Category Archives: FPDs and TFTs

EV Group (EVG), a supplier of wafer bonding and lithography equipment, together with the Korea National NanoFab Center (President Jae Young Lee, NNFC), a nano-technology R&D infrastructure for academia, research institutes and the industry, announced preliminary results on improved transparent nanostructured anti-reflective coatings for next-generation displays. The ongoing work has been carried out within a joint-development program (JDP) established between the two partners in November 2015. This collaborative research has been partly funded by the Nano-Open-Innovation-Lab Project of the NNFC.

Korea National NanoFab Center (NNFC)

Korea National NanoFab Center (NNFC)

The goal of the EVG-NNFC JDP is the development of optimized materials, the process technology for structure replication, and the industrial implementation of the AR coatings for large-area substrates. The NNFC research team under its director Dr. Jae Hong Park is responsible for the development of the materials and the “reversible nano-molding” process, which can be compatible with EVG’s proprietary SmartNIL UV-nanoimprint lithography (UV-NIL) technology. EVG is responsible for optimizing the UV-NIL replication process and transferring the technology from the R&D phase on current 200mm round substrates to large panel sizes.

Outstanding preliminary results

EVG and the NNFC have successfully demonstrated an anti-reflective coating with excellent structure replication that provides over 97-percent transmittance and a surface hardness of 3H, which is superior to most other polymeric coatings. By contrast, current commercial thin-film coatings only provide up to 92-percent transmittance. The JDP partners achieved these results by applying EVG’s SmartNIL technology on 200-mm round substrates using a polymer material developed by the NNFC. This material was developed for performing the reversible nano molding process at the NNFC, and is compliant with commercial standards for display coating.

In the next phase of the program, EVG and the NNFC plan to promote these promising results to initiate partnerships with end-users that are interested in joining the JDP to help commercialize the new AR coating. The goal of this next phase is the qualification of the novel anti-reflective coating technology for industrial use through the NNFC, and the implementation of the process by EVG to high-volume panel manufacturing on large screen sizes, such as Gen 2 (370 mm x 470 mm) panels and beyond. In addition to this specific project, EVG and the NNFC plan to investigate other application areas leveraging nanostructures and NIL technology.

“As part of our Triple-i philosophy of invent-innovate-implement, EV Group has a long history of engagements with groups across the nanotechnology value chain–from research institutes and materials suppliers to manufacturers–to develop new processes and devices, and bring them into production,” stated WeonSik Yang, general manager of EV Group Korea, Ltd. “We’re pleased to have the opportunity to participate in this level of cooperation with our partners in Korea, namely the NNFC, and see the efforts of our previous cooperation bearing fruit. On behalf of EVG, I would like to extend my sincerest thanks to Dr. Jae Hong Park as well as NNFC President Jae Young Lee for their dedication and support for this project. We look forward to working with local industrial partners to commercialize this novel display coating technology and process to support large-area display manufacturing.”

EVG and the NNFC presented the results of this JDP at the recent NANO KOREA symposium and exhibition in Goyang, Korea. A copy of the poster summarizing the results can be downloaded at http://www.evgroup.com/en/about/news/2016_12_NNFC/.

 

The National NanoFab Center (NNFC) is a nanotechnology and semiconductors R&D center, located in Daejeon City, Korea.

Restructuring of older display fabs, migration to larger-sized LCD TV panels and business strategy adjustments are some of the factors prompting LCD TV panel manufacturers to set a conservative shipment goal of 258.4 million units in 2017, a 1.2 percent decline from 2016, according to IHS Markit (Nasdaq: INFO).

LCD_TV_Display_Makers_Target

“LCD TV panel unit shipments in 2016 are forecast to decline 5 percent on year-on-year basis with 261.6 million. Among the top six panel makers, BOE and China Star continue to make the largest contribution to the growth of TV panel shipments in 2016, helped by a shortage of 32-inch panels,” said Deborah Yang, director of display supply chain at IHS Markit.

