Yearly Archives: 2016

North America-based manufacturers of semiconductor equipment posted $1.75 billion in orders worldwide in August 2016 (three-month average basis) and a book-to-bill ratio of 1.03, according to the August Equipment Market Data Subscription (EMDS) Book-to-Bill Report published by SEMI.  A book-to-bill of 1.03 means that $103 worth of orders were received for every $100 of product billed for the month.

SEMI reports that the three-month average of worldwide bookings in August 2016 was $1.75 billion. The bookings figure is 2.3 percent lower than the final July 2016 level of $1.80 billion, and is 5.0 percent higher than the August 2015 order level of $1.67 billion.

The three-month average of worldwide billings in August 2016 was $1.71 billion. The billings figure is approximately the same as the final July 2016 level of $1.71 billion, and is 8.4 percent higher than the August 2015 billings level of $1.58 billion.

“The book-to-bill ratio has been at or above parity since December of last year with current monthly bookings and billings levels at $1.7 billion,” said Denny McGuirk, president and CEO of SEMI.  “Given the current data trends, North American equipment suppliers are clearly benefiting from strong investments by device manufacturers in the second half of the year.”

The SEMI book-to-bill is a ratio of three-month moving averages of worldwide bookings and billings for North American-based semiconductor equipment manufacturers. Billings and bookings figures are in millions of U.S. dollars.

  Billings
(3-mo. avg)		 Bookings
(3-mo. avg)		 Book-to-Bill
March 2016  $1,197.6 $1,379.2 1.15
April 2016  $1,460.2 $1,595.4 1.09
May 2016  $1,601.5 $1,750.5 1.09
June 2016  $1,715.2 $1,714.3 1.00
July 2016 (final) $1,707.9 $1,795.4 1.05
August 2016 (prelim) $1,708.1 $1,753.9 1.03

Source: SEMI (www.semi.org), September 2016

The data contained in this release were compiled by David Powell, Inc., an independent financial services firm, without audit, from data submitted directly by the participants. SEMI and David Powell, Inc. assume no responsibility for the accuracy of the underlying data.

The data are contained in a monthly Book-to-Bill Report published by SEMI. The report tracks billings and bookings worldwide of North American-headquartered manufacturers of equipment used to manufacture semiconductor devices, not billings and bookings of the chips themselves. The Book-to-Bill report is one of three reports included with the SEMI Equipment Market Data Subscription (EMDS).

SiTime Corporation, a MEMS and analog semiconductor company and a wholly owned subsidiary of MegaChips Corporation (Tokyo Stock Exchange: 6875), today introduced an innovative Elite Platform encompassing Super-TCXOs (temperature compensated oscillators) and oscillators. These precision devices are engineered to solve long-standing timing problems in telecommunications and networking equipment.

“Network densification is driving rapid deployment of equipment in uncontrolled environments such as basements, curbsides, rooftops, and on poles. Precision timing components in these systems must now operate in the presence of high temperature, thermal shock, vibration and unpredictable airflow. Service providers are questioning if quartz technology is up to this challenge,” said Rajesh Vashist, CEO at SiTime. “Customers have enthusiastically validated SiTime’s MEMS-based Elite Platform, as it uniquely solves such environmental issues. We believe that our new Elite solutions will transform the $1.5 billiontelecommunications and networking timing market.”

Elite timing solutions are based on an innovative DualMEMS architecture with TurboCompensation. This architecture delivers exceptional dynamic performance with three key elements:

  • Robust, reliable, and proven TempFlat MEMS that eliminates activity dips and enables 30 times better vibration immunity than quartz
  • DualMEMS temperature sensing with 100% accurate thermal coupling that enables 40 times faster temperature tracking, which ensures the best performance under airflow and rapid temperature changes
  • Highly integrated mixed-signal circuits with on-chip regulators, a TDC (temperature to digital converter) and a low-noise PLL that deliver 5 times better immunity to power-supply noise, 30 uK temperature resolution that is 10 times better than quartz, and support for any frequency between 1 and 700 MHz

“New telecom infrastructure uses 4G/5G small cells and Synchronous Ethernet to increase network data capacity; the high-power components that are used in such systems will have high and constantly changing heat loads,” said Joe Madden, founder and principal analyst at Mobile Experts. “The dynamic performance of precision timing components during rapid temperature change will become a critical requirement in such equipment. MEMS technology inherently performs better in the presence of dynamic environmental conditions, and has become a very interesting alternative to quartz technology.”

