Yearly Archives: 2016

According to the latest market study released by Technavio, the global front-end-of-the-line (FEOL) semiconductor equipment market recorded a revenue of over USD 22 billion in 2015 and this growth is expected to exceed $24 billion in 2020.

This research report titled ‘Global Front-end-of-the-line Semiconductor Equipment Market 2016-2020’ provides an in-depth analysis of the market in terms of revenue and emerging market trends. This market research report also includes up to date analysis and forecasts for various market segments and all geographical regions.

FEOL equipment experienced a decline in 2015 due to a decline in sales of PCs and oversupply of DRAM. However, it will gain pace 2016 onward with the growing memory market and the increasing investments in fabs. The semiconductor market will see a high demand for semiconductor chips and memory devices from 2017 onward due to the growing adoption of IoT, high demand for connected devices, and increased vehicle automation.

Sunil Kumar Singh, a lead analyst at Technavio, specializing in research on semiconductor equipment, says, “Semiconductor device manufacturers are increasing their capital spending by expanding their production facilities or constructing new fabs. The majority of the investment for new facilities will be for the development of memory and logic ICs due to their high demand.”

Based on end-user, the report categorizes the global FEOL semiconductor equipment market into three segments. They are:

  • Foundry
  • Memory
  • Integrated device manufacturers (IDMs)

Foundry

The foundry segment dominated the global FEOL semiconductor equipment market in 2015 and will grow at a CAGR of 2.25% during the forecast period. In 2015, the foundry segment saw a decline in capital expenditure due to a decline in the sales of tablets and PCs, which impacted the demand for new equipment by the foundries. However, the market will see a positive growth rate 2016 onward until 2019. The foundry segment will gain momentum during the forecast period due to the increasing number of fab construction — some of which are scheduled to start construction in 2016 while some already started construction in 2015. Around seven foundry fabs are expected to be completed by 2017. The R&D spending by TSMC, the industry’s biggest pure-play foundry, rose by 10% in 2015 compared with 2014.

Memory

The memory segment will grow at a CAGR of 2.58% during the forecast period. In 2015, the memory segment saw a strong growth primarily due to structural changes such as segment consolidation in DRAM, higher market entry barriers, and more diversified demand. The major change includes the transition from planar to second-generation 3D NAND. The memory market is gradually transitioning to 3D NAND and next-generation non-volatile memory (NVM) technologies. The major memory customers are ramping up 3D NAND volume production, which will result in the growth of production equipment. For instance, Intel entered the 3D NAND business in 2016, partnering with Micron, which will significantly increase the spending levels on semiconductor capital equipment such as FEOL semiconductor equipment.

IDM

The IDM segment will decline during the period of 2015-2016 due to the cyclical nature of the semiconductor industry. The manufacturing of ICs is a long and expensive process, from the conceptualization to the actual production and thus mandates high investment for the installation of equipment and machines like lithography equipment for chip fabrication. The shift of the IC manufacturing companies to the fabless model for reducing the pressure on their cash reserves and improving the focus on their core strengths will steady the decline in price after 2016.

The top vendors highlighted by Technavio’s research analysts in this report are:

  • Applied Materials
  • ASML
  • TEL
  • Lam Research
  • KLA-Tencor

Silego Technology today announced shipping two billion units since its introduction of the pioneering Configurable Mixed-signal ICs (CMICs). In just two years since Silego Technology announced shipment of its billionth unit, Silego has more than doubled its total volume shipped.

Silego created not only the world’s first family of Configurable Mixed-signal ICs but also enabled a paradigm shift for designers. Reaching this significant milestone is validation of the Configurable Mixed-signal IC category and a demonstration of how eagerly customers have embraced this new approach to mixed-signal design for volume applications.

Silego’s CMICs use Non-Volatile Memory to configure each device and integrate analog, digital logic, and power functions, which allows design engineers to eliminate traditional standard linear, passive and discrete components from their system. CMICs enable original equipment manufacturers, or OEMs, in high-volume applications to cost-effectively deliver their products to market faster and with greater design flexibility.