“However, this is not enough to offset declines in shipments from South Korean and Taiwanese panel makers, all of which are undergoing the process of moving to larger panel sizes, facing production yields issues, or experiencing drastic declines in demand for 23.6-inch panels.”

According to the latest IHS Markit TV Display Intelligence Service report, LCD TV panel makers continue to remain cautious with their business plans going into 2017, even as the likes of BOE, Innolux and China Star are contributing to new capacities. BOE’s shipments have shown positive growth in past years; however, the company is projecting a decline of 14 percent year-on-year in 2017 due to a production shift to larger panel sizes, in particular 43-inch and 55-inch displays, where production capacity will be shared with IT panels.

Instead of ramping up the current supply of TV panels, panel makers are now busy diversifying into larger-sized panels and other premium products, such as 4K panels. According to IHS Markit analysis, TV panel makers are planning to ship 63 million units of 4K panels in 2016, making up a 24 percent in UHD (ultra-high definition) penetration, and later to 86.4 million units in 2017, increasing their UHD penetration to 33 percent.

LG Display remains the world’s top maker of TV panels with a target of over 51 million unit shipments. Innolux will take the second largest position with 46.6 million units. However, should Innolux decides to produce smaller-size TV panels as well as to utilize its relationship with Sharp’s fabs in Japan, its unit shipments could be expected to jump to 53 million, even eclipsing LG Display to gain top spot.

HKC, a sizeable LCD TV OEM and ODM maker, which recently entered the LCD TV display market with backing from the Chinese government, represents a new vertical integration business model for the industry.

“While TV makers are suffering a profit loss, HKC’s vertical integration business model could prove that a certain level of profit can be maintained through in-house supply in spite of TV panel price fluctuations. However, the biggest challenge for HKC is whether it can overcome the technical challenge that comes with ramping up a brand new fab,” Yang said.

The overall utilization rate at fabrication plants (fabs) used for display panel production is expected to reach 90 percent in the fourth quarter of 2016, up 7 percentage points from the same period in the previous year, and up 1 percentage point from the previous quarter, according to IHS Markit (Nasdaq: INFO).

2016_Display_Panel_Manufacturing_Monthly_Utilization_Rates_-_IHS_Markit

One of the contributing factors for driving up the fab utilization rate is the sudden rise in demand for larger TV panels, notably in 2016, when the average area size of overall TV panels increase by 1.9 inches from the previous year, raising the unit area by about 10 percent.

TV display panels, which account for about 70 percent of overall display area demand, suffered a fall in unit demand in recent times, but the area demand is expected to increase by 6 percent in 2016. A rise in TV panel demand is now projected to raise overall display panel area demand by 5 percent in 2016 compared to a year ago.

As a result, display panel makers are increasing the utilization rate of Gen 7 fabs and later Gen fabs, used mainly to produce TV panels, and can be expected to stay high in the fourth quarter of 2016 and beyond, according to the latest IHS Markit Display Production & Inventory Tracker report.

“Such a high utilization rate would suggest that these fabs are running at full loading, considering the remaining capacity is already allotted for test runs and maintenance,” said Alex Kang, senior analyst of display research at IHS Markit.

“This increase in display panel area demand has allowed panel manufacturers to sustain inventory levels that are considered healthy, and has prevented a sharp drop in utilization rate this year,” Kang added.

IHS Markit expects that panel manufacturers’ year-end panel inventory level will remain healthy at under four weeks. This will allow panel manufacturers to maintain a high utilization rate for a certain period of time regardless of demand fluctuations with sufficient space to pile up extra production stock.

With a healthy inventory outlook, panel manufacturers are projected to reach a fab utilization rate of between 85 and 90 percent in the first quarter of 2017 after the year-end peak season, which is up by between 5 and 10 percentage points since the first quarter of 2016.

 

Flat-panel display (FPD) equipment sales are expected to attain their highest sustained three-year level in the history of the industry. FPD equipment spending will rise 89 percent, hitting $12.9 billion in 2016. Increased spending levels will continue, reaching $13 billion in 2017, then declining slightly to $11.8 billion in 2018, according to IHS Markit (Nasdaq: INFO).

fpd equipment

“Investments in new FPD factories had been trending upwards for the past several years as Chinese panel makers continue to relentlessly build new FPD factories to make the country the largest FPD producing region in the world,” said Charles Annis, senior director at IHS Markit. “In fact, China will surpass long-dominant South Korea in capacity share by the second quarter of 2017.”

