Category Archives: Materials and Equipment

Attendees at this year’s International Electron Devices Meeting (IEDM) were delighted and perhaps somewhat horrified when the plenary speaker popped some electronics gear in his mouth and proclaimed, “It tastes like chicken!” The speaker, John Rogers from the University of Illinois at Champaign-Urbana, was demonstrating the edible nature of what he called transient electronics, which are designed from elements that rapidly decompose and are harmless to the human body and to the environment. One possible application of such bio-integrated electronics: They could be placed below a suture and provide enough heat through a resistive element to kill bacteria over a two week period. Bacteria sewn into the body during an operation are often the cause of a return trip to the hospital and delayed recovery.

He demonstrated that a very thin layer of silicon will dissolve in water fairly rapidly, in a matter of hours, turning into a salicylic acid. Circuits were completed with silicon dioxide as a gate dielectric and insulator and Manganese as the interconnect and resistor material. Levels were well below the FDA’s recommended daily allowance. Silk, already approved by the FDA for such applications, was used as the substrate. “You don’t want to chew,” Rogers quipped during his demonstration.

He said other applications of transient electronics include the use of sensors in chemical spills, which would monitor the presence of the chemical over time and then dissolve away, and even in consumer electronics, where lifetime would be measured in years instead of weeks.

Rogers also described another class of bioelectronics he called silicon membranes. By making silicon-based electronics thin enough, they can be stretchable. With a serpentine design, an applied strain of 30% induces strains that are less than 0.65%. These devices can conformally laminate onto the surface of the skin, in a manner that is mechanically invisible to the user, much like a temporary transfer tattoo. The systems, referred to as epidermal electronics, attach intimately and physically couple to rough skin surfaces, via van der Waals forces alone, with the ability accommodate natural and induced motions, Rogers noted in the accompanying paper.

Other bioelectronic applications include brain surgery, interfaces for human/computer control systems, skin-based physiological status monitors, high resolution electrical mapping systems for electrocorticography, and “instrumented” multifunctional balloon catheters for cardiac ablation therapy.

Rogers provides an overview of transient applications in this video and more details on his website.

December 6, 2012 – Semiconductor equipment demand is persistently sluggish as the industry takes a break from a "multiyear expansion period" to digest recent investments and wrestle with a broader economic slowdown. But make no mistake: leading-edge technology investments are still happening, and growth will return in the typical cyclical pattern, predicts SEMI in its updated year-end forecast, issued this week at SEMICON Japan.

Sales of semiconductor manufacturing equipment overall is now seen declining -12.2% in 2012 to $38.22B, after a 9% increase in 2011 to $43.53B and a 151% spike in 2010 to $39.92B, according to SEMI’s updated numbers. SEMI’s midyear forecast released at SEMICON West called for a -2.6% in overall equipment sales to $42.38B, followed by a 10.2% growth rebound in 2013. A significant downgrade had been expected, as after a strong early part of the year monthly data trends in semiconductor equipment demand have continued to turn sour.

"Sales of semiconductor manufacturing equipment in 2012 reflect significant investments over the prior two years, normal patterns of industry cyclicality and a slowdown in the broader economy," stated SEMI president/CEO Denny McGuirk. "What’s more important is that technology investments at the advanced nodes and in leading-edge packaging remain important drivers, and when market confidence returns, we expect capacity investments to increase."

Forecast by region. (Source: SEMI)

By region, only two areas will see any growth in 2012: Taiwan (12.7% to $9.60B) and South Korea (10.7% to $9.59B). Both will leapfrog the North American market, which is seen sliding -14% to $7.95B. Biggest declines will be in the smaller regions: Rest-of-World (-38% to $2.12B), Europe (-36% to $2.68B), and Japan (-36% to $3.72B). Among the drivers in Korea’s market are obviously numerous investments by Samsung (Lines 16, S1-A, and S1-C, and technology upgrades to other lines) and Hynix (upgrades to M10 and M11+M4, and the ramp of M12), noted Lara Chamness from SEMI Industry Research and Statistics. In Taiwan, TSMC is pouring resources into Fab 12, Fab 14, and Fab 15. "Other smaller device manufacturers are making non-trivial investments in the region," she added.