Since the introduction of the CMIC, Silego has developed five generations of CMIC silicon and design tools. Each generation has added functionality and enhanced the design experience. As a result, over 1300 designs incorporating CMICs by Silego customers have gone into production in almost every end market:

  • Handheld Devices
  • Wearable Electronics
  • Computing & Storage
  • Consumer Electronics
  • Smart Home
  • Networking & Communications
  • Medical & Industrial

Many of these customers have completed multiple designs as they have seen the many benefits of CMICs:

  • Integration of both analog and digital functions (unlike FPGAs)
  • Cost effective product differentiation
  • Smaller footprint by eliminating components and easing routing congestion
  • Lower power consumption
  • Fast time to market with easy-to-use GPAK development hardware and GPAK Designer software

The most recent generation, GPAK 5, has further expanded this industry leading platform with the addition of a new I2C block. The GPAK 5 I2C enables designers to read and change device configuration, such as analog comparator thresholds, on the fly.

John Teegen, Silego’s CEO, remarked, “Reaching the milestone of shipping two billion units is an exciting achievement made possible by the innovative Silego team and our enthusiastic customers. Reaching two billion units is just the beginning.”

“Silego’s strong customer relationships continue to help us grow and shape our CMIC product roadmaps to anticipate the needs of leading edge products,” said John McDonald, VP of Marketing. “Our customers’ success is our success, and our customers are doing very well with Configurable Mixed-signal ICs.”

“Silego’s ability to offer the combination of mixed signal functionality and programmable logic in small footprints and at low cost is a true game-changer in many designs,” said Rich Wawrzyniak, Principal Analyst for ASIC & SoC at Semico Research. “Silego is one of the best kept secrets in Silicon Valley. This is truly a very innovative solution to a very complex problem.”

Mike Noonen, Silego’s VP of WW Sales and Business Development added, “With the clever combination of analog, digital, Non-Volatile memory and software tools, Silego has created a new category of semiconductors and a better way to design, prototype and go to production.”

Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. today announced “H-series Gen 3,” a new line-up of LED linear modules that features high efficacy and enables easy replacement of fluorescent lights with LED lamps.

New Samsung LED H-series linear module for indoor lighting (Graphic: Business Wire)

New Samsung LED H-series linear module for indoor lighting (Graphic: Business Wire)

“With our new H-series, Samsung continues to lead the high-end industry segment for LED components through constant technology innovation,” said Jacob Tarn, executive vice president, LED Business Team, Samsung Electronics. “We are directing our technology expertise to improving the quality of LED lighting by significantly enhancing our LED components’ performance and overall competitiveness.”

Samsung’s H-series Gen 3 provides light efficacy reaching up to 187 lumen per watt (lm/W) at 4000K, which allows LED luminaires using the modules to achieve light efficacy above 140lm/W, delivering an optic efficiency level of about 86 percent and LED driver efficiency of approximately 88 percent.

Currently, Samsung offers several linear LED module line-ups: the V-series for cost-effective applications; the M-, S- and F-series for standard LED lighting segments; and now the H-series for high-performance LED products.

Samsung’s H-series Gen 3 uses the LM561C, the mid-power LED package with the highest efficacy in its LM561-series line-up. As a result, the H-series Gen 3 has obtained 18 to 26 percent higher efficacy than the company’s M-series Gen 2 modules. This feature makes the H-series Gen 3 line-up well-suited to meet DLC Premium standards – technical requirements for LED lighting solutions suggested by DesignLights Consortium™. DLC standards are well recognized in the North American region as a preferred means of evaluating LED lighting products in terms of performance and quality.

The H-series comes in three sizes: 1120mm (4 ft.) 560mm (2 ft.) and 280mm/275mm (1 ft.). As the premium version of the company’s M-series and S-series line-ups, the H-series has the same form factors as those modules (see chart below), while providing a performance level that more than satisfies the high demands of the U.S. and EU luminaire markets.

Samsung’s M-series has been certified by UL, a product quality certification standards organization in the U.S., while the S-series has been certified by CE and ENEC, similar standards bodies in the EU. Sharing the form factors and quality certifications of Samsung’s M- and S-series, the H-series allows lighting manufacturers to select their LED modules according to the specific operating conditions of their applications.