According to the IHS Markit Display Supply Demand & Equipment Tracker, in addition to the substantial number of sixth-generation (Gen 6) and Gen 8 factories (fabs) being built in China, the two largest panel makers in the country, BOE and China Star, are rushing to construct Gen 10.5 fabs that process enormous glass substrates, targeting efficient production of 65-inch and 75-inch panels. FPD makers in South Korea and Japan have now started ceding the LCD market to producers of lower-cost displays in China. They are also starting to shutter their large-area LCD factories, to focus on active-matrix organic light-emitting diode (AMOLED) panel production, where they still have a technology edge. Declining capacity in other regions is now balancing supply and demand, which is further encouraging Chinese makers to press their advantage and build even more factories. China will account for sixty-five percent of all FPD equipment spending, on average, between 2016 and 2018.

The FPD industry is in the midst of an unprecedented and rapid display technology shift from LCD to AMOLED for mobile applications. Samsung Display has led this change to-date with the success of its own AMOLED displays for Galaxy-based products and expansion of AMOLED panel sales to other smartphone makers looking to differentiate their products with high-end displays. Panel makers in South Korea and Japan are rushing to build new AMOLED fabs, so as not to miss out on the market shift. Chinese makers, backed by joint ventures with regional governments, are also building a large number of AMOLED factories, because they view AMOLED as a potential opportunity to upgrade from trailing-edge to leading-edge display manufacturing.

“Not only are there an extraordinary number of new FPD factories under construction, but many of the new factories are also some of the most expensive ever built,” Annis said. “Of course, the Gen 10.5 factories have much more capacity, but the capital costs are more than twice that of typical Gen 8 factories, due to the size of machines and unique facility requirements.”

Almost all of the new AMOLED factories plan to produce flexible, plastic-based displays. Most of these new factories are adopting highly complicated, high-mask-count LTPS-TFT processes that require more high-resolution exposure lines and other supporting equipment. The new flexible AMOLED lines now under construction are almost 50 percent more expensive than the rigid AMOLED factories constructed only a few years ago.

“FPD equipment makers are scrambling to ramp-up capacity to meet customer demand and take advantage of the best sales opportunity ever,” Annis said. “Even so, equipment companies know how cyclical the market is, so they need to manage the additional capacity and staff they are now putting in place, when the market eventually starts to slow down.”

The IHS Markit Display Supply Demand & Equipment Tracker covers metrics used to evaluate supply, demand and capital spending for all major FPD technologies and applications.

Due to increasing capacity from China, South Korean LCD panel makers are quickly realizing that LCD displays profitability may eventually erode, due to growing capacity and price competition from China, so they are betting their future on organic light-emitting diode (OLED) displays. Because of lower profit margins and slowing market growth, the IT display category has become the first product line that LCD display manufacturers are quitting, according to IHS Markit (Nasdaq: INFO), a world leader in critical information, analytics and solutions.

Samsung Display was the first company to do so, selling a fifth generation (Gen 5) fabrication plant (fab) to a Chinese touch and module maker last year. In the future, more fab restructuring is expected, especially the facilities dedicated to making IT panels. 

“Brands like HP and Lenovo expected notebook panels to be in a surplus situation, and they were therefore keeping their panel inventories at very low levels,” said Jason Hsu, senior principal analyst, IHS Markit. “This shift from Samsung Display could cause some brands to experience panel shortages in the third quarter of 2016.”

BOE to possibly double its panel shipments this year

Samsung Display delivered 30 million notebook panels in 2015, according to the latest information from the IHS Markit Tablet and Notebook Display Market Tracker. With the company’s latest fab reorganization plan, notebook PC LCD panel shipments could fall to 12 million units in 2016 and to 4 million in 2017. There will be an 18 million-unit gap this year, which means brands might not be able to find other sources to keep up with production needs.