By equipment type, 2012 is being weighted down by the wafer processing segment, by far the largest segment, at nearly a -15% dropoff from 2011. The backend categories will decline but only about -5%, while the "other" category (facilities, mask reticles, other tools) will actually grow about 6%.

The picture brightens somewhat in 2013 with a deceleration of decline, -2.1% to $37.42B. By region there will be slight to moderate growth in China, Taiwan, and Japan, but offset by a -10% dropoff in Korean investments, SEMI predicts. By technology, the tables will turn: wafer processing will actually sneak into the black (0.3%), but backend categories will weigh down the overall picture.

Return to true growth will finally arrive in 2014, with 12.4% growth to $42.08B. All regions, and for all equipment types, will enjoy increased sales generally in the low-teens, predicts SEMI.

Forecast by equipment type. (Source: SEMI)

EV Group has completed its expanded cleanroom IV facility at its corporate headquarters in Austria, which doubled its cleanroom space for process development and pilot production services.

As part of the company’s long-term growth strategy to address high-volume tool orders and speed time to market, EV Group, a supplier of wafer bonding and lithography equipment, also increased the size of its application labs, added new R&D facilities for internal tool development and testing, and opened a new customer and employee training center.

The customer and employee training center provides several new rooms for instructional training courses, as well as a large number of manual and automated EVG tools for training.

While manufacturing and product development are centralized at EV Group’s corporate headquarters, technology and process development teams in Austria work closely with the company’s subsidiaries in Tempe, AZ; Albany, NY; Yokohama and Fukuoka, Japan; Seoul, South Korea; and Chung-Li, Taiwan, where additional, state-of-the-art application labs and cleanroom facilities are available.

Earlier this year, the addition of an ultra-modern manufacturing facility that doubled the production floor space marked the completion of the first phase of EVG’s long term expansion plans. Already positively contributing to EVG’s growth from the beginning of 2012, the company increased its order intake in FY12 (ended September 30) by 5 percent over fiscal 2011, and increased its revenue by 20 percent within the same period.

November 21, 2012 – Sales of electronic gases are seen growing a modest 3.2% growth overall in 2012, following a 15% increase in 2011 to $3.1B, according to an updated report from Techcet Group.

The electronic specialty gases segment leads the way with 5.0% growth to $2.1B and bulk gases flat at $1.1B. Growth is expected to continue at this rate into 2013 to $3.5B. The 2011 market for electronic gases totaled $3.1B, up 15% from the prior year.

The introduction of new device structures at 22nm and below is providing some new growth opportunities for the specialty gases market. However, many of these emerging applications will turn to liquid chemical precursors for high volume manufacturing. Specialty gases are therefore expected to grow at only single-digit rates over the next several years. The industry move to 450mm wafers will likely provide an increase in gas and chemical consumption that is closer to 3.0× per wafer than the 2.5× that is widely reported.

In bulk gases, Air Products and Air Liquide share the market lead with 28% share each. In specialty gases, Air Products has a comfortable seven-point lead over Air Liquide, though each has more than a 20% share. Praxair, Linde, TNSC, and OCI round out the other global marketshare leaders.

The report discusses the global issues that are affecting the market dynamics and supply chain stability for He and anhydrous HCl. Other focus topics include SiH4, NF3, and WF6. The outlook for future gas usage as shaped by environmental concerns, legislative changes, and geopolitical issues is also discussed.

Many of the world’s 3D IC elite met last week at the 2nd annual Georgia Tech 2.5D Interposer Conference which focused on the technology and performance of silicon and glass interposers.

