Category Archives: Wafer Processing

A current area of intense interest in nanotechnology is van der Waals heterostructures, which are assemblies of atomically thin two-dimensional (2D) crystalline materials that display attractive conduction properties for use in advanced electronic devices.

A representative 2D semiconductor is graphene, which consists of a honeycomb lattice of carbon atoms that is just one atom thick. The development of van der Waals heterostructures has been restricted by the complicated and time-consuming manual operations required to produce them. That is, the 2D crystals typically obtained by exfoliation of a bulk material need to be manually identified, collected, and then stacked by a researcher to form a van der Waals heterostructure. Such a manual process is clearly unsuitable for industrial production of electronic devices containing van der Waals heterostructures

Now, a Japanese research team led by the Institute of Industrial Science at The University of Tokyo has solved this issue by developing an automated robot that greatly speeds up the collection of 2D crystals and their assembly to form van der Waals heterostructures. The robot consists of an automated high-speed optical microscope that detects crystals, the positions and parameters of which are then recorded in a computer database. Customized software is used to design heterostructures using the information in the database. The heterostructure is then assembled layer by layer by a robotic equipment directed by the designed computer algorithm. The findings were reported in Nature Communications.

Robot developed for automated assembly of designer nanomaterials. Credit: 2018 SATORU MASUBUCHI, INSTITUTE OF INDUSTRIAL SCIENCE, THE UNIVERSITY OF TOKYO

Robot developed for automated assembly of designer nanomaterials. Credit: 2018 SATORU MASUBUCHI, INSTITUTE OF INDUSTRIAL SCIENCE, THE UNIVERSITY OF TOKYO

“The robot can find, collect, and assemble 2D crystals in a glove box,” study first author Satoru Masubuchi says. “It can detect 400 graphene flakes an hour, which is much faster than the rate achieved by manual operations.”

When the robot was used to assemble graphene flakes into van der Waals heterostructures, it could stack up to four layers an hour with just a few minutes of human input required for each layer. The robot was used to produce a van der Waals heterostructure consisting of 29 alternating layers of graphene and hexagonal boron nitride (another common 2D semiconductor). The record layer number of a van der Waals heterostructure produced by manual operations is 13, so the robot has greatly increased our ability to access complex van der Waals heterostructures.

“A wide range of materials can be collected and assembled using our robot,” co-author Tomoki Machida explains. “This system provides the potential to fully explore van der Waals heterostructures.”

The development of this robot will greatly facilitate production of van der Waals heterostructures and their use in electronic devices, taking us a step closer to realizing devices containing atomic-level designer materials.

Physicists at the University of Warwick have today, Thursday 19th April 2018, published new research in the fournal Science today 19th April 2018 (via the Journal’s First Release pages) that could literally squeeze more power out of solar cells by physically deforming each of the crystals in the semiconductors used by photovoltaic cells.

This is an artists impression of squeezing more power out of solar cells by physically deforming each of the crystals in the semiconductors used by photovoltaic cells. Credit: University of Warwick/Mark Garlick

This is an artists impression of squeezing more power out of solar cells by physically deforming each of the crystals in the semiconductors used by photovoltaic cells. Credit: University of Warwick/Mark Garlick

The paper entitled the “Flexo-Photovoltaic Effect” was written by Professor Marin Alexe, Ming-Min Yang, and Dong Jik Kim who are all based in the University of Warwick’s Department of Physics.

The Warwick researchers looked at the physical constraints on the current design of most commercial solar cells which place an absolute limit on their efficiency. Most commercial solar cells are formed of two layers creating at their boundary a junction between two kinds of semiconductors, p-type with positive charge carriers (holes which can be filled by electrons) and n-type with negative charge carriers (electrons).

When light is absorbed, the junction of the two semiconductors sustains an internal field splitting the photo-excited carriers in opposite directions, generating a current and voltage across the junction. Without such junctions the energy cannot be harvested and the photo-exited carriers will simply quickly recombine eliminating any electrical charge.

