yield targets on lead customer products. The performance-enhanced version of the technology (14LPP) was qualified in the third quarter of 2015, with the early ramp occurring in the fourth quarter of 2015 and full-scale production set for 2016.

While conventional thin film transistor liquid crystal (TFT LCD) displays are rapidly trending towards commoditization and currently suffering from declining prices and margins, China is quickly adding capacity in all flat-panel display (FPD) manufacturing segments. Supported by financial incentives from local governments, Chinese TFT capacity is projected to grow 40 percent per year between 2010 and 2018. In 2010 China accounted for just 4 percent of total TFT capacity. However by 2018, China is forecast to become the largest FPD-producing region in the world, accounting for 35 percent of the global market, according to IHS Inc., a leading global source of critical information and insight.

While Chinese capacity expands, Japan, South Korea and Taiwan have restricted investments to focus mainly on advanced technologies. TFT capacity for flat panel display (FPD) production in these countries is forecast to grow on average at less than 2 percent per year between 2010 and 2018.

Based on the latest IHS Display Supply Demand & Equipment Tracker, BOE Technology Group stands out as the leading producer of FPDs in China. With a capacity growth rate of 44 percent per year between 2010 and 2018, BOE will become the main driver for Chinese share gains. By 2018, the company will have ramped up more FPD capacity than any other producers, except for LG Display and Samsung Display.

IHS FPD_capacity_table“Despite growing concerns of oversupply for the next several years in most parts of the display industry, there is still little evidence that Chinese makers are reconsidering or scaling back their ambitious expansion plans,” said Charles Annis, senior director at IHS. “On the contrary, there continues to be a steady stream of announcements of new factory plans by various regional governments and panel makers.”

In China the central government has generally encouraged investment in FPDs, in order to shift the economy to higher technology manufacturing, to increase domestic supply and to support gross domestic product (GDP) growth. Provincial governments have become the main enabler of capacity expansion through product and technology subsidies, joint ventures and other direct investments, by providing land and facilities and through tax incentives. In return, new FPD fabs increase tax revenue, support land value appreciation, increase employment and spur the local economy. The economic benefits generated from the feedback loop between local governments, panel makers and new FPD factories are still considered sufficiently positive in China to warrant application of significant public resources.

“China currently produces only about a third of the FPD panels it consumes. However, by rapidly expanding capacity, panel makers and government officials are expecting to double domestic production rates in the next few years and are also looking to export markets,” Annis said. “How excessive global supply, falling prices and lower profitability will affect these plans over time is not yet exactly clear. Even so, there is now so much new capacity in the pipeline that China will almost certainly become the top producer of FPDs by 2018.”

By Dr. Dan Tracy, Senior Director, Industry Research and Statistics, SEMI

With the recent release of Apple’s 6s and the form factors of internet enabled mobile devices and the emergence of the IoT (Internet of Things), advanced packaging is clearly the enabling technology providing solutions for mobile applications and for semiconductor devices fabricated at 16 nm and below process nodes. These packages are forecasted to grow at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of over 15% through 2019.  In addition, the packaging technologies have evolved and continue to evolve so to meet the growing integration requirements needed in newer generations of mobile electronics. Materials are a key enabler to increasing the functionality of thinner and smaller package designs and for increasing the functionality of system-in-package solutions.

Figure 1: Packaging Technology Evolution – Great Complexity in Smaller, Thinner Form Factors, courtesy of TechSearch International, Inc.

Figure 1: Packaging Technology Evolution – Great Complexity in Smaller, Thinner Form Factors, courtesy of TechSearch International, Inc.

