January 5, 2007 – SEMATECH has appointed Sitaram Arkalgud, appointee from Qimonda/Infineon Technologies, as director of its new 3D interconnect initiative, in addition to his duties leading SEMATECH’s interconnect division.

In his new role, Arkalgud will lead an expanded 3D program that will define and map 3D technology options, develop unit processes and metrology, and ultimately demonstrate 3D’s functionality and reliability. SEMATECH launched the new 3D project in Feb. 2006 to explore the feasibility of three-dimensional (3D) interconnect technology for the semiconductor industry, with initial work focusing on developing a cost model for 3D migration and a list of infrastructure needs as well as building consensus on 3D technology standards. Future activities involve proving feasibility of the technology for materials, unit processes, integration, and reliability.

In an interview with WaferNEWS last year, Arkalgud indicated the program will focus on wafer-on-wafer and die-on-wafer structures, seeking answers for both high-performance and low-cost products, with a working group of ~20 SEMATECH member companies assessing key challenges of 3D interconnect and available options, and developing a 3D roadmap with the ultimate goal of transferring the process to the ITRS. The new 3D interconnect project will augment SEMATECH’s low-k development program emphasizing chemical vapor deposition (CVD) films, he said.

Arkalgud has directed SEMATECH’s interconnect division for the past four years, leading efforts to screen, characterize, and improve the performance of low-k dielectric materials for the 45nm and 32nm nodes, and also initiated the exploration of next-generation 3D interconnects. Prior to his SEMATECH assignment, he was director of Infineon’s MRAM development alliance with IBM, and before that was technology officer for Infineon’s memory product division, and product manager for ferroelectric RAM development.