That junction between the two semiconductors is fundamental to getting power out of such a solar cell but it comes with an efficiency limit. This Shockley-Queisser Limit means that of all the power contained in sunlight falling on an ideal solar cell in ideal conditions only a maximum of 33.7% can ever be turned into electricity.

There is however another way that some materials can collect charges produced by the photons of the sun or from elsewhere. The bulk photovoltaic effect occurs in certain semiconductors and insulators where their lack of perfect symmetry around their central point (their non-centrosymmetric structure) allows generation of voltage that can be actually larger than the band gap of that material (the band gap being the gap between the valence band highest range of electron energies in which electrons are normally present at absolute zero temperature and the conduction band where electricity can flow).

Unfortunately the materials that are known to exhibit the anomalous photovoltaic effect have very low power generation efficiencies, and are never used in practical power-generation systems.

The Warwick team wondered if it was possible to take the semiconductors that are effective in commercial solar cells and manipulate or push them in some way so that they too could be forced into a non-centrosymmetric structure and possibly therefore also benefit from the bulk photovoltaic effect.

For this paper they decided to try literally pushing such semiconductors into shape using conductive tips from atomic force microscopy devices to a “nano-indenter” which they then used to squeeze and deform individual crystals of Strontium Titanate (SrTiO3), Titanium Dioxide (TiO2), and Silicon (Si).

They found that all three could be deformed in this way to also give them a non-centrosymmetric structure and that they were indeed then able to give the bulk photovoltaic effect.

Professor Marin Alexe from the University of Warwick said:

“Extending the range of materials that can benefit from the bulk photovoltaic effect has several advantages: it is not necessary to form any kind of junction; any semiconductor with better light absorption can be selected for solar cells, and finally, the ultimate thermodynamic limit of the power conversion efficiency, so-called Shockley-Queisser Limit, can be overcome. There are engineering challenges but it should be possible to create solar cells where a field of simple glass based tips (a hundred million per cm2) could be held in tension to sufficiently de-form each semiconductor crystal. If such future engineering could add even a single percentage point of efficiency it would be of immense commercial value to solar cell manufacturers and power suppliers.”

A chemical reactor that operates at extremely high temperatures is being developed by KAUST and could improve the efficiency and economy of a commonly used process in the semiconductor industry, with flow-on benefits for Saudi Arabia’s chemical industry.

The production of semiconductors relies on epitaxy: a process that creates high-quality single-crystal materials by depositing atoms on to a wafer layer by layer, controlling thickness with atomic precision.

The most common method of epitaxy is metalorganic chemical vapor deposition, or MOCVD. Pure vapors of organic molecules containing the desired atoms–for example, boron and nitrogen in the case of boron nitride–are injected into a reaction chamber. The molecules decompose on a heated wafer to leave the semiconductor’s atoms behind on the surface, which bond both to each other and the wafer to form a crystal layer.

Ph.D. student Kuang-Hui Li and a team led by Xiaohang Li at KAUST are developing an MOCVD reactor that can efficiently operate at extremely high temperatures to create high-quality boron nitride and aluminum nitride materials and devices particularly promising for flexible electronics, ultraviolet optoelectronics and power electronics.

The epitaxy of high-quality boron nitride and aluminum nitride have been a huge challenge for the conventional MOCVD process, which usually operates below 1200 degrees Celsius. Epitaxy of these materials responds best to temperatures over 1600 degrees Celsius; however, the most common resistant heaters are not reliable at these temperatures.

Although induction heaters can reach these temperatures, the heating efficiency of the conventional design is low. Because the wasted energy can overheat the gas inlet, it must be placed far away from the wafer, which is problematic for high-quality boron nitride and aluminum nitride due to particle generation and low utilization of organic molecules.