At NXP FTF China today, NXP Semiconductors N.V. (NASDAQ:NXPI), officially announced the i.MX 6ULL applications processor which delivers up to 30 percent more power efficiency than its nearest competitors. The i.MX 6ULL was specifically designed for value-conscious engineers and developers working on cost-effective solutions for the growing IoT consumer and industrial, mass markets. The processor features secure encryption, advanced implementation of a single ARM® Cortex®-A7 core, provides various memory interfaces and includes an integrated power management module to reduce complexity.

“i.MX 6ULL maximizes cost efficiency, ease of use and low power – all of which are essential for innovative Internet of Things applications,” said Geoff Lees, senior vice president and general manager of the microcontroller business line at NXP. “The combination of better performance with aggressive pricing allows customers to deliver better digital interface experiences.”

i.MX 6ULL Features

This latest addition to the i.MX 6 series introduces a single Cortex-A7 processor core running up to 528 MHz with 128 KB of L2 cache and 16-bit DDR3/LPDDR2 support. Its integrated power management, security unit and wide range of connectivity interfaces, provides new ways to address performance scalability and low power for secure IoT applications. The i.MX 6ULL processor has compatible and scalable package options including the 14 x 14mm, ideal for simple and low-cost PCB design, and the 9 x 9mm, offering a smaller form factor for space-constrained applications.

“This product provides a natural upgrade from the previous ARM7 and ARM9 based architecture to a more power efficient, Cortex-A class core,” said George Zhou, President of ZLG Electronics Corporation. “The feature set, price point and power efficiency of i.MX 6ULL will enable us to develop the next generation smart grid monitoring system for all of China.”

Pricing and Availability 

The i.MX 6ULL applications processor will start at $3.50 USD in 10,000 unit quantities. The i.MX 6ULL applications processor is sampling now and is expected to be in full production in October 2016 along with the GA release of the Linux BSP. The i.MX 6ULL processor is supported by the i.MX 6ULL evaluation kit that includes a CPU module and a base board. A training class and demonstration of the i.MX 6ULL processor and EVK will be given during NXP FTF China. For more information, please visit www.nxp.com/iMX6ULL.

i.MX 6 Series Applications Processors

The i.MX 6 series of applications processors is a feature and performance scalable multicore platform that includes single-, dual- and quad-core families based on the ARM® Cortex® architecture, including Cortex-A9, combined Cortex-A9 + Cortex-M4 and Cortex-A7 based solutions up to 1.2 GHz. The series combines broad levels of integration and power-efficient processing capabilities all the way up to 3D and 2D graphics, as well as high-definition video and targets consumer, industrial and automotive applications.

Epicor-logo-Business Inspired-2color-CMYK

September 27, 2016 at 1 p.m. ET

Free to attend

Length: Approximately one hour

NEW register_button

An industrial revolution is in the making, equivalent some say to the introduction of steam power at the tail end of the 18th century. Known as smart manufacturing, Industry 4.0 (after the German initiative Industrie 4.0), the industrial internet of things (IIoT), or simply the fourth industrial revolution, the movement will radically change how manufacturing is done. Greater connectivity and information sharing — enabled by new capabilities in data analytics, remote monitoring and mobility — will lead to increased efficiency and reduced costs. There will be a paradigm shift from “centralized” to “decentralized” production. Semiconductor manufacturing has long been thought of as the most advanced manufacturing process in the world, but it’s not clear if long-held beliefs about how proprietary data, such as process recipes, are managed. Industry experts will examine the potential for the semiconductor factory of the future, and discuss potential roadblocks.

Speaker:

thomas_sondermanTom Sonderman, Vice President and General Manager, Software Business Unit 

Thomas Sonderman is vice president and general manager of Rudolph’s Integrated Solutions Group. He previously served as vice president of manufacturing technology at GLOBALFOUNDRIES. Prior to GLOBALFOUNDRIES he spent more than 20 years with AMD, where he held numerous executive management and engineering positions. Sonderman is the author of over 45 patents and has published numerous articles in the area of manufacturing technology. He received a BS in Chemical Engineering from the Missouri University of Science and Technology and an MBA in electrical engineering from National Technological University.