ON Semiconductor (Nasdaq: ON) announced today that the U.S. Federal Trade Commission has accepted a proposed consent order for public comment and has terminated the Hart-Scott-Rodino waiting period applicable to ON Semiconductor’s proposed acquisition of Fairchild Semiconductor International, Inc. (Nasdaq: FCS).

Under the proposed consent order and in order to satisfy the FTC’s remaining concerns, prior to the closing of the acquisition of Fairchild, the FTC required that ON Semiconductor dispose of its planar insulated gate bipolar transistor business, which business generated less than $25 million in revenue during fiscal year 2015. In satisfaction of this requirement, ON Semiconductor announced today that it has entered into a definitive agreement with respect to the divestiture of the Ignition IGBT business to Littelfuse, Inc. (NASDAQ: LFUS) (“Littelfuse”) and has also entered into a separate definitive agreement with Littelfuse to sell its transient voltage suppression (“TVS”) diode and switching thyristor product lines, for a combined $104 million in cash. No manufacturing assets will be transferred by ON Semiconductor in connection with the divestiture of the Ignition IGBT business or the sale of the TVS and thyristor businesses, and both asset sales are expected to close on August 29, 2016.

The completion of ON Semiconductor’s previously announced tender offer to purchase all of the outstanding shares of common stock of Fairchild for $20.00 per share in cash remains subject to certain customary terms and conditions set forth in the Offer to Purchase, dated December 4, 2015, as amended, and other related materials by which the Offer is being made.

The condition to the Offer relating to the termination or expiration of required waiting periods under the HSR Act has been satisfied. The proposed FTC consent order is subject to public comment for 30 days and to final approval by the FTC, although this will not affect the parties’ ability to close the transaction when all other conditions to closing have been satisfied.

Littelfuse, Inc., (NASDAQ:LFUS) today announced it has entered into definitive agreements to acquire the product portfolio of transient voltage suppression (“TVS”) diodes, switching thyristors and insulated gate bipolar transistors (“IGBT”) for automotive ignition applications from ON Semiconductor Corporation for a combined purchase price of $104 million. This portfolio has annualized sales of approximately $55 million. The transactions are expected to close in late August, 2016.

“The acquisition of this portfolio aligns with our strategy to expand in power semiconductor applications as well as increase our presence in the automotive electronics market,” said Ian Highley, senior vice president and general manager, semiconductor products and chief technology officer for Littelfuse. “These products have strong synergies with our existing circuit protection business, will strengthen our channel partnerships and customer engagement, and expand our power semiconductor portfolio.”

Littelfuse also plans to invest approximately $30 million in its semiconductor fabrication locations to enhance its production capabilities, add significant capacity to its China fabrication facility and transfer the production of the acquired portfolio. The transfers will occur over the next few years, as the company works with customers on their timing and requirements. The expected productivity gains from this investment will drive long term profitable growth across the company’s semiconductor business.

“Once we complete the transfer of these products, we expect this acquisition to have EBITDA margins of more than 30 percent,” added Meenal Sethna, executive vice president and chief financial officer. “Including amortization, interest and integration expenses, we expect the earnings per diluted share impact of this acquisition to be neutral in 2016, and accretive in 2017 and beyond.”

Edwards Vacuum has been recognized as one of ten companies receiving a 2016 Supplier Excellence Award from Lam Research Corp. (NASDAQ: LRCX), a major global supplier of innovative wafer fabrication equipment and services to the semiconductor industry. The awards, presented annually, acknowledge their commitment to exceeding performance standards. Edwards Vacuum earned Lam’s Supplier Excellence Award for exemplary Capacity Readiness and Responsiveness

“We take great pride in receiving the Lam Research Supplier Excellence Award for 2016 and see it as great recognition of how a collaborative approach to business can bring success to both companies. We look forward to continuing our work with Lam Research well into the future,” said Scott Balaguer, Vice President – North America Semi-DSL BLM.