When reviewing the supply chain mix in the first quarter of 2016, it is clear that HP has been affected by these changes more than other companies, with shipments from Samsung Display down from 1.1 million units in first quarter to 350,000 units in the second quarter. However, HP has shifted its orders to other panel makers to secure enough panels for its production needs, for example, Innolux.

BOE is another panel maker benefitting from the exit of Samsung Display from this market. Panel shipments from BOE increased from 4.9 million units in the first quarter to 7.2 million in the second quarter. BOE is expected to grow its notebook business to more than 36 million units in 2017. BOE first began to supply panels for notebooks in 2009, and it has now become one of the largest IT panel suppliers. Furthermore, BOE has a Gen8 fab in Chongqing, China — near the world’s largest notebook production base. In fact, notebook panel shipments from the Chongqing fab are expected to grow quickly next year, thanks to the more efficient logistics.

Chinese and Taiwanese makers to increase unit shipments of premium panels 

LG Display and Samsung Display used to supply Apple with notebook panels; however, the fab re-organization — especially the reallocation of oxide capacity — has increased Apple’s concerns about a potential panel shortage and possible low yields. For this reason, Apple is expected to add another panel supplier for its new MacBook Pro, to diversify the risk from Samsung Display business changes. For its legacy MacBook Air line of notebook PCs, Apple is considering diversifying its supply chain to Chinese makers, which is the first time Apple will use LCD panels from China.

Samsung Display’s exit from the LCD display business has also affected the supply of wide-view-angle in-plane switching (IPS) and plane-to-line switching (PLS) displays. Samsung Display has been one of the major suppliers to offer wide-view-angle panels, and its shipment volume is second only to LG Display.

In order to source IPS and PLS panels, brands must find other sources to replace Samsung Display, after the company begins to reduce production. AUO is one of the qualified candidates, and apparently it is receiving more orders from notebook PC brands. AUO, Innolux and other Taiwanese manufacturers and BOE and other Chinese suppliers are all expanding IPS panels to respond to increasing panel requirements.

Silvaco, Inc., a provider of electronic design automation software and semiconductor IP, today announced that Dr. Jin Jang of Kyung Hee University in Seoul, Korea, has joined the Technical Advisory Board (TAB). Formed in early 2016, the TAB is chartered with providing guidance to Silvaco management and engineering teams on the direction of the company’s technology roadmap, and additional early insight into future technology challenges and breakthroughs. Dr. Jang, an accomplished researcher in information display development, will help the company expand its technology leadership in advanced TFT and OLED displays.

Dr. Jang serves as the Director of the Advanced Display Research Center at Kyung Hee University in Dongjak-gu, Seoul, Korea. He actively pursues display research, publishing 20 to 30 SCI-level papers each year and conducting joint research projects with researchers in the US and UK as well as sharing his research findings via international conferences and special lectures. He is credited with establishing the world’s first Department of Information Display at a major university, and is the recipient of numerous academic and industry awards including the Academic Award from the Korean Vacuum Society, the IEEE George E. Smith award, and the Sottow Owaki Prize from the Society for Information Display (SID) for outstanding contributions to the education and training of students and professionals in the field of information display. Dr. Jang was named an SID Fellow in 2006. Dr. Jang received a BS in Physics at Seoul National University and his PhD in Physics from the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST).

“I’m pleased to join Silvaco’s technical advisory board at an exciting time of growth and technical development for the company,” said Dr Jang.  “Creating solutions to the important growing challenges in advanced display development requires close collaboration between industry and academic researchers, and I believe working with Silvaco and the advisory board will accelerate this cooperation.”

“We are honored to welcome Dr. Jang to our technology advisory board,” said David L. Dutton, CEO of Silvaco.  “He is a well-known and highly regarded leader in the information display industry. We appreciate him joining our team and look forward to working closely with him to help us continue our technical leadership in the display segment. His immense knowledge will guide us to align our technology direction to meet the future requirements in TFT and OLED display development.”