Cimetrix-Alan_Weber_copyAlan Weber, Vice President, New Product Innovations, Cimetrix

Alan Weber is currently the Vice President, New Product Innovations for Cimetrix Incorporated. Previously he served on the Board of Directors for eight years before joining the company as a full-time employee in 2011. Alan has been a part of the semiconductor and manufacturing automation industries for over 40 years. He holds bachelor’s and master’s degrees in Electrical Engineering from Rice University.

Sponsored by Epicor

Epicor Software Corporation is a global leader delivering inspired business software solutions to the manufacturing, distribution, retail and services industries. With over 40 years of experience serving small, midmarket and larger enterprises, Epicor enterprise resource planning (ERP), production control software (MES), and supply chain management (SCM), enable companies to drive increased efficiency and improve profitability. With a history of innovation, industry expertise and passion for excellence, Epicor provides the single point of accountability that local, regional and global businesses demand. www.epicor.com/electronics

By David W. Price and Douglas G. Sutherland

Author’s Note: The Process Watch series explores key concepts about process control—defect inspection and metrology—for the semiconductor industry. Following the previous installments, which examined the 10 fundamental truths of process control, this new series of articles highlights additional trends in process control, including successful implementation strategies and the benefits for IC manufacturing. 

Introduction

In a previous Process Watch article [1], we showed that big excursions are usually easy to detect but finding small excursions requires a combination of high capture rate and low noise. We also made the point that, in our experience, it’s usually the smaller excursions which end up costing the fab more in lost product. Catastrophic excursions have a large initial impact but are almost always detected quickly. By contrast, smaller “micro-excursions” sometimes last for weeks, exposing hundreds or thousands of lots to suppressed yield.

Figure 1 shows an example of a micro-excursion. For reference, the top chart depicts what is actually happening in the fab with an excursion occurring at lot number 300. The middle chart shows the same excursion through the eyes of an effective inspection strategy; while there is some noise due to sampling and imperfect capture rate, it is generally possible to identify the excursion within a few lots. The bottom chart shows how this excursion would look if the fab employed a compromised inspection strategy—low capture rate, high capture rate variability, or a large number of defects that are not of interest; in this case, dozens of lots are exposed before the fab engineer can identify the excursion with enough confidence to take corrective action.

Figure 1. Illustration of a micro-excursion. Top: what is actually happening in the fab. Middle: the excursion through the lens of an effective control strategy (average 2.5 exposed lots). Bottom: the excursion from the perspective of a compromised inspection strategy (~40 exposed lots).

Figure 1. Illustration of a micro-excursion. Top: what is actually happening in the fab. Middle: the excursion through the lens of an effective control strategy (average 2.5 exposed lots). Bottom: the excursion from the perspective of a compromised inspection strategy (~40 exposed lots).

Unfortunately, the scenario depicted in the bottom of Figure 1 is all too common. Seemingly innocuous cost-saving tactics such as reduced sampling or using a less sensitive inspector can quickly render a control strategy to be ineffective [2]. Moreover, the fab may gain a false sense of security that the layer is being effectively monitored by virtue of its ability to find the larger excursions. 

Micro-Excursions 

Table 1 illustrates the difference between catastrophic and micro-excursions. As the name implies, micro-excursions are subtle shifts away from the baseline. Of course, excursions may also take the form of anything in between these two.

Table 1: Catastrophic vs. Micro-Excursions

Table 1: Catastrophic vs. Micro-Excursions

Such baseline shifts happen to most, if not all, process tools—after all, that’s why fabs employ rigorous preventative maintenance (PM) schedules. But PM’s are expensive (parts, labor, lost production time), therefore fabs tend to put them off as long as possible.

Because the individual micro-excursions are so small, they are difficult observe from end-of-line (EOL) yield data. They are frequently only seen in EOL yield data through the cumulative impact of dozens of micro-excursions occurring simultaneously; even then it more often appears to be baseline yield loss. As a result, fab engineers sometimes use the terms “salami slicing” or “penny shaving” since these phrases describe how a series of many small actions can, as an accumulated whole, produce a large result [3].