The KAUST team has developed an innovative and low-cost induction heating structure to solve these problems. “Our design can help greatly improve uniformity for up to 12-inch wafers and reduce particle generation, which is crucial for high-quality material and device fabrication,” says Kuang-Hui. “It also allows us to discover new materials.”

The results show significant increase in heating efficiency and reduction in wasted energy. “This equipment research involves many disciplines and is highly complex. However, history has shown that equipment innovation is the key to scientific breakthroughs and industrial revolution,” says Xiaohang Li. “A goal of the research is to set up MOCVD manufacturing activities that can be integrated into the huge chemical industry of Saudi Arabia.”

Boston Semi Equipment (BSE), a semiconductor test handler manufacturer and provider of test automation technical services, today announced it is a recipient of the 2017 Texas Instruments Supplier Excellence Award (SEA).  The SEA is TI’s highest level of supplier recognition.  Boston Semi Equipment is among an elite group of suppliers chosen by TI for their exemplary performance in the areas of Cost, Environmental & Social Responsibility, Technology, Responsiveness, Assurance of Supply, and Quality.

“The TI Supplier Excellence Award is public recognition of the focus and effort that Boston Semi Equipment commits to continually improving the performance of our company and the solutions we provide our customers.  We appreciate the opportunity to provide products and services to Texas Instruments, and it is an honor to be recognized by TI as an excellent supplier,” stated Colin P Scholefield, President.  “I am proud of the performance of the Boston Semi Equipment team.”

Getting better by design


April 18, 2018

By Ajit Manocha, President and CEO of SEMI

Mantra by Design

SEMI’s mantra is: Connect, Collaborate, Innovate. This mantra has delivered industry-enabling value to our members since SEMI’s beginnings in 1970. It has been essential for SEMI members to grow and prosper locally, while being synchronized globally. As the electronics manufacturing business has become more complex and interdependent, SEMI’s mantra has increasingly been applied across the full span of electronics manufacturing.

With the IC industry now worth over $400 billion in annual revenue, developing a single new chip can cost hundreds of millions of dollars. Consequently, industry players now connect, collaborate, and innovate in new, but more often, deeper ways. This is especially true with IC design – what’s possible in chip design is only possible if the manufacturing processes can be developed as projected. It makes sense, as complexity grows and the stakes get higher, that design and manufacturing are closely linked and apply the SEMI mantra together.

Where Electronics Begin

“Where Electronics Begin” is the tagline of the Electronics System Design Alliance, or the ESD Alliance. It aptly distills the fact that all IC manufacturing begins with design – and the design ecosystem. This week, SEMI announced it reached an agreement with the ESD Alliance to join SEMI as a SEMI Strategic Association Partner. The ESD Alliance will become part of the SEMI organization in 2018. With the ESD Alliance and its community joining SEMI, its membership will complete the full electronics design and manufacturing span.

This is a momentous step forward. The ESD Alliance’s ecosystem is vital and thriving and includes the world’s leading EDA and IP companies. Within the ESD Alliance community, Aart de Geus (Synopsys), Wally Rhines (Mentor, a Siemens Company), Simon Segars (Arm), and Lip-Bu Tan (Cadence), among others, are already familiar figures, having brought their thought leadership to SEMI platforms in the past. Now they, and the rest of the ESD Alliance members, will be able to more directly work with semiconductor equipment manufacturers, devices makers, and the rest of SEMI’s membership.

At events like SEMICON China, which recently concluded in March and attracted over 90,000 attendees, SEMI and the ESD Alliance members will be able to efficiently connect and engage the supply chain players and find new areas for collaboration. As SEMI’s membership looks out towards new applications and systems opportunities, having both ecosystems together will find possibilities faster and innovate approaches more practically.

The ESD Alliance will maintain its distinct community identity and governance while having access to, and the ability to augment, SEMI’s global platforms including seven regional offices, programs and expositions (including SEMICONs), advocacy (including trade, tax, talent, and technology), industry research and statistics, and other SEMI Strategic Association Partner and technology communities.

