Category Archives: Metrology

A frequency comb source is a light source with a spectrum containing thousands of laser lines. The development of these sources has been revolutionary for fundamental science. It has allowed the construction of a link between the optical part of the electromagnetic spectrum and the radio frequency part. As such, it has allowed researchers to determine optical frequencies with an unprecedented precision. Amongst others, frequency comb light sources have been used in optical clocks enabling precise time keeping. The enormous impact of frequency comb light sources on science was highlighted in 2005, when the Nobel Prize for physics was awarded to Prof. T. Haensch and Prof J. Hall for their work on optical frequency metrology using frequency combs.

Lately, frequency combs have been used to target more real life applications. In several experiments, it has been shown that the specific properties of the sources can be used to do fast, high-resolution spectroscopy over a broad spectrum. However, traditional comb sources are not at the right wavelength spectrum for doing spectroscopy.

Ghent University, imec, the Max Planck Institute for Quantum Optics in Garching and the Auckland University in New Zealand have developed mid-infrared frequency combs, working in the mid-infrared molecular fingerprinting region of the electromagnetic spectrum. In this wavelength region, many molecules have specific absorption bands that can be used in spectroscopy to determine the presence and concentration of these molecules in samples. The researchers successfully realized the broad frequency combs, by combining the strong light-matter interaction in silicon with its broad transparency window. By fabricating so-called nanowire silicon photonics waveguides to confine the light in a very small area waveguide, they further enhanced the strong light-matter interaction allowing them to broaden the spectrum of the frequency combs into the mid-infrared. The achievements were possible through the use of a unique pump laser source, previously developed by ICFO, Spain. The results are an important step towards a small-footprint chip scale mid-infrared frequency comb source. Such sources could act as sensitive cheap gas sensors in the mid-infrared. These would be important for example for environmental monitoring for measuring air-pollution or in medical diagnostics as a cheap tool to do breath analysis. It is worth noting that the reported work has been the result of collaboration between three grants of the European Research Council (ERC), i.e. Multicomb, Miracle and InSpectra.

Applied Materials, Inc. today announced it has been recognized as a 2015 World’s Most Ethical Company by the Ethisphere Institute.

“Applied Materials’ reputation as a trusted business partner is one of our most valuable assets,” said Chad Fentress, vice president, Global Ethics and Compliance at Applied Materials. “I am proud of our employees for doing business the right way, every day and I look forward to upholding our strong tradition of ethical conduct in the future.”

This is the fourth consecutive year Applied Materials has received the annual award, which recognizes organizations that foster a culture of ethics and transparency at every level of the company.

“The World’s Most Ethical Companies embrace the correlation between ethical business practice and improved company performance. These companies use ethics as a means to further define their industry leadership and understand that creating an ethical culture and earning the World’s Most Ethical Companies recognition involves more than just an outward facing message or a handful of senior executives saying the right thing,” said Ethisphere’s CEO, Timothy Erblich. “Earning this recognition involves the collective action of a global workforce from the top down. We congratulate everyone at Applied Materials for this extraordinary achievement.”

Now in its ninth year, the World’s Most Ethical Company assessment is based upon the Ethisphere Institute’s Ethics Quotient(TM) (EQ) framework developed over years of research to provide a means to assess an organization’s performance in an objective, consistent and standardized way.

CEA-Leti today announced the launch of its Silicon Impulse IC design competence center, a comprehensive IC technology platform offering IC design, advanced intellectual property, emulator and test services along with industrial multi-project wafer (MPW) shuttles.

Silicon Impulse provides immediate access to Leti’s and CEA-List’s advanced IC technologies and systems expertise. It also leverages Leti’s extensive experience in technology transfer. Collaboration between Leti and List experts and ecosystem partners aims to shorten time to market from idea to production. This process includes prototyping and pre-production runs utilizing Leti’s advanced industrial infrastructure from concept to production hand-off.

Silicon Impulse offers its partners the full range of Leti and List’s expertise in analog, RF, digital and memory design and hardware/software-integrated solutions at the technology node that most cost-effectively meets their needs. The IC competence center combines Leti’s large portfolio of leading-edge technologies and novel low-power design solutions with a unique service for speeding integration of Fully Depleted Silicon-on-Insulator (FD-SOI) and many other more advanced technologies (ReRAM, MEMS, 3DVLSI, Silicon Photonics), enabling heterogeneous low-power co-integration. These services are targeted to enable the rapidly emerging third-generation information-acquisition and processing devices that are key to the Internet of Things (IoT).