Micro-excursions are typically brought to an end because: (a) a fab detects them and puts the tool responsible for the excursion down; or, (b) the fab gets lucky and a regular PM resolves the problem and restores the tool to its baseline. In the latter case, the fab may never know there was a problem.

The Superposition of Multiple Simultaneous Micro-Excursions

To understand the combined impact of these multiple micro-excursions, it is important to recognize:

  1. Micro-excursions on different layers (different process tools) will come and go at different times
  2. Micro-excursions have different magnitudes in defectivity or baseline shift
  3. Micro-excursions have different durations

In other words, each micro-excursion has a characteristic phase, amplitude and wavelength. Indeed, it is helpful to imagine individual micro-excursions as wave forms which combine to create a cumulative wave form. Mathematically, we can apply the Principle of Superposition [4] to model the resulting impact on yield from the contributing micro-excursions.

Figure 2 illustrates the cumulative effect of one, five, and 10 micro-excursions happening simultaneously in a 1,000 step semiconductor process. In this case, we are assuming a baseline yield of 90 percent, that each micro-excursion has a magnitude of 2 percent baseline yield loss, and that they are detected on the 10th lot after it starts. As expected, the impact of a single micro-excursion is negligible but the combined impact is large.

Figure 2. The cumulative impact of one, five, and 10 simultaneous micro-excursions happening in a 1,000 step process: increased yield loss and yield variation.

Figure 2. The cumulative impact of one, five, and 10 simultaneous micro-excursions happening in a 1,000 step process: increased yield loss and yield variation.

It is interesting to note that the bottom curve in Figure 2 would seem to suggest that the fab is suffering from a baseline yield problem. However, what appears to be 80 percent baseline yield is actually 90 percent baseline yield with multiple simultaneous micro-excursions, which brings the average yield down to 80 percent. This distinction is important since it points to different approaches in how the fab might go about improving the average yield. A true baseline yield problem would suggest that the fab devote resources to run experiments to evaluate potential process improvements (design of experiments (DOEs), split lot experiments, failure analysis, etc.). These activities would ultimately prove frustrating as the engineers would be trying to pinpoint a dozen constantly-changing sources of yield loss.

The fab engineer who correctly surmises that this yield loss is, in fact, driven by micro-excursions would instead focus on implementing tighter process tool monitoring strategies. Specifically, they would examine the sensitivity and frequency of process tool monitor inspections; depending on the process tool, these monitors could be bare wafer inspectors on blanket wafers and/or laser scanning inspectors on product wafers. The goal is to ensure these inspections provide timely detection of small micro-excursions, not just the big excursions.

The impact of an improved process tool monitoring strategy can be seen in Figure 3. By improving the capture rate (sensitivity), reducing the number of non-critical defects (by doing pre/post inspections or using an effective binning routine), and reducing other sources of noise, the fab can bring the exposed product down from 40 lots to 2.5 lots. This, in turn, significantly reduces the yield loss and yield variation.

Figure 3. The impact of 10 simultaneous micro-excursions for the fab with a compromised inspection strategy (brown curve, ~40 lots at risk), and a fab with an effective process tool monitoring strategy (blue curve, ~2.5 lots at risk).

Figure 3. The impact of 10 simultaneous micro-excursions for the fab with a compromised inspection strategy (brown curve, ~40 lots at risk), and a fab with an effective process tool monitoring strategy (blue curve, ~2.5 lots at risk).

Summary

Most fabs do a good job of finding the catastrophic defect excursions. Micro-excursions are much more common and much harder to detect. There are usually very small excursions happening simultaneously at many different layers that go completely undetected. The superposition of these micro-excursions leads to unexplained yield loss and unexplained yield variation.

As a yield engineer, you must be wary of this. An inspection strategy that guards only against catastrophic excursions can create the false sense of security that the layer is being effectively monitored—when in reality you are missing many of these smaller events that chip away or “salami slice” your yield.

References:

About the Author: 

Dr. David W. Price is a Senior Director at KLA-Tencor Corp. Dr. Douglas Sutherland is a Principal Scientist at KLA-Tencor Corp. Over the last 10 years, Dr. Price and Dr. Sutherland have worked directly with more than 50 semiconductor IC manufacturers to help them optimize their overall inspection strategy to achieve the lowest total cost. This series of articles attempts to summarize some of the universal lessons they have observed through these engagements.