SEMI will gain direct access to the electronics design ecosystems to provide a deeper and wider value – to its combined membership – with SEMI’s mantra. SEMI and its more than 2,000 corporate members and more than 1.2 million stakeholders look forward to connecting, collaborating, and innovating with the ESD Alliance and its members. SEMI’s global reach and wide span of membership with ESD Alliance’s deep expertise in design and IP is truly the best of both worlds for all stakeholders.

Connect:  Design & Manufacturing

SEMI’s members have been reaching into the electronics design ecosystem and the ESD Alliance members have been reaching into SEMI’s ecosystem to optimize design and manufacturing process for lowest cost and highest yield. This week’s announcement is a step forward to directly and more intimately connect electronics design and manufacturing for the supply chain to work more closely together in full synchronization.

 

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Collaborate: From Beginning to End in Electronics Applications

With the ESD Alliance joining SEMI as a Strategic Association Partner, SEMI members can better collaborate across the full supply chain. Gone are the days when it was enough to collaborate only with one’s direct customer. Today, for example, components and c-subs suppliers frequently collaborate not just with their OEM equipment manufacturer customers, but with device manufacturers – and even system integrators. To be successful, companies are striving for connection to their customers’ customers.

The ESD Alliance, with its design ecosystem and linkage to the fabless community, will join three existing SEMI Strategic Association Partners: Fab Owners Alliance (FOA), MEMS & Sensors Industry Group (MSIG), and FlexTech (the association representing the flexible hybrid electronics ecosystem). These relationships now cover the entire span of electronics manufacturing.

To provide focused collaboration across the full supply chain, SEMI has developed five vertical application platforms: IoT, Smart Manufacturing, Smart Transportation, Smart MedTech, and Smart Data. These have been chosen because of unique and pressing needs to synchronize the supply chain and to engage and develop solutions collectively.

Collaborate-image1

Innovate:  Faster Future

With the confluence of emerging digital disruptions and new demand drivers, forecasts suggest the IC industry could grow to over $1 trillion in annual revenue by 2030. To deliver this growth, the supply chain must efficiently innovate together. SEMI’s value proposition is to speed the time to better business results for its members across the global electronics (design and) manufacturing supply chain. The addition of the ESD Alliance as a Strategic Association Partner is a key contributor to deliver this value proposition for the industry to grow and prosper now and in the future.

Global-Semi-Sales

Originally published on the SEMI blog.

Edwards Vacuum, a manufacturer of vacuum and abatement solutions, following completion of the purchase of an eight-acre site located on NE Century Boulevard in Hillsboro, Ore., has begun the process of construction for a new Technology Innovation Center in Hillsboro. The land acquisition process was a collaborative effort between Edwards Vacuum and Avison Young.

The 75,000 square foot facility will serve as the U.K.-based company’s North American semiconductor headquarters. Edwards held a ground-breaking ceremony at the Century Boulevard site attended by company officials and local dignitaries, including Hillsboro City Mayor, Steve Callaway, and President of the Hillsboro Chamber of Commerce, Deanna Palm.

“Edwards has many options for global investment, and our community greatly appreciates Edwards and its commitment to Hillsboro,” stated Mayor Callaway. “As a city, we will continue to support Edwards employees when the new high-tech facility opens.”

Scott Balaguer, vice president & general manager, Semiconductor Division North America, stated, “Our state-of-the-art innovation center and manufacturing facility is strategically located close to some of our key accounts in the Pacific Northwest, and will enable us to work closely with them, as well as other customers in North America, on R&D and continuous improvement programs. This proximity will also enable us to provide rapid service & support, as well as serve as our regional training center.

Edwards has approximately 100 employees at its current Hillsboro locations, and with consolidation expects to double in size at the new facility, which is scheduled to open in Q2 2019.