The Lam Research Supplier Excellence Awards were announced on August 22 at the company’s Supplier Day, during which Lam Research focuses on enhancing collaboration and renewing opportunities for mutual success with its customers and suppliers. Executives from suppliers around the world attended the event, and Edwards Vacuum was among the companies honored for its achievements.

“We applaud the contributions of Edwards Vacuum as one of Lam’s preferred suppliers, and appreciate the important role they play in delivering industry-leading products and services to our customers,” said Tim Archer, chief operating officer, Lam Research. “We are pleased to present Edwards Vacuum with a Lam Research Supplier Excellence Award for Capacity Readiness and Responsiveness and we look forward to continuing our success together.”

According to the latest market study released by Technavio, the global micro-electro-mechanical-systems (MEMS) market is expected to reach USD 20.26 billion by 2020, growing at a CAGR of nearly 12%.

This research report titled ‘Global MEMS Market 2016-2020’ provides an in-depth analysis of the market in terms of revenue and emerging market trends. To calculate the market size, the report considers revenue generated from the sales of MEMS. The report also presents the vendor landscape and a corresponding detailed analysis of top vendors in the market, as well as other prominent vendors.

MEMS are miniaturized devices and structures that are made using the techniques of microfabrication. These combine mechanical, optical, and fluidic elements with electronics. The size of the devices can range from less than one micron up to a number of millimeters. These devices are integrated with a number of devices such as smartphones, tablets, wearables, vehicles, medical devices, and industrial devices for carrying out different types of automated functions. Consumer electronics is the largest market for MEMS. IoT will boost up the MEMS demand, as a large number of MEMS would be required for smart homes, building and industrial automation, and smart grid applications.

Technavio’s hardware and semiconductor analysts categorize the market into three major segments by end user. They are:

  • Automotive
  • Consumer electronics
  • Industrial

Global MEMS market for consumer electronic segment

The consumer electronic segment was valued at USD 5.83 billion in 2015 and will reach USD 10.84 billion by 2020, growing at a CAGR of over 13% during the forecast period. MEMS are integrated into consumer electronics such as smartphones, tablets, cameras, gaming consoles, and wearables. The features such as display control, motion control, navigation, and gesture recognition are enabled by MEMS. Therefore, consumer electronics are integrated with MEMS. The global MEMS market for consumer electronics will primarily be driven by the increase in demand for smartphones. This is due to the decreasing cost of smartphones, which, in turn, boosts the market for MEMS.

According to Sunil Kumar Singh, a lead sensors research analyst from Technavio, “With the declining ASPs and increasing benefits such as low space and high accuracy, the demand for MEMS is increasing. MEMS are small enough to be soldered directly onto the circuit boards. This provides technology with a price advantage.”

Global MEMS market for automotive segment

The automotive segment was valued at USD 3.3 billion in 2015 and will reach USD 5.22 billion by 2020, growing at a CAGR of almost 10% during the forecast period. Government regulations and consumer awareness campaigns such as the Global New Car Assessment Program (NCAP) are driving the demand for MEMS in the automotive segment. Global NCAP demands the integration of minimum vehicle safety standards for both crash protection and crash avoidance in all new cars sold worldwide by 2020. This requires the installation of different types of MEMS in vehicles. MEMS provide safety features such as airbag systems, vehicle security systems, inertial brake lights, headlight levelling, rollover detection, automatic door locks, and active suspension.

“The UN Road Safety Collaboration has introduced a global plan for the decade 2011-2020. The plan focuses on road safety activities such as improving the safety of road infrastructure and broader transport networks; building road safety management capacity; enhancing the behavior of road users; further developing the safety of vehicles; and improving post-crash care,” says Sunil.

MEMS microphones are mainly used in the automotive segment for speech or voice recognition in automobile audio systems. This will enable the passengers to stay connected and be entertained in a safe environment, as they can communicate with the audio system verbally. This has the possibility to reduce road accidents, as people are often distracted by factors such as adjusting the car audio system or speaking on mobile phones.