“Pervasive wireless networking and groundbreaking low-power technologies are critical to the widespread adoption of the Internet of Things, because they improve the performance of portable devices and their network infrastructure,” said Leti CEO Marie–Noëlle Semeria. “With Silicon Impulse’s one-stop-shop platform, 28nm FD-SOI heterogeneous, low-power design becomes a reality for the IoT community. Silicon Impulse helps Leti’s partners introduce innovative products that deliver optimal performance for these applications, and benefit from the most advanced technologies.”

Silicon Impulse, in cooperation with a rich network of ecosystem partners, is set up to develop, produce and integrate innovative customized or standard systems that exploit advanced technologies for all of Leti’s industrial partners.

Specific features of the offer include:

  • Leti’s pool of expertise in advanced IC design and low-power technologies
  • Leading-edge IC technologies for application-oriented device, circuit and system solutions
  • Regularly scheduled MPW shuttles for silicon prototyping and small-volume runs
  • An established high-tech supply chain to accelerate production ramp-up and hand-off
  • Customized collaboration to fit partner needs

Leti’s experts will collaborate with partners from the feasibility-study stage through device design, prototyping, testing and production ramp up. The wide range of IC technologies available in the platform is further augmented by List’s comprehensive embedded software solutions.

Leti will showcase its new Silicon Impulse platform at major industry events this year: DATE, Silicon Impulse workshop during VLSI-DAT, DAC, LetiDays Grenoble, LetiDay San Francisco during SEMICON West, LetiDay Tokyo, Leti’s Devices Workshop at IEDM and SOI consortium events.

Boston Semi Equipment announced today that it has completed the move into their new corporate headquarters located at 4 Federal Street; Billerica, MA 01821. The new facility houses corporate functions as well as the Aetrium test handler business acquired in 2014 and relocated from Minnesota to Massachusetts.

“Our new facility gives us needed room for expansion to accommodate our continued growth,” commented Bryan Banish, Boston Semi Equipment President and CEO. “The transition of the Aetrium handler operations has gone smoothly and manufacturing has commenced in the Billerica facility.  Handler shipments will start this month.”

Boston Semi Equipment’s global organization of tester, handler and prober specialists provide the semiconductor industry a vendor-independent source for equipment and service. BSE is producing equipment configured to customer requirements; delivering complete test cell solutions across all tester platforms and providing exceptional service and support to keep ATE, handler and probe equipment at peak performance. The cost conscious nature of the semiconductor industry is an ideal match for Boston Semi Equipment’s business model.

Boston Semi Equipment LLC (BSE) provides equipment and services to semiconductor manufacturers and OSATs worldwide.

Mentor Graphics Corporation today announced that it has joined the Center for Power Electronics Systems (CPES) at Virginia Tech, the industry consortium dedicated to improving electrical power processing and distribution across various systems. CPES is focused on technologies and applications related to power electronic components: vehicular power conversion, power conversion technologies, power management, and renewable energy systems. CPES has a global reputation for advanced research in power electronics with 78 members who contribute and participate in the organization’s mission, including Toyota, GE, Fairchild, Cree, Rohm, and Mitsubishi.

Commenting on the recent MicReD Industrial Power Tester 1500A solution from Mentor, Professor G. Q. Lu, CPES affiliate faculty and professor in the departments of Materials Science and Engineering and Electrical and Computer Engineering, who has collaborated with Mentor Graphics, stated, “We expect Mentor’s ability to perform reliability testing of wide-bandgap SiC power electronics devices to be a unique resource for CPES, leveraging its proven technologies to advance the power and performance of semiconductors, IGBTs, MOSFETs and other devices in our industry. We welcome Mentor Graphics’ software contribution and combined expertise in semiconductor thermal simulation and measurement that benefit the development of reliable power electronics components and systems.”

Mentor Graphics membership supports expanded use of electronics thermal design simulation software and industry adoption of thermal characterization methods for power semiconductor lifetime prediction and thermal testing. Mentor Graphics is also donating simulation software including market-leading FloTHERM and FloTHERM XT electronics thermal analysis software and FloEFD general purpose concurrent computational fluid dynamics (CFD) software.

“We are honored to be a member of CPES and our technologies are in perfect alignment with the organization’s mission,” stated Roland Feldhinkel, general manager of Mentor Graphics Mechanical Analysis Division. “The collaboration with the global member companies and researchers will provide tremendous gains for the power electronics systems industry and its customers, and we believe Mentor’s technology will be a valued contributor for these advancements.”