The observations related to mobile products include:

  • New package form factors to satisfy high-performance, high-bandwidth, and low power consumption requirements in a thinner and smaller package.
  • Packaging solutions to deliver systems-in-package capabilities while satisfying low-cost requirements.
  • Shorter lifetimes and differing reliability requirements. For example, high-end smartphones and tablets, the key high reliability requirement is to pass the drop test; and packaging material solutions are essential to delivering such reliability.
  • Shorter production ramp times to meet time-to-market demands of end product. This is becoming critical and causes redundancy in capacity to be required, capacity that is underutilized for part of the year

Packaging must provide a low-cost solution and have an infrastructure in place to meet steep ramps in electronic production. The move towards bumping and flip chip has only accelerated with the growth in mobile electronics, though leadframe and wirebond technologies remain as important low-cost alternatives for many devices. Wafer bumping has been a major packaging market driver for over a decade, and with the growth in mobile the move towards wafer bumping and flip chip has only accelerated with finer pitch copper pillar bump technology ramping up. Mobile also drives wafer-level packaging (WLP) and Fan-Out (FO) WLP. New wafer level dielectric materials and substrate designs are required for these emerging package form factors.

Going forward, the wearable and IoT markets will have varying packaging requirements depending on the application, the end use environment, and reliability needs. Thin and small are a must though like other applications cost versus performance will determine what package type is adopted for a given wearable product, so once more leadframe and wirebonded packages could be the preferred solution. And in many wearable applications, materials solutions must provide a lightweight and flexible package.

Such packaging solutions will remain the driver for materials consumption and new materials development, and the outlook for these packages remain strong. Materials will make possible even smaller and thinner packages with more integration and functionality.  Low cost substrates, matrix leadframe designs, new underfill, and die attach materials are just some solutions to reduce material usage and to improve manufacturing throughput and efficiencies.

SEMI and TechSearch International are once again partnering to prepare a comprehensive market analysis of how the current packaging technology trend will impact the packaging manufacturing materials demand and market.  The new edition of “Global Semiconductor Packaging Materials Outlook” (GSPMO) report is a detailed market research study in the industry that quantifies and highlights opportunities in the packaging material market. This new SEMI report is an essential business tool for anyone interested in the plastic packaging materials arena. It will benefit readers to better understand the latest industry and economic trends, the packaging material market size and trend, and the respective market drivers in relation to a forecast out to 2019. For example, FO-WLP is a disruptive technology that impacts the packaging materials segment and the GSPMO addresses this impact.

 

Portland, OR — November 4, 2015 — JEOL‘s new JSM-IT100 is the latest addition to its InTouchScope Series of Scanning Electron Microscopes. Representing 50 years of industry leadership with advances in SEM, the IT100 is a simple-to-use versatile, research-grade SEM with a compact ergonomic design.

JEOL JSM-IT100_20Featuring expanded EDS analysis capabilities and ports for multiple detectors, the InTouchScope is a versatile workhorse SEM that can be configured to meet individual lab requirements at an exceptional value. It offers high resolution imaging and a range of acceleration voltages at both high and low vacuum modes.

The IT100 is a remarkably intuitive, high throughput microscope designed to streamline workflow in any lab. Touchscreen operation, or traditional keyboard and mouse interface are at the operator’s fingertips. Fast data acquisition make imaging and analysis of samples a simple task.

With the IT100, it is simple to quickly obtain high quality images using both Secondary Electron and Backscatter Imaging. The embedded JEOL EDS system with silicon drift detector technology now includes Spectral Mapping, Multi-Point Analysis, Automatic Drift Compensation, Partial area, Line Scan, and Mapping Filter functions.

JEOL’s popular InTouchScope series includes the NeoScope benchtop SEM with selectable HV/LV and the JSM-IT300LV with advanced analytical capabilities and imaging of large, intact samples.

Chicago — November 3, 2015 — MW Industries, a leading provider of highly engineered springs, specialty fasteners, machined parts, and other precision components, announced today the acquisition of Servometer and BellowsTech, world leading manufacturers of precision engineered bellows and electroformed components. Both companies have developed innovative technologies to service mission critical applications across a variety of markets.