Global MEMS market for industrial segment

The industrial segment was valued at USD 1.2 billion in 2015 and will reach USD 1.95 billion by 2020, growing at a CAGR of above 10% during the forecast period. MEMS are used in many industrial applications such as construction equipment, agricultural machinery or platform leveling, and for testing applications. MEMS accelerometers are used for vibration sensing conditions such as automotive testing or monitoring the pitch and roll of an aircraft.

MEMS are also used with IoT for industrial automation. MEMS technology is helpful for industrial robots, as it can be applied to tactile sensors, navigation, or proximity sensors. MEMS are used for condition monitoring of transportation and industrial equipment, vibration and rotational speed monitoring, asset and parcel tracking and monitoring, shock detection and logging, building and structure monitoring, and vibration and tilt monitoring.

In a short term, UV curing will drive the UV LED market, announces Yole Développement (Yole) in its new LED report entitled UV LEDs: Technology, Manufacturing and Applications Trends.

But UVC LED’s recent price reduction will see the UV disinfection/purification market take over the UV curing market by 2019/2020. In this context, Yole’s analysts expect the UVC LED market to strongly grow from US$7 million in 2015 to US$610 million by 2021.

uv led curing

With an increased penetration rate in all applications, the UVA LED market will grow from US$107 million in 2015 to US$357 million by 2021. In addition to a moderated growth due to price pressure, Yole announces a very strong increase in number of devices.

Under this new UV LED report, 2016 edition, Yole details the latest technology and market trends. This comprehensive survey provides a deep understanding of the UV lamp business and its technological transition to UV LEDs. It is a thorough analysis of each UV lamp application (UVA/UVB/UVC) with a specific focus on UV curing, UV disinfection/purification and analytical instruments using UV light. Yole’s report highlights the global UV LED industry trends, from substrate to system and details the main challenges and axis of research.

“The UVC LED industry is still small but strong growth is expected in the next 18 months due to dramatic price reductions”, explains Pierrick Boulay, Market & Technology Analyst, LED & OLED at Yole. And he adds: “In 2016 prices are 1/8-1/10 of what they were in 2015.”
This has been triggered by the industry’s development, its transition to mass production and improved device performance. With most of the industry believing that US$1-US$4/mW is the price that would trigger mass market adoption we are getting close to a UVC LED market boom. Another positive sign is that most UVC LED manufacturers are now focusing on developing cost-effective solutions rather than improving device power output. In parallel, the UVC LED industry continues to work on increasing lifetime and developing lower wavelength devices, below 280nm.

In parallel, UVA LEDs continue to progress in the UV curing space. “Continuous improvement of device performance coupled with price reduction has allowed the technology to be increasingly adopted in UV curing applications”, asserts Pars Mukish, Business Unit Manager, at Yole. “Penetration of UV LEDs is increasing but we observe differences in adoption rates depending on application.” Small size and low speed applications like spot adhesive and digital inkjets have the highest adoption rate, and most new developments use UV LEDs. This is due to the small module size and low irradiance level needed that limits the extra cost of integrating UV LEDs compared to the total price of systems like inkjet printers. On the other hand, applications that need high speed processes and/or high levels of irradiance such as screen printing or coating applications have lower adoption rates. This is because UV LED performance is not yet good enough to fully replace traditional mercury lamps.

“Today UVA still represents the largest UV LED market but this trend could change in the future as UV LED performances increase,” announces Yole’ analysts. UV LEDs also enable new applications inaccessible to UV lamp. If these new applications take off, they could represent and additional revenue of nearly US$143 million in 2021.

Yole’s UV LED report highlights the market structure, UV LED market drivers and associated technical challenges, recent trends and new applications created by UV LEDs. It also includes UV LED market size split by application, and much more.

A powerful new material developed by Northwestern University chemist William Dichtel and his research team could one day speed up the charging process of electric cars and help increase their driving range.

An electric car currently relies on a complex interplay of both batteries and supercapacitors to provide the energy it needs to go places, but that could change.

“Our material combines the best of both worlds — the ability to store large amounts of electrical energy or charge, like a battery, and the ability to charge and discharge rapidly, like a supercapacitor,” said Dichtel, a pioneer in the young research field of covalent organic frameworks (COFs).