Matt Nowak of Qualcomm, long a 3D advocate, reported that Qualcomm has now built "thousands of parts" and does not see anything stopping high-volume manufacturing (HVM) except cost. Nowak indicates that Qualcomm will require a price of ~ $2 for a 200mm2 silicon interposer. The former is just out of the reach of those proposing "coarse" interposer fabrication, and the latter is significantly out of the pricing structure for dual damascene foundry-based fine interposers

Nagesh Vordharalli of Altera quoted an IMEC study which shows that the sweet spot for maximum bandwidth will come from interposers with RDL lines/spaces ~ 3

STATS ChipPAC Ltd. plans to expand its semiconductor assembly and test operation in South Korea. The Company has signed a non-binding memorandum of understanding to invest in a new integrated facility in the Incheon Free Economic Zone, an international business district located in the Incheon metropolitan area that is adjacent to Seoul, South Korea.

The integrated facility will include approximately 95,000 square meters (1 million square feet) of land with options for future expansion. The integrated facility will be used for manufacturing, research and development, and administration. Construction is scheduled to begin in the third quarter of 2013 and the new facility is expected to be operational in the second half of 2015. STATS ChipPAC intends to integrate its existing facilities in South Korea into the new, larger facility to achieve a more efficient, cost effective manufacturing flow and provide flexibility for future expansion.

STATS ChipPAC Korea’s flip chip technology portfolio ranges from large single die fcBGA packages with passive components used for graphics, CPU and ASIC devices to smaller fcFBGA packages including single die, multi-die and stacked configurations that combine wire bond and flip chip technology within a single package.  In terms of 3D technology, STATS ChipPAC Korea provides advanced Package-on-Package (PoP), Package-in-Package (PiP) and System-in-Package (SiP) technologies that integrate one or more integrated circuits or passives into a single solution for mobile, digital consumer and data storage applications.

“We are excited to begin a new phase of expansion in South Korea with the opportunity to increase the level of manufacturing efficiency, capabilities and overall capacity for our customers,” said Sang-Jin Maeng, Managing Director, STATS ChipPAC Korea. “We believe our strategic partnership with Incheon International Airport Corporation (IIAC) will facilitate our future growth in South Korea due to the exceptional business infrastructure in Yeongjongdo and close proximity to Incheon International Airport for accessibility and efficient supply chain logistics.”

November 16, 2012 – The latest monthly numbers are in for semiconductor manufacturing equipment demand, and they’re not pretty: lows in both orders and sales not seen since the last major downcycle three years ago, and the short-term comparisons continue to widen.

North America-based manufacturers of semiconductor manufacturing equipment reported bookings (orders) of just $743.2M in October, down -18% from September and roughly -20% from a year ago. Billings (sales) came in at $986.5M, off by -15% M/M and nearly -22% Y/Y. (Both are three-month moving averages.) SEMI also revised downward its September data: Bookings lowered to $912.8M (they had been $952.9M), and billings down to $1164.4M (vs. $1177.4M). The book-to-bill (B:B) came in at an anemic 0.75, meaning that $75 worth of orders came in for every $100 shipped out. (A B:B above 1.0 would indicate a good sign of more business coming in; a number below 1.0 means the opposite, and a number substantially below 1.0 and sinking for a while, well…)

Here are some chilling metrics to illustrate just how sour the market for chip tools has become as we head to the finish line of 2012. (All data is compiled from SEMI’s historical tallies dating from Jan. 1991)

  • Bookings are at their lowest point since October 2009. Billings haven’t been this low since January 2010. Since peaking in May, equipment bookings have been slashed by half (-54%) and sales are off by more than a third (-36%).

  • For the ten months through October, equipment orders were tracking down -8.5% from the same period in 2011 to $12.6B, and sales were down -15.7% at $13.3B.

  • Bookings have declined by double-digits for five consecutive months (-11% to -18%), which hasn’t happened since the grand old days of December 2000-April 2001. Except for a single month of mathematically zero growth (April), bookings have declined Y/Y for 16 out of the past 17 months. (This might say more about the industry’s reliably brutal cyclicality than current malaise; May 2011 was the end of a 19-month period in the black, which was preceded by a 29-month trip through the doldrums.)

  • The B:B ratio has been in freefall since April when it was well above the parity level (1.12) — that’s six straight months of decline, which according to SEMI’s data hasn’t happened since late 2010. (We’ve had several five-month slides in the past two years.)