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.”

Today, at the OLEDs World Summit in San Diego, Kateeva, a OLED production equipment developer, reported that its YIELDjet FLEX system has earned a commanding lead in the key organic layer deposition step in the OLED Thin Film Encapsulation (TFE) market. Since the novel inkjet printing solution debuted in manufacturing in 2014, the company has secured the vast majority of available TFE orders. Customers include the world’s largest flat panel display manufacturers located in three key Asia regions.

TFE is a critical step in the flexible OLED manufacturing process. It gives thinness and flexibility to the OLED device, and helps reduce overall manufacturing costs. OLEDs utilizing TFE are revolutionizing the consumer electronics industry by enabling exciting new mobile products that are bendable, foldable and even roll-able. Kateeva’s YIELDjet FLEX system helped catalyze the transition to the new display technology by solving key technical challenges that previously made mass-producing OLEDs with TFE, including flexible OLEDs, economically unviable.

Kateeva CEO Alain Harrus attributed the company’s market momentum to the swift migration to flexible OLED mass production by display leaders. “That fast manufacturing transition speaks to the spirited innovation within the display industry, where leaders are testing the limits of physics, chemistry and engineering ingenuity, and making substantial R&D investments to commercialize revolutionary displays. We’re privileged to partner with these trail-blazing companies, and pleased that our YIELDjet technology is enabling their processes.”

The YIELDjet FLEX tool is the first system to emerge from Kateeva’s YIELDjet platform. The YIELDjet platform is Kateeva’s foundational technology. Introduced in late 2013, it was the first inkjet printing manufacturing equipment platform engineered specifically for OLED mass-production. OLED technology was already transforming rigid smart phone displays with vibrant color and extraordinary image quality. With new high-yield mass-production equipment, OLED technology would enable the next leap—freedom from glass substrates—a breakthrough that would unleash tantalizing new flexible products.

Kateeva’s YIELDjet FLEX system has enabled a rapid transition from glass encapsulation to TFE in new OLED production lines. The company’s precision deposition solution for the TFE organic layer deposition process is fast, offers good planarization, few particle defects, high material utilization, good scalability, and easy maintenance. These advantages deliver dramatically higher TFE yields and lower mass-production costs, making the system a powerful alternative to vacuum evaporation technologies which had reached their technical limits.

Today, barely two years after its debut, Kateeva’s YIELDjet FLEX tool is the undisputed leader in the industry.

At the OLEDs World Summit, Kateeva technologist, Neetu Chopra, Ph.D. will reveal how YIELDjet technology will soon be applied to mass-produce the RGB OLED layer to enable affordable OLED TVs. Dr. Chopra will present her talk today at 4:35pm.

Applied Materials, Inc. today introduced the display industry’s first high-resolution inline e-beam review (EBR) system, increasing the speed at which manufacturers of OLED and UHD LCD screens can achieve optimum yields and bring new display concepts to market.

Applied is the semiconductor industry leader in EBR with more than 70 percent market share in 2015. The company has combined its leading-edge SEM capabilities used in semiconductor device review with a large-scale display vacuum platform, resulting in an inline EBR technology that is the fastest, most effective method to discover and address the root causes of killer defects in advanced mobile and TV displays.

Applied’s EBR system has received orders from 6 of the top 10 largest display manufacturers in the world and demand is increasing as manufacturers look to quickly and cost effectively optimize their yields and bring new types of displays to market faster.

“Our new EBR system is the latest in a strong pipeline of display products that enables customers to solve critical OLED and LCD manufacturing challenges,” said Ali Salehpour, senior vice president and general manager, Display and Adjacent Markets and Applied Global Services, Applied Materials. “Applied’s unique ability to combine semiconductor yield techniques and panel-level SEM technology expands our addressable market and avoids costly yield excursions for our customers. Emerging applications such as augmented and virtual reality and smart vehicles require better displays with new form factors. These applications are driving demand for solutions like our EBR tool that give customers significant time-to-market advantages.”