Dichtel and his research team have combined a COF — a strong, stiff polymer with an abundance of tiny pores suitable for storing energy — with a very conductive material to create the first modified redox-active COF that closes the gap with other older porous carbon-based electrodes.

“COFs are beautiful structures with a lot of promise, but their conductivity is limited,” Dichtel said. “That’s the problem we are addressing here. By modifying them — by adding the attribute they lack — we can start to use COFs in a practical way.”

And modified COFs are commercially attractive: COFs are made of inexpensive, readily available materials, while carbon-based materials are expensive to process and mass-produce.

Dichtel, the Robert L. Letsinger Professor of Chemistry at the Weinberg College of Arts and Sciences, is presenting his team’s findings today (Aug. 24) at the American Chemical Society (ACS) National Meeting in Philadelphia. Also today, a paper by Dichtel and co-authors from Northwestern and Cornell University was published by the journal ACS Central Science.

To demonstrate the new material’s capabilities, the researchers built a coin-cell battery prototype device capable of powering a light-emitting diode for 30 seconds.

The material has outstanding stability, capable of 10,000 charge/discharge cycles, the researchers report. They also performed extensive additional experiments to understand how the COF and the conducting polymer, called poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene) or PEDOT, work together to store electrical energy.

Dichtel and his team made the material on an electrode surface. Two organic molecules self-assembled and condensed into a honeycomb-like grid, one 2-D layer stacked on top of the other. Into the grid’s holes, or pores, the researchers deposited the conducting polymer.

Each pore is only 2.3 nanometers wide, but the COF is full of these useful pores, creating a lot of surface area in a very small space. A small amount of the fluffy COF powder, just enough to fill a shot glass and weighing the same as a dollar bill, has the surface area of an Olympic swimming pool.

The modified COF showed a dramatic improvement in its ability to both store energy and to rapidly charge and discharge the device. The material can store roughly 10 times more electrical energy than the unmodified COF, and it can get the electrical charge in and out of the device 10 to 15 times faster.

“It was pretty amazing to see this performance gain,” Dichtel said. “This research will guide us as we investigate other modified COFs and work to find the best materials for creating new electrical energy storage devices.”

Graphene under pressure


August 25, 2016

Small balloons made from one-atom-thick material graphene can withstand enormous pressures, much higher than those at the bottom of the deepest ocean, scientists at the University of Manchester report.

This is due to graphene’s incredible strength – 200 times stronger than steel.

The graphene balloons routinely form when placing graphene on flat substrates and are usually considered a nuisance and therefore ignored. The Manchester researchers, led by Professor Irina Grigorieva, took a closer look at the nano-bubbles and revealed their fascinating properties.

These bubbles could be created intentionally to make tiny pressure machines capable of withstanding enormous pressures. This could be a significant step towards rapidly detecting how molecules react under extreme pressure.

Writing in Nature Communications, the scientists found that the shape and dimensions of the nano-bubbles provide straightforward information about both graphene’s elastic strength and its interaction with the underlying substrate.

The researchers found such balloons can also be created with other two-dimensional crystals such as single layers of molybdenum disulfide (MoS2) or boron nitride.

They were able to directly measure the pressure exerted by graphene on a material trapped inside the balloons, or vice versa.

To do this, the team indented bubbles made by graphene, monolayer MoS2 and monolayer boron nitride using a tip of an atomic force microscope and measured the force that was necessary to make a dent of a certain size.

These measurements revealed that graphene enclosing bubbles of a micron size creates pressures as high as 200 megapascals, or 2,000 atmospheres. Even higher pressures are expected for smaller bubbles.

Ekaterina Khestanova, a PhD student who carried out the experiments, said: “Such pressures are enough to modify the properties of a material trapped inside the bubbles and, for example, can force crystallization of a liquid well above its normal freezing temperature’.

Sir Andre Geim, a co-author of the paper, added: “Those balloons are ubiquitous. One can now start thinking about creating them intentionally to change enclosed materials or study the properties of atomically thin membranes under high strain and pressure.”