Intel Corporation today announced that 19 companies will receive the 2014 Intel Preferred Quality Supplier (PQS) award that recognizes commitment to performance excellence and continuous improvement. These companies achieve PQS status by demonstrating industry-leading commitment across all key performance focus areas: quality, cost, availability, technology, customer service, labor and ethics systems, and environmental sustainability.

In addition to the PQS award, Intel recognized two suppliers with the Supplier Achievement Award, which is a focused recognition for extraordinary accomplishments in one or more key performance areas. This year’s winners were acknowledged for exceptional results delivering leading-edge technology solutions and excellence in product availability to meet Intel’s evolving needs as an industry leader. The 2014 PQS and Achievement winners will be honored at a ceremony tonight in Santa Clara, California.

“Intel is excited to acknowledge our Preferred Quality Suppliers for their outstanding performance in 2014 to deliver industry-leading technology with world-class cost, velocity and sustainability,” said Robert Bruck, vice president and general manager of Global Supply Management at Intel. “The innovation and cooperation of these suppliers remains one of the crucial factors in enabling Intel to extend our industry-leading silicon, packaging and test technologies, to enhance value to our customers.”

“2014 was a really pivotal year when our efforts to ramp new technologies and innovative products culminated in achieving positive momentum across all product categories,” added Jacklyn Sturm, vice president, Technology and Manufacturing Group and general manager of Global Supply Management at Intel. “ We could not have done this without Intel’s Preferred Quality Supplier Award winners working alongside us, tackling complex technical and supply chain challenges with market speed, with innovative solutions and sometimes, just exceptionally hard, flawless execution. Thank you for your unfaltering support toward your customer’s success.”

The PQS award is part of Intel’s Supplier Continuous Quality Improvement (SCQI) program that encourages suppliers to innovate and continually improve. To qualify for PQS status, suppliers must exceed high expectations and uncompromising performance goals while scoring at least 80 percent on an integrated report card that assesses performance throughout the year. Suppliers must also achieve 80 percent or greater on a challenging continuous improvement plan and demonstrate solid quality and business systems.

The PQS winners provide Intel with the following products or services:

  • Amkor Technology Inc.*: wafer probe, wafer bump, assembly, final testing services
  • Applied Materials Inc*: wafer fab capital equipment, mask capital equipment, fab automation software and services
  • ASML*: semiconductor lithography equipment
  • Daifuku*: automated material handling systems
  • Entegris Inc.*: contamination control, critical materials handling and advanced process materials
  • Fujifilm Electronic Materials*: process and formulated chemicals, developers, slurry, precursors and resist
  • Fujimi Corporation*: chemical mechanical planarization and silicon polishing slurries
  • Mitsubishi Gas Chemical Company Inc.*: high purity peroxide and custom back end cleans
  • ModusLink Global Solutions Inc.*: channel box CPU for Penang, Shanghai, Miami and finished goods warehouse distribution for Miami
  • Murata Machinery Ltd.*: automated material handling systems, hoist vehicles and stockers
  • Nikon Corporation*: semiconductor lithography systems for technology development and high volume manufacturing
  • Shin Etsu Handotai Co. Ltd.*: silicon wafers
  • Shinko Electric Industries Co., Ltd.*: plastic laminated packages and heat spreaders
  • Siliconware Precision Industries Co. Ltd.*: semiconductor assembly and test services
  • Siltronic AG*: polished and epitaxial silicon wafers
  • Taiyo Yuden Co. Ltd.*: ceramic capacitors, inductors, and filters
  • Tokyo Electron Limited*: coater/developer, dry etch systems, wet etch systems, thermal processing systems, deposition systems and test systems
  • Tokyo Ohka Kogyo Co. Ltd*: high purity photo resists, developers, cleaning solutions and supporting chemistries
  • Veolia North America*: waste management services

The Supplier Achievement Award winners are:

  • ASM International*: front end equipment manufacturer (recognizing extraordinary results in leading-edge technology solutions)
  • GE Water and Process Technologies*: UPW & wastewater recycle/reuse equipment and services (recognizing extraordinary results in product availability)

By Shannon Davis, Web Editor

Chipmaker NXP Semiconductors NV announced Sunday night that it has agreed to buy Freescale Semiconductor Ltd for $11.8 billion and merge business operations. The combined enterprise values at just over $40 billion and will create a new leader in the auto and industrial semiconductor markets.