MEMS & Sensors Industry Group (MSIG) today announced highlights of its twelfth annual business conference, MEMS & Sensors Executive Congress 2016 in Scottsdale, AZ on November 9-11, 2016. Spanning mobile & wireless, automotive, medical devices, energy, and the intersection of human-computer networks, speakers will share some of the most compelling examples of MicroElectroMechanical Systems (MEMS)/sensors technology with an executive audience from the MEMS and sensors supply chain.

AT&T VP of Product Development for Internet of Things (IoT) Solution Cameron Coursey will offer a carrier’s perspective on technologies advancing the IoT, including low-power wide-area cellular technologies, standard radio module configurations, embedded SIMs, cloud-based data storage and virtualized networks. As part of his keynote, Coursey will explain how MEMS/sensors suppliers can play a more pivotal role in IoT applications such as asset monitoring, wearables, connected cars and smart cities.

During his keynote, Local Motors General Manager Phillip Rayer will exhort Congress attendees to fearlessly embrace co-creation and open collaboration, which he believes could change the world of transportation. As a case in point, Rayer will share his company’s experiences working with a global network of inspired innovators as Local Motors prepares the first 3D-printed autonomous car for highway-ready certification.

“Invention, co-creation and collaboration will continue to fuel the greatest achievements in MEMS and sensors,” said Karen Lightman, executive director, MEMS & Sensors Industry Group. “Attendees of this year’s MEMS & Sensors Executive Congress will hear how both titans of industry and nimble innovators approach technological innovation holistically — leveraging internal and external ecosystems to introduce meaningful products to market. And for the first time, they can also delve deeper into current, near-term and future MEMS/sensors solutions during breakout sessions led by both business and academic experts.”

Other highlighted presentations include:

For the complete agenda, please visit: http://msigevents.org/msec2016/agenda/

EV Group (EVG), a supplier of wafer bonding and lithography equipment for the MEMS, nanotechnology and semiconductor markets, today announced that it is increasing its focus on bringing its high-volume manufacturing process solutions and services to the biotechnology and medical device market. EVG products supporting this market include the company’s substrate bonding, hot-embossing, micro contact printing and UV-based nanoimprint lithography (NIL) systems. In addition, EVG will offer its world-class applications support, rapid prototyping and pilot-line production services. Customers in the biotechnology and medical markets can now leverage these patterning and sealing solutions–which have been production-proven in other industrial markets such as semiconductors, MEMS and photonics–for volume production of next-generation biotechnology devices featuring micrometer or nanometer-scale patterns and structures on larger-format substrates.

EV Group nanoimprint lithography solutions enable parallel processing of biotechnology and medical devices on large-area substrates.

EV Group nanoimprint lithography solutions enable parallel processing of biotechnology and medical devices on large-area substrates.

Over the past several decades, miniaturization of biotechnology devices has significantly improved clinical diagnostics, pharmaceutical research and analytical chemistry. Modern biotechnology devices–such as biomedical MEMS (bioMEMS) for diagnostics, cell analysis and drug discovery–are often chip-based and rely on close interaction of biological substances at the micro- and nanoscale. According to the market research and strategy consulting firm Yole Développement, an increasing number of healthcare applications are using bioMEMS components, while the bioMEMS market is expected to triple from US$2.7 billion in 2015 to US$7.6 billion in 2021. Microfluidic devices will represent the majority (86 percent) of the total bioMEMS market in 2021, driven by applications such as Point-of-Need testing, clinical and veterinary diagnostics, pharmaceutical and life science research, and drug delivery*.

Precise and cost-effective micro-structuring technologies are essential to successfully commercialize these products in a rapidly growing market that has stringent requirements and high regulatory hurdles. Traditional process approaches such as injection molding are often unable to produce the extremely small structures and surface patterns with the precision, quality and repeatability increasingly required for these demanding applications, or they require extensive effort in process development. At the same time, solutions are needed to scale up from discrete production of devices to batch processing of multiple devices on a single substrate in order to achieve the economies of scale required to commercialize these products.