“We are excited about opening our innovation center here in Hillsboro,” said Balaguer. “Edwards is fully committed to the Northwest Region, creating jobs and participating in the local growth, as environmentally conscious corporate stewards in the neighborhood. We anticipate continued expansion on site, as we plan to design & manufacture our integrated vacuum & abatement production solutions, as well as other world-class products in our portfolio.

Ed English, senior vice president at Avison Young, whose team worked closely with Edwards to lead the real estate strategy and implementation said, “This project spanned two years of due diligence, analysis, and negotiation that included the collaboration of half a dozen firms and experts. Edwards’ consistent mission throughout the process was made clear to all parties; they wanted to position the company to best serve their customers and support their growth.” English added, “Edwards originally planned to lease the facility, but ultimately chose to purchase it. They ‘put their money where their mouth is’, proving their definitive commitment to Hillsboro.”

Trapping light with an optical version of a whispering gallery, researchers at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) have developed a nanoscale coating for solar cells that enables them to absorb about 20 percent more sunlight than uncoated devices. The coating, applied with a technique that could be incorporated into manufacturing, opens a new path for developing low-cost, high-efficiency solar cells with abundant, renewable and environmentally friendly materials.

This is illustration shows the nanoresonator coating, consisting of thousands of tiny glass beads, deposited on solar cells. The coating enhances both the absorption of sunlight and the amount of current produced by the solar cells. Credit: K. Dill, D. Ha, G. Holland/NIST

This is illustration shows the nanoresonator coating, consisting of thousands of tiny glass beads, deposited on solar cells. The coating enhances both the absorption of sunlight and the amount of current produced by the solar cells. Credit: K. Dill, D. Ha, G. Holland/NIST

The coating consists of thousands of tiny glass beads, only about one-hundredth the width of a human hair. When sunlight hits the coating, the light waves are steered around the nanoscale bead, similar to the way sound waves travel around a curved wall such as the dome in St. Paul’s Cathedral in London. At such curved structures, known as acoustic whispering galleries, a person standing near one part of the wall easily hears a faint sound originating at any other part of the wall.

Whispering galleries for light were developed about a decade ago, but researchers have only recently explored their use in solar-cell coatings. In the experimental set up devised by a team including Dongheon Ha of NIST and the University of Maryland’s NanoCenter, the light captured by the nanoresonator coating eventually leaks out and is absorbed by an underlying solar cell made of gallium arsenide.

Using a laser as a light source to excite individual nanoresonators in the coating, the team found that the coated solar cells absorbed, on average, 20 percent more visible light than bare cells. The measurements also revealed that the coated cells produced about 20 percent more current.

The study is the first to demonstrate the efficiency of the coatings using precision nanoscale measurements, said Ha. “Although calculations had suggested the coatings would enhance the solar cells, we could not prove this was the case until we had developed the nanoscale measurement technologies that were needed,” he noted.

This work was described in a recent issue of Nanotechnology by Ha, collaborator Yohan Yoon of NIST and Maryland’s NanoCenter, and NIST physicist Nikolai Zhitenev.

The team also devised a rapid, less-costly method of applying the nanoresonator coating. Researchers had previously coated semiconductor material by dipping it in a tub of the nanoresonator solution. The dipping method takes time and coats both sides of the semiconductor even though only one side requires the treatment.

In the team’s method, droplets of the nanoresonator solution are placed on just one side of the solar cell. A wire-wound metal rod is then pulled across the cell, spreading out the solution and forming a coating made of closely packed nanoresonators. This is the first time that researchers have applied the rod method, used for more than a century to coat material in a factory setting, to a gallium arsenide solar cell.

“This is an inexpensive process and is compatible with mass production,” said Ha.