“Financially, this deal makes sense. By being bigger, you limit the impact of the product cycles and volatile end markets,” said RBC analyst Doug Freedman.

NXP and Freescale shares were trading about 16 and 11 percent higher, respectively, on Monday morning, reflecting investors’ confidence in the deal. NXP anticipates achieving cost savings of $200 million in the first full year after closing the transaction, with a clear path to $500 million of annual cost synergies. Freescale shareholders will receive $6.25 in cash and 0.3521 of an NXP ordinary share for each Freescale common share held at the close of the transaction.

This deal is the fourth semiconductor merger and acquisition so far this year, and it will be the biggest of these by far.

Last month, Avago Technologies agreed to would buy wireless networking company Emulex Corp for more than $600 million, while MaxLinear said it would buy Entropic Communications Inc for $287 million. In January, Lattice Semiconductor announced the acquisition of Silicon Image for $600 million.

Freescale was originally created as a division of Motorola in 1948, which would become one of the world’s first semiconductor businesses. Freescale would eventually leave Motorola in 2004, to be acquired in 2006 by Blackstone Group LP, Carlyle Group LP, TPG and Permira. Now based out of Austin, Texas, Freescale currently operates in more than 25 countries, while generating net sales of $4.6 billion in 2014.

NXP is based in Eindhoven, the Netherlands and has operation in more than 25 countries, generating revenue of $5.7 billion in 2014.

“In the short-term, we will continue to benefit with the secular trend of increasing semiconductor content in auto market. The trend has a positive effect on both companies’ portfolio of products. Longer term, the merged company is superbly positioned to become the thought leader in the merging areas of secure cars and Advanced Driver Assistance Systems to facilitate smarter driving,” NXP said on a Monday investor call.

The transaction is expected to close the second half of the 2015 calendar year, after which Freescale shareholders will own approximately 32 percent of the combined company.

Credit Suisse acted as financial adviser to NXP, while Morgan Stanley advised Freescale.

More than any other industry, the semiconductor business is defined by rapid technological change.  As a result, a constant and high level of investment in R&D is essential to the competitive positions of semiconductor suppliers.

Figure 1 shows IC Insights’ 2014 ranking of semiconductor companies by R&D spending. Among the top 10 R&D spenders in 2014, five were based in the U.S., three from the Asia-Pacific region, and Japan and Europe each had one company represented.  The list includes five IDMs, four fabless suppliers, and foundry operator TSMC.

Intel topped all chip companies in R&D spending in 2014, accounting for 36% of the top-10 spending and 21 percent of the $56.0 billion in total worldwide semiconductor R&D expenditures.  The industry’s two largest IDMs—Intel and Samsung—continue to emphasize internal production capacity for advanced ICs in leading-edge wafer fabs. Consequently, spending on R&D programs at the two IC giants has kept growing, but at different rates in recent years.  This is partly due to Samsung’s ability to hold down some costs by participating in IBM’s Common Platform joint development alliance, which also includes GlobalFoundries as an R&D partner.

Fabless IC supplier Qualcomm kept pace with Intel to remain the second-largest spender, a position it first achieved in 2012.  Qualcomm showed the largest percentage increase among the top 10 suppliers with a 62 percent boost in its R&D spending in 2014.  Fabless suppliers Nvidia, Qualcomm, and Broadcom had the highest R&D spending as a percent of sales ratios in 2014 at 31.3 percent, 28.5 percent, and 28.2 percent, respectively.  Broadcom’s spending in 2014 declined for the first time since 2003, while Nvidia’s 2014 spending increased just three percent, but both companies have consistently spent in the range of 30 percent of revenue on R&D the past several years.

top RD semi

 

TSMC’s 15 percent R&D spending increase in 2014, along with a decline in spending at Toshiba and ST, moved the company up two slots to number 5 in the ranking. As a result of the growing number of IC manufacturers adopting the fab-lite business model or becoming completely fabless, TSMC joined the group of top-10 R&D spenders for the first time in 2010.  Micron and MediaTek also moved up in the ranking.  MediaTek became a top-10 spender following its acquisition of fellow Taiwanese fabless supplier MStar in early 2014 (the ranking shows the combined results of MediaTek and MStar).

Five other IC companies had R&D spending of at least $1.0 billion in 2014 but did not make the top 10 ranking. These included Texas Instruments, $1.36 billion; SK Hynix, $1.33 billion; Marvell, $1.18 billion; AMD, $1.06 billion; and Avago, $1.00 billion.