NIL has evolved from a niche technology to a powerful high-volume manufacturing method that is able to produce a multitude of structures of different sizes and shapes on a large scale–such as highly complex microfluidic channels and surface patterns–by imprinting either into a biocompatible resist or directly into the bulk material. In addition to structuring technologies, sealing and encapsulation is a central process for establishing confined microfluidic channels. Thus, bonding of different device layers, capping layers or interconnection layers is a key process that can be implemented together with NIL in a cost-effective large-area batch process. As the pioneer as well as market and technology leader in NIL and wafer bonding, EVG is leading the charge in supporting the infrastructure and growth of the biotechnology market by leveraging its products for use in biotechnology applications.

EVG’s NIL solutions can produce a wide range of small structures (from hundreds of micrometers down to 20 nm) on a variety of substrate materials used in biotechnology applications, including glass, silicon and a variety of polymers (e.g., COC, COP, PMMA and PS). Each EVG NIL solution is uniquely suited for different production applications. For example, hot-embossing allows precise imprinting of larger structures as well as combinations of micro- and nanostructures, and is superior when replicating high-aspect ratio features or when using very-thin substrates. UV-NIL provides very-high precision, pattern fidelity and throughput in the nanometer-range. Micro contact printing, which is another NIL option, can transfer materials such as biomolecules onto a substrate in a distinct pattern.

With its established wafer-scale bonding equipment, EVG can also offer sealing and bonding processes that are well-aligned with NIL structuring technologies. A variety of different bonding options are available, ranging from advanced room-temperature bonding techniques to plasma activated bonding as well as high-quality hermetic sealing and vacuum encapsulation. Examples of typical solutions include EVG’s thermal bonding equipment for glass and polymer substrates, which provides excellent results by enabling high-pressure and temperature uniformities over large areas. EVG also offers its room-temperature selective adhesive transfer technology, which eases incorporation of bio-molecules prior to the encapsulation of the device.

“EVG has a long history of providing products and solutions for biomedical R&D, having installed the first hot embossing system for emerging bioMEMS and microfluidic research applications more than 15 years ago,” stated Dr. Thomas Uhrmann, director of business development at EV Group. “The knowledge that EVG has built up in this space coupled with our experience in bringing innovative technologies into volume production in other markets has positioned us well to provide proven high-volume manufacturing processes and services to the bio-medical industry to support the production of next-generation biotechnology devices.”

In addition to equipment and process solutions, EVG also offers prototyping and pilot-line production services to customers out of its cleanroom facilities at its corporate headquarters in Austria as well as its subsidiaries in North America and Japan.

Building on a record of past successes, SEMI today announced the fifth SEMI European 3D Summit.  The advanced semiconductor summit will take place on 23-25 January, 2017 at Minatec in Grenoble, France, with the theme “European 3D Summit 2017 – Creating High Density Systems.”

The 2017 SEMI European 3D Summit will continue to explore a wider scope of 3D topics that include 3DIC Through-Silicon-Via (TSV) technology and associated challenges.  In addition, the Summit will include discussions on 2.5D, 3D FO-WLP/ e-WLB, glass interposers, and 3D alternative technologies for Heterogeneous Integration and High Density Systems.  Leading thought leader keynote and technical speakers will present their approaches and strategies for 3D Integration technologies, with particular attention on current adoption for applications such as: high-end memories, performance applications, mobile, imaging, and automotive.

In the past few years, the increasing use of 3D technology in microelectronics devices has reshaped the electronics market. As in previous SEMI European 3D Summits, SEMI will highlight the latest business challenges and opportunities in the 3D sector with a market briefing, where attendees will hear from 3D and packaging industry experts discuss business and market insights and reverse engineering analysis.

Up to 30 companies working in 3DIC and advanced packaging will have the opportunity to exhibit their technologies and solutions at SEMI European 3D Summit exhibition. Located adjacent to the conference auditorium, the exhibition will be a high-traffic hall giving exhibitors many opportunities to interact with potential customers and manufacturers.  In addition to high-caliber speakers and exhibitors, The SEMI European 3D Summit will provide attendees with numerous networking opportunities throughout the event, including networking lunches, coffee breaks, a gala dinner, and a complimentary one-on-one business meeting service.