Denny McGuirk, president and CEO of SEMI, labeled the environment for semiconductor industry investments as "muted" entering the final quarter of 2012, though he stated that "investments in leading-edge technologies will continue to drive spending in the near-term." The outlook for 2013 will clear up shortly as chipmakers crystallize their 2013 capex plans, he added. (Note that with about six weeks remaining, any lack of clarity into 2013 planning doesn’t exactly inspire confidence.)

SEMI will present its updated consensus forecast in conjunction with SEMICON Japan on Tuesday Dec 4 (technically it’ll be 11am local time, which is the wee hours late Monday/early Tuesday morning here in the US). One can reasonably expect some drastically different numbers from its current official forecast, issued at SEMICON West in July, which predicted an overall -2.6% decline for the year in global frontend + backend equipment. Hopefully there will be some improved clarity in these coming weeks.

Rolla, MO-based Brewer Science introduced a line of conductive CNT ink materials that are surfactant free, require no additional rinse steps, and are compatible with a broad range of printed electronic substrates. Cure temperatures for desired conductivity results are between 115°C and 130°C. Inks with high concentrations of CNTs in low-viscosity solutions are available in aqueous and solvent-based systems, giving them broad compatibility and enabling the design of inks for a broad set of application technologies such as sensors, displays, and packaging integration. Formulations are available for Optomec’s Aerosol Jet® technology systems, Fujifilm Dimatix’s materials printer DMP-2800, spray coating, and drawdown bar coating. 

These CNT inks have achieved sheet resistance of 300 ohm/sq for 85%T (optical transmission) at 550 nm for transparent conductive applications.  For conductive trace applications, sheet resistance of 1 ohm/sq and conductivity of 75,000 siemens/meter have been achieved.  Films produced with these inks on polyethylene terephthalate (PET) have demonstrated both high adhesion and mechanical flexibility. Both adhesion and conductivity remain stable after repeated folding of the CNT-coated PET.

“This robust performance will enable flexible printed electronic device applications,” “These solutions contain no surfactants and require no additional post-process rinsing, which will speed commercial adoption by eliminating the cost of the extra rinse process steps and preventing generation of a CNT-contaminated waste stream,” said Jim Lamb, Director of Brewer Science’s Printed Electronics Technology Center. “Although we designed these materials for plastic printed electronics applications, they are also compatible with a wide range of substrates such as paper, glass, silicon, and metal.”

Materials are developed by Brewer Science’s Printed Electronics Technology Center as part of its CNT materials, applications, and device prototyping services at the Jordan Valley Innovation Center in Springfield, Missouri. “Brewer Science is focused on bringing the unique properties of CNTs for commercial electronics applications to customers in the next three to five years,” added Lamb.

 

ATMI Inc. has introduced the eVOLV process and system that represents a sustainable solution for recycling electronic waste (e-waste). The safe, cost-effective process is fully automated and uses energy-efficient methods in a scalable, closed-loop system to recover metal resources from electronic circuit boards.

ATMI’s  news came on the second day of the e-Waste Management Summit  in Las Vegas, NV, as part of a panel discussion that included executive director of the Basel Action Network and toxic trade activist Jim Puckett and ATMI’s senior director of sustainable technologies, Dr. Michael Korzenski.

Following green chemistry development principles, the eVOLV process and system was designed as a chemical-based, non-toxic approach that is environmentally benign. It would comply with government guidelines to be free from the restrictions and hazards of traditional "dirty" approaches.

The process includes de-soldering, component/chip recovery, and metal reclaim, with 99% of most metals extracted, and at 99% purity. These metals, which include gold, silver, copper, palladium, lead, and tin, can be recovered and redeployed significantly faster and safer than in most other processes and can re-enter the supply chain as "process-ready" materials.

The amount of e-waste being generated continues to be a growing global concern. According to industry sources, more than 50 million metric tons of e-waste is generated per year, with approximately 72 million metric tons projected by 2014. Much of it ends up in developing countries, where toxic and dangerous processes are being utilized to recover precious metals and components.