 

SEMI, the industry association representing the global manufacturing supply chain, today announced postponement of SEMICON Southeast Asia from 8-10 May 2018 to 22-24 May 2018. The postponement avoids a timing conflict with the recently announced Malaysian election planned for 9 May 2018. The venue for SEMICON Southeast Asia, the newly constructed Malaysia International Trade and Exhibition Centre (MITEC), remains unchanged

The postponement is in respect to Malaysian exhibitors and visitors to exercise their right to vote, said Ng Kai Fai, President of SEMI Southeast Asia. The decision was made in view of the election date and following discussions with SEMICON Southeast Asia stakeholders.

“We highly value and respect the country’s election process, which is very important for Malaysia and Malaysians,” Kai Fai said. “We also want to ensure that SEMICON Southeast Asia achieves its primary objective of forming connections and collaborations for exhibitors and visitors, both regionally and globally. We have received very strong support from our stakeholders and are confident and reassured that this will be the largest SEMICON Southeast Asia show to date.”

 

By Emir Demircan, Senior Manager Advocacy and Public Policy, SEMI Europe

With its leading research and development hubs, materials and equipment companies and chipmakers, the EU is in a strategic position in the global electronics value chain to support the growth of emerging applications such as autonomous driving, internet of things, artificial intelligence and deep learning. Underpinning the European electronics industry’s competitive muscle requires a new EU-wide strategy aimed at strengthening the value chain and connecting various players. Specializing and investing in key application segments, such as automotive where the EU enjoys a central place at global level, is crucial to help European electronics industry hold its ground.  In parallel, Europe’s production capabilities need bolstered, requiring effective use of Important Projects of Common European Interest (IPCEI).

On research, development and innovation (RD&I), the upcoming Framework Programme 9 (FP9) must provide unprecedented collaboration and funding opportunities to Europe’s electronics players. Concerning small and medium enterprises (SMEs) and startups, it is vital that EU policies are aligned with global trends and small and young companies benefit from a business-friendly regulatory framework. And as an overarching action, building a younger, bigger and more diverse talent pipeline is paramount for Europe to innovate in the digital economy.

Laith Altimime, President at SEMI Europe, opening speech at ISS Europe 2018

Laith Altimime, President at SEMI Europe, opening speech at ISS Europe 2018

These were the clarion messages that emerged from the Industry Strategy Symposium (ISS) Europe organized by SEMI in March, an event that brought together more than 100 industry, research and government representatives for in-depth discussions on strategies and innovations for Europe to compete globally. Here are the key takeaways:

1) Build a strong electronics value chain with a focus on emerging demands

In recent years the EU has focused on beefing up semiconductor production in Europe within the 2020-25 window, starting with the EU 10|100|20 Electronic Strategy of 2013. The strategy aims to secure about 20 percent of global semiconductor manufacturing by 2020 with the help of € 10 billion in public and private funding and € 100 billion investment from the industry. Today, Europe is not nearly on track to achieving this target. Supply-side policies have done little to help grow the EU semiconductor industry. Now is the time to change our thinking.

To nourish the electronics industry in Europe, we need to shift our focus to demand. Semiconductors are a key-enabling technology for autonomous driving, wearables, healthcare, virtual and augmented reality (VR/AR), artificial intelligence (AI) and all other internet of things (IoT) and big data applications. To become a world leader in the data economy and energize its semiconductor industry, Europe needs to start by better understanding the evolution of data technologies and their requirements from electronics players, then design and implement an EU-wide strategy focused on strengthening collaboration within the value chain.

2) Specialize and invest in Europe’s strengths that are enabled by electronics

Jens Knut Fabrowsky, Executive VP Automotive Electronics at Bosch

Jens Knut Fabrowsky, Executive VP Automotive Electronics at Bosch

Fueled by increasing demand for smaller, faster and more reliable products with greater power, the global electronics industry has developed a sophisticated global value chain. Europe brings to this ecosystem leading equipment and materials businesses, world-class R&D and education organizations, and key microelectronics hubs throughout Europe that are home to multinationals headquartered both in and outside of the EU. Nevertheless, global competition is growing ever fiercer in the sectors where the European microelectronics industry is most competitive: automotive, energy, healthcare and industrial automation. In the future, Europe is likely to be more challenged between the disruptive business models of North America and the manufacturing capacity of East Asia. The European electronics industry must re-evaluate its strengths and set a strategic direction.