Additional details on semiconductor R&D spending and other technology trends within the IC industry are provided within the IC industry are provided in The McClean Report—A Complete Analysis and Forecast of the Integrated Circuit Industry (released in January 2015), which features more than 400 tables and graphs in the main report alone.

AG Semiconductor Services, LLC (AGSS), one of the largest suppliers of used electronics manufacturing equipment, is pleased to announce that it has entered into a strategic relationship with JA Mitsui Leasing, Ltd. (JAML). As part of the relationship, JAML made a significant financial investment in AGSS, and JAML and AGSS together purchased a substantial portfolio of used semiconductor manufacturing equipment.

“Over the past several years, AGSS has undertaken a number of initiatives to strengthen and grow its business, including (a) a significant expansion of sales and support personnel in 2012 in connection with an engagement to remarket a substantial portfolio of equipment; (b) implementation of a robust CRM software system to support quoting, sales and inventory management activities, and (c) development of strategic relationships with key OEMs and third-party suppliers,” said Albert Vasquez, a managing director at AGSS. “The new relationship with JAML further expands our capabilities by enabling AGSS to offer low cost financing options to credit-worthy customers.”

AGSS continues to purchase and sell surplus semiconductor manufacturing equipment, while also providing customers with turnkey services such as refurbishment, reconfiguration, installation and warranty. Through its comprehensive support infrastructure, AGSS also continues to offer inventory management, market metrics and compliance control.

“JAML and AGSS are both committed to growing our businesses in the semiconductor industry. We are particularly excited about our new relationship because AGSS’s extensive data on used equipment values and its proven remarketing capabilities will enable JAML to give maximum credit to residual equipment values, which in turn will enable JAML to offer extremely competitive financing options,” said Kiyoshi Doi, general manager of the Global Electronics Department of JAML. “We look forward to working with existing and new AGSS customers to help meet their financing needs.”

At the SPIE Advanced Lithography conference in San Jose, Calif., Applied Materials, Inc., today announced the industry’s first in-line 3D CD SEM metrology tool for solving the challenges of measuring the high aspect ratio and complex features of 3D NAND and FinFET devices. The new Applied VeritySEM 5i system offers state-of-the-art high-resolution imaging and backscattered electron (BSE) technology that enable exceptional CD control in-line. Using the VeritySEM 5i system can speed up chipmakers’ process development and production ramp, and improve device performance and yield in high-volume production.

“Complex 3D structures require new measurement dimensions, increasing the demands placed on metrology technologies,” said Itai Rosenfeld, corporate vice president and general manager of Applied’s Process Diagnostics and Control group. “Continuing to rely on traditional CD SEM techniques to measure 3D devices is virtually impossible. Offering imaging innovations based on Applied’s expertise in advanced e-beam technology and image processing for fast, accurate on-device CD SEM metrology, allows our customers to see, measure and control their 3D device during R&D, ramp and volume production. Multiple customers using the tool are already benefiting from better yields with these new 3D devices. This system should continue to set the benchmark for the industry as chipmakers require new precision materials engineering capabilities to transition to 3D architectures and scale beyond the 10nm node.”

Innovations in metrology precision are needed to improve device performance, reduce variability and boost yields of increasingly intricate high-performance, high-density 3D devices. An advanced high-resolution SEM column, tilted beam and BSE imaging give the VeritySEM 5i system its unique 3D metrology capability to measure and monitor the most vital and challenging FinFET and 3D NAND structures in-line. Specifically, BSE imaging for via-in-trench bottom CD enables chipmakers to ensure connectivity between underlying and overlaying metal layers. For controlling FinFET sidewall, as well as gate and fin height, where the smallest variation impacts device performance and yield, the VeritySEM 5i tool’s tilt-beam provides exact, repeatable in-line measurements. High-resolution BSE imaging enables continued vertical scaling through enhanced sensitivity for measuring the asymmetrical sidewall and bottom CDs of 3D NAND devices with very high aspect ratios reaching up to 60:1 and beyond.

Applied Materials, Inc. (Nasdaq:AMAT) is the global leader in precision materials engineering solutions for the semiconductor, flat panel display and solar photovoltaic industries. Our technologies help make innovations like smartphones, flat screen TVs and solar panels more affordable and accessible to consumers and businesses around the world. Learn more at www.appliedmaterials.com.