Located in Cedar Grove, NJ, Servometer designs and manufactures a high quality line of miniature bellows, flexible shaft couplings, contact springs and bellows assemblies. BellowsTech, located in Ormond Beach, FL, markets a premier line of edge welded bellows and assemblies, encompassing a wide array of alloys and dimensional configurations. Both companies’ product technologies complement each other in terms of size, compatibility, pressure, and temperature capability.

Bill Marcum, CEO of MW Industries, said, “The Servometer and BellowsTech brands have an excellent reputation for quality, technology, material flexibility and engineering expertise. The company’s products and workforce are highly complementary to our existing business base, and as part of the MW integrated family of companies, we believe that both Servometer and BellowsTech are better positioned to penetrate and expand in our existing markets, including aerospace and aviation, semiconductor, medical, energy, and other industrial markets.”

MW has completed a number of acquisitions to strengthen its product offerings and customer base and is currently evaluating a strong pipeline of possible transactions.

TOKYO – November 4, 2015 – SEMI today announced further details on SEMICON Japan, bringing innovation to Tokyo Big Sight on December 16 through 18. SEMICON Japan, already the largest and most important gathering of the semiconductor manufacturing industry, has increased exhibition and programing in the high-growth Internet of Things (IoT) applications and technologies with its World of IoT pavilion. SEMICON Japan will also, for the first time, feature the Innovation Village, showcasing high-tech startups that bring the potential for new driving forces and new ideas for the future growth of the microelectronics supply chain.

Held in conjunction with SEMICON Japan, the World of IoT is a “show-within-a-show” and is the only exhibition showcase and conference in Japan to cover the complete Internet of Things supply chain, from silicon to system. Global key IoT industry players will showcase their applications and technologies including:

  • Alps Electric
  • Amazon Web Services*
  • Dassault Systems
  • Hitachi
  • IBM Research-Tokyo
  • Intel
  • SECOM
  • SIEMENS
  • Toshiba Healthcare Company
  • Toyota Motor
  • Tesla Motors*

*Amazon Web Services and Tesla Motors will have their booth at a SEMICON show for the first time ever.

The IoT conference programming will also feature speakers from the IoT key players including:

  • Amazon Japan – Kazufumi Watanabe, Vice President of Hardlines
  • Cisco Systems – Kazuhiro Suzuki, Managing Director, Cisco Consulting Services
  • Fujitsu – Chairman and Representative Director, FUJITSU LTD
  • Google – Shinichi Abe, Managing Director, Google for Work, Japan
  • IBM Japan – Toshifumi Yoshizaki, IBM Executive Staff, Watson
  • Microsoft Japan – Madoka Sawa, MTC Lead, Microsoft Technology Center
  • Nissan Motor Company – Haruyoshi Kumura, Fellow
  • Rakuten – Masaya Mori, Executive Officer and Representative, Rakuten Institute of Technology

Innovation Village is a new feature at SEMICON Japan that includes 20 emerging startups in an interactive exposition showcase arena. Attendees to the Innovation Village will gain key insights into new technologies and products, advanced research solutions, investment opportunities, as well as technology transfer and partnerships opportunities. The Innovation Village program will include start-up pitches and a “speed-dating” format for matchmaking between start-ups and venture capitals and corporate venture capitals.

Osamu Nakamura, president of SEMI Japan said “The World of IoT and Innovation Village bring new and fresh ideas, technologies, and partnership to SEMICON Japan visitors and exhibitors that are moving forward together to the IoT era.”

Platinum sponsors of SEMICON Japan 2015 include Applied Materials, Disco, and Tokyo Electron. Gold sponsors include Advantest, ASE Group, Daihen, Ebara, Hitachi Chemical, Hitachi High-Tech, JSR, Lam Research, Screen Semiconductor Solutions, and Tokyo Seimitsu.

For complete information of exhibits and programs, visit www.semiconjapan.org/en.