Make no mistake: Europe is in a strong position to advance its microelectronics industry. The EU already boasts leading industries that rely on advances made by electronics design and manufacturing. Take the automotive industry – crucial to Europe’s prosperity. Accounting for 4 percent of the EU GDP and providing 12 million jobs in Europe, according to the European Commission, the EU automotive industry exerts an important multiplier effect in the economy. Automotive is essential to both upstream and downstream industries such as electronics – a level of importance not lost on the EU’s GEAR 2030 Group. Since the 1980s, automotive industry components have increasingly migrated from mechanical to electrochemical and electronics.

Today, electronic components represent close to a third of the cost of an automobile, a proportion that will grow to as high as 50 percent by 2030 with the rise of autonomous and connected vehicles. Automotive experts anticipate that over the next five to 10 years, new cars will feature at least some basic automated driving and data exchange capabilities as electronics deepen their penetration into the automotive value chain. Europe’s leadership position and competitive edge in automotive are under threat by competitors across the world as they invest heavily in information and communications technologies (ICT) and electronics for autonomous driving and connected vehicles. Investing in next-generation cars will help the European electronics industry retain its strong competitive position, as will investments in other key application areas such as healthcare, energy and industrial automation where Europe is a global power.

3) Make better use of Important Projects of Common European Interest (IPCEI)

Microelectronics is capital-intensive, with a state-of-the-art fab easily costing billions of euros. That’s why countries around the world are making heavy government-backed investments to build domestic fabs. For instance, China’s “Made in China 2025” initiative, which establishes an Integrated Circuit Fund to support the development of the electronics industry, calls for 150 billion USD in funding to replace imported semiconductors with homegrown devices. In 2014, the European Commission adopted new rules to IPCEI, giving Member States a tool for financing large, strategically important transnational projects. IPCEI should help Member States fill funding gaps to overcome market failures and reinvigorate projects that otherwise would not have taken off. To fully benefit from the IPCEI, the industry requires Member States involved in a specific IPCEI to work in parallel and at the same pace and faster approvals of state-supported manufacturing projects.

4) Use FP9 to strengthen Europe’s RD&I capabilities

Panel Discussion on growing Europe in the global value chain. (L-R) Bryan Rice, GLOBALFOUNDRIES; James Robson, Applied Materials Europe; Joe De Boeck, imec; Leo Clancy, IDA Ireland; James O’Riordan, S3; Colette Maloney, European Commission; Moderator: Andreas Wild

Panel Discussion on growing Europe in the global value chain. (L-R) Bryan Rice, GLOBALFOUNDRIES; James Robson, Applied Materials Europe; Joe De Boeck, imec; Leo Clancy, IDA Ireland; James O’Riordan, S3; Colette Maloney, European Commission; Moderator: Andreas Wild

A top EU priority in recent years has been to enhance Europe’s position as a world leader in the digital economy. Fulfilling this mission requires an innovative electronics industry in Europe. To this end, FP9 should encourage greater collaboration between large and small companies to leverage their complementary strengths – the dynamism, agility and innovation of smaller companies and the ability of larger companies to mature and scale new product ideas on the strength of their extensive private funding instruments and testing and demonstration facilities. Also, future EU-funded research actions should prioritize electronics projects involving players across the value chain, starting with materials and equipment providers and spanning chipmakers, system integrators and players from emerging “smart” verticals such as automotive, medical technology and energy. FP9 should also play the pivotal role of setting clear objectives, increasing investments, and easing rules for funding. These measures would help expand the European electronics ecosystem, accelerate R&D results and