The eVOLV chemistries were designed using the 12 principles of Green Chemistry, an approach developed and advocated by the Warner Babcock Institute of Green Chemistry.

While representing less than 2% of the mass in U.S. landfills today, e-waste accounts for 70% of the heavy metals. Approximately 5% of e-waste by weight consists of PWBs and, while some are repaired and resold, most are shipped to destinations outside the U.S. for disposal. Those with high metal value are sold to overseas smelters. Those with low value are sent to Asia or Africa where the chips are manually de-soldered and the trace precious metals are collected either by dangerous open-burning or from chemical leaching using highly toxic chemicals such as hot aqua regia and cyanide–processes that have adverse environmental and personal health implications.

While environmentally impactful, there is also a commercial advantage in recycling. For example, the resource recovery available from recycling one ton of used mobile phones, around 6,000 handsets, is about 3.5 kg of silver, 340 g of gold, 140 g of palladium, and 130 kg of copper. The combined value is just over $25,000, which equates to around $4.2 billion annually. What’s more, one metric ton of e-waste from personal computers contains more gold than that recovered from 17 tons of gold ore.

ATMI is currently processing waste circuit boards at its Danbury, CT, headquarters using the eVOLV system. For more information, end an email to [email protected] or go to www.atmi-evolv.com.

In prep for Semicon Japan in December, Advantest announces three new tools: 2 SEMs and a litho system. These are the wafer MVM-SEM tool E3310, mask defect review SEM E5610, and the F7000 EB lithography system for the 1x nm node.

MVM-SEM tool E3310

The multi-vision metrology scanning electron microscope, MVM-SEM E3310, measures fine-pitch patterns on a wide range of wafer types and uses Advantest’s proprietary electron beam-scanning technology.

The E3310’s multi-detector configuration allows it to achieve stable, highly accurate measurements at the 1x nm node. Its proprietary detection algorithm enables measurement of 3D FinFET architectures that are in the process of full-scale adoption by the semiconductor industry.

The E3310 performs fully automatic measurements even at high SEM magnification, thanks to its high-accuracy stage, charge control function, and contamination reduction technology. Silicon wafers, along with AlTiC, quartz, and silicon carbide wafers, among others, are supported in sizes from 150mm to 300mm, depending on type.

Mask defect review SEM E5610

The mask DR-SEM E5610 reviews and classifies ultra-small defects in photomask blanks. The E5610 inherits the highly stable, fully automatic image capture technology developed by Advantest for its multi-vision metrology SEM for photomasks and features a newly developed beam-tilt mechanism that enables scanning at oblique angles.

Its proprietary column architecture delivers spatial resolution down to 2nm, even at the low acceleration voltages appropriate for photomask screening. The E5610 also features an electrically controlled tilt module that allows its beam to tilt by up to 15 degrees for performing 3D defect reviews. The E5610 is compatible with mainstream mask inspection systems: the tool imports defect location data and automatically images the locations.

EB lithography system for 1x nm node F7000

This new F7000 electron beam lithography system supports substrates of diverse materials, sizes, and shapes, including nanoimprint templates, as well as wafers, and is optimized for diverse applications such as advanced LSIs, photonics, MEMS, and other nanoprocesses.

The F7000 offers the company’s EB technology in a system capable of writing patterns as fine as 1x nm. The system also supports template fabrication for nanoimprint lithography. Advantest has developed a new column technology—key to electron beam writing accuracy—for meeting the needs of semiconductor R&D at the 1x nm node. 

The F7000’s adjuster function enables it to write to diverse sizes of wafer, glass substrates, and square substrates. Moreover, simply by switching adjusters, the system can support silicon, gallium arsenide, and substrates of other materials, utilizing separate adjusters for each material to avoid contamination.

The systems will be featured in Advantest’s exhibit (booth #3D-803 in Hall 3) at the Semicon Japan trade show, December 5-7, in Makuhari Messe in the Chiba prefecture.