“As a worldwide leader in display, Tianma values the strong relationship with Applied Materials to help us develop new technologies required to produce the high-quality, high-performance mobile displays that consumers have come to expect,” said Dr. Jun Ma, vice president, Tianma Micro-electronics Co., Ltd. “Applied’s EBR system will enable us to reduce the start-up time at our Wuhan fab and accelerate our ability to bring more advanced display technologies to market. In addition to EBR, we look forward to working with Applied to introduce other semiconductor yield techniques to mobile display manufacturing.”

Advanced display technologies require an increasing number of process steps resulting in more and smaller contaminates, and new types of defects. Current inline automated optical defect inspection tools for displays are not as effective as SEM analysis in distinguishing killer from non-killer defects, or in determining systematic root causes of defects. Prior to the introduction of Applied’s EBR system, conducting SEM analysis on displays required breaking the glass substrate into pieces and examining each piece separately under a microscope. This is not only costly and time consuming but also makes it nearly impossible to determine the location of the defect on the full panel. Applied solves these limitations by providing inline SEM review at the industry’s highest resolution and throughput without requiring the panel to be broken.

Applied Materials, Inc. (Nasdaq:AMAT) is a leader in materials engineering solutions used to produce virtually every new chip and advanced display in the world.

Applied Materials’ display e-beam review (EBR) system

Applied Materials’ display e-beam review (EBR) system

By Zvi Or-Bach, President & CEO, MonolithIC 3D Inc.

As we have predicted two and a half years back, the industry is bifurcating, and just a few products pursue scaling to 7nm while the majority of designs stay on 28nm or older nodes.

Our March 2014 blog Moore’s Law has stopped at 28nm has recently been re-confirmed. At the time we wrote: “From this point on we will still be able to double the amount of transistors in a single device but not at lower cost. And, for most applications, the cost will actually go up.” This reconfirmation can be found in the following IBS cost analysis table slide, presented at the early Sept FD-SOI event in Shanghai.

Gate costs continue to rise each generation for FinFETs, IBS predicts.

Gate costs continue to rise each generation for FinFETs, IBS predicts.

As reported by EE Times – Chip Process War Heats Up, and quoting Handel Jones of IBS “28nm node is likely to be the biggest process of all through 2025”.

IBS prediction was seconded by “Samsung executive showed a foil saying it believes 28nm will have the lowest cost per transistor of any node.” The following chart was presented by Samsung at the recent SEMICON West (2016).

Zvi 2

And even Intel has given up on its “every two years” but still claims it can keep reducing transistor cost. Yet Intel’s underwhelming successes as a foundry suggests otherwise. We have discussed it in a blog titled Intel — The Litmus Test, and it was essentially repeated by SemiWiki’s Apple will NEVER use Intel Custom Foundry!

This discussion seems academic now, as the actual engineering costs of devices in advanced nodes have shown themselves to be too expensive for much of the industry. Consequently, and as predicted, the industry is bifurcating, with a few products pursuing scaling to 7nm while the majority of designs use 28nm or older nodes.

The following chart derived from TSMC quarterly earnings reports was published last week by Ed Sperling in the blog Stepping Back From Scaling:

Zvi 3

Yes, the 50-year march of Moore’s Law has ended, and the industry is now facing a new reality.

This is good news for innovation, as a diversity of choices helps support new ideas and new technologies such as 3D NAND, FDSOI, MEMS and others. These technologies will enable new markets and products such as the emerging market of IoT.

A good opportunity to learn more about these new scaling technologies is the IEEE S3S ’16, to be held in the Hyatt Regency San Francisco Airport, October 10th thru 13th, 2016. It starts with 3D and FDSOI tutorials, the emerging technologies for the IC future. CEA Leti is scheduled to give an update on their CoolCube program, Qualcomm will present some of their work on monolithic 3D, and three leading researchers from an imec, MIT, and Korea university collaboration will present their work on advanced monolithic 3D integration technologies. Many other authors will discuss their work on monolithic 3DIC and its ecosystem, in addition to tracks focused on SOI, sub-VT and dedicated sessions on IoT.