SEMI will also arrange for attendees a chance to visit the Minatec Showroom, near the conference amphitheater, for a taste of the latest innovations currently in development within the Grenoble tech hub.

The European 3D Summit steering committee includes executives from: ams AG, BESI, CEA-Leti, Evatech, EV Group, Fraunhofer-IZM, Globalfoundries, imec, Scint-X, SPTS, STMicroelectronics and SUSS Microtec.

The SEMI European 3D Summit consistently has a high industry turnout with stellar satisfaction rates (96% overall satisfaction rate, 2012-2016).

Please visit www.semi.org/European3DSummit to find out how to register as an attendee or how to book a booth as an exhibitor.

The Society for Information Display (SID) announced today the designation of a new award to honor the outstanding contributions of young researchers to the advancements of active matrix addressed information displays. The Peter Brody Prize will be awarded to a young researcher under age 40 who has made outstanding contributions in innovating the design and enhancing the performance of active matrix addressed information displays.

The award is named after the late professor Dr. Peter Brody, who was the pioneer of active matrix thin film transistors for information displays.

Dr. Brody demonstrated the world’s-first working CdSe TFT-EL and TFT-LCD panels in 1973 and 1974, respectively. He was the pioneer and great advocate for active matrix addressed information displays. He led a pilot line manufacturing TFT-EL panels at Westinghouse and commercial-scale manufacturing of TFT-LCD panels at Panelvision in 1980. He continued to develop low-cost TFT backplane technologies at Magnascreen and Advantech until the end of his life.

Dr. Brody was an SID Fellow and received the Karl Ferdinand Braun Prize from SID in 1987 for his outstanding technical achievement and contribution to information displays. He was also honored with the Rank Prize in optoelectronics (UK), the Eduard Rhein Prize (Germany), the IEEE Jun-Ichi Nishizawa Metal and thee NAE Charles Stark Draper Prize.

The Peter Brody Prize will recognize a young researcher, under the age of 40, for major contributions, which enhance the performance of active matrix addressed displays. It is the intention of the prize to recognize young researchers who have made ‘major-impact’ technical contributions to the developments of active matrix addressed displays in one or more of the following areas:

  • thin film transistor devices
  • active matrix addressing techniques
  • active matrix device manufacturing
  • active matrix display media
  • active matrix display-enabling components

Award recipients have to be less than 40 years of age at the time of nomination; and nominees are not required to be a member of SID.

Winners of the Peter Brody Prize will receive a $2,000 stipend, made possible through a generous grant of $40,000 from Dr. Fang-Chen Luo. Dr. Luo worked with Dr. Brody at Westinghouse R&D Center demonstrating the first working TFT-EL panel in 1973 and a TFT-LC panel in 1974. He is donating the money to honor Dr. Brody, who was his mentor, as well as to recognize young engineers for their innovative contributions to active matrix addressed information displays. The grant will be used to endow the award in perpetuity.

The award joins the lineup of prestigious honors bestowed by SID to outstanding innovators in the field of information displays, including the Karl Ferdinand Braun Prize for outstanding technical achievement in or contribution to display technology; the Jan Rajchman Prize for outstanding scientific or technical achievement in or contribution to research on flat-panel displays; the Otto Schade Prize for outstanding scientific or technical achievement in or contribution to the advancement of the functional performance and/or image quality of information displays; and, the Slottow-Owaki Prize for outstanding contributions to personnel training in the field of information display.

The deadline for nominations for the 2017 awards is Oct. 15, 2016. For more information on any of the SID Honors and Awards, including how to submit nominations, please visit www.sid.org and click “Awards.”

From the printing press to the jet engine, mechanical machines with moving parts have been a mainstay of technology for centuries. As U.S. industry develops smaller mechanical systems, they face bigger challenges — microscopic parts are more likely to stick together and wear out when they make contact with each other.

To help make microscopic mechanical (micromechanical) systems perform reliably for advanced technologies, researchers at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) are getting get back to basics, carefully measuring how parts move and interact.

For the first time, the NIST researchers have measured the transfer of motion through the contacting parts of a microelectromechanical system at nanometer and microradian scales. Their test system consisted of a two-part linkage, with the motion of one link driving the other. The team not only resolved the motion with record precision but also studied its performance and reliability.

(Top) Image showing the microelectromechanical linkage that converts translation (straight arrow) into rotation (curved arrow). The red box indicates the region of the rotating part that has fluorescent nanoparticles on it. (Bottom) Image showing the fluorescent nanoparticles on the rotating part of the linkage. Tracking the nanoparticles enables tests of the performance and reliability of the system. Credit: NIST

(Top) Image showing the microelectromechanical linkage that converts translation (straight arrow) into rotation (curved arrow). The red box indicates the region of the rotating part that has fluorescent nanoparticles on it. (Bottom) Image showing the fluorescent nanoparticles on the rotating part of the linkage. Tracking the nanoparticles enables tests of the performance and reliability of the system. Credit: NIST

Lessons learned from the study could impact the fabrication and operation of various micromechanical systems, including safety switches, robotic insects and manufacturing platforms.

The motion of micromechanical systems is sometimes too small — displacements of only a few nanometers, or one billionth of a meter, with correspondingly small rotations of a few microradians — for existing measurement methods to resolve. One microradian is the angle corresponding to the length of an arc of about 10 meters along the circumference of the earth.

“There has been a gap between fabrication technology and motion metrology — the processes exist to manufacture complex mechanical systems with microscopic parts, but the performance and reliability of these systems depends on motion that has been difficult to measure. We are closing that gap,” said Samuel Stavis, a project leader at NIST.

“Despite how simple this system appears, no one had measured how it moves at the length and angle scales that we investigated,” said researcher Craig Copeland of NIST and the University of Maryland. “Before commercial manufacturers can optimize the design of more complex systems such as microscopic switches or motors, it is helpful to understand how relatively simple systems operate under various conditions.”

The measurements, which the researchers report in Microsystems & Nanoengineering, rely on optical microscopy to track surface features on the moving parts. The manufacturer can build in the surface features during the fabrication process so that the system is ready for measurement right out of the foundry. Or, the researchers can apply fluorescent nanoparticles to the system after fabrication for improved precision. NIST researchers introduced this measurement method in a previous study and have used related methods to track the motion and interaction of other small systems. Importantly, the ability to simultaneously track the motion of multiple parts in a micromechanical system allowed the researchers to study the details of the interaction.

In their experiment, the researchers studied the transfer of motion through a mechanical linkage, which is a system of parts connected in order to control forces and movement in machines. The test system had two links that connected and disconnected through a joint, which is the point at which the links apply forces to each other. The electrical heating and thermal expansion of one link drove the rotation of the other link around a pivot. The researchers developed a model of how the system should move under ideal operating conditions, and used that model to understand their measurements of how the system moved under practical operating conditions. The team found that play in the joint between the links, which is necessary to allow for fabrication tolerances and prevent the parts from jamming, had a central role in the motion of the system. Specifically, the amount of play was an important factor in determining precisely how the links coupled and uncoupled, and how repeatable this transfer of motion could be.

As long as the electrical input driving the system was relatively free of noise, the system worked surprisingly well, transferring the motion from one part to another very consistently for thousands of operating cycles. “It was perfectly repeatable within measurement uncertainty,” said Copeland, “and reasonably consistent with our ideal model.”

That is important, he notes, because some researchers expect that the friction between small parts would degrade the performance and reliability of such a system. Many engineers have even abandoned the idea of making micromechanical systems out of moving parts that make contact, switching to micromechanical systems with parts that move by flexing to avoid making contact with each other.

The results suggest that micromechanical systems that transfer motion through contacting parts “may have underexplored applications,” said Stavis.

However, the researchers found that when they added a normal amount of electrical noise to the driving mechanism, the system became less reliable and did not always succeed in transferring motion from one link to the other. Further, exposure of the system to atmospheric humidity for several weeks caused the parts to stick together, although the researchers could break them loose and get them moving again.

These findings indicate that while micromechanical systems have the potential to transfer motion between contacting parts with unexpectedly precise performance, the driving signal and operating environment are critical to the reliable output of motion.

The team now plans to improve their measurements and extend their work to more complex systems with many moving parts.

“Micromechanical systems have many potential commercial applications,” said Stavis. “We think that innovative measurements will help to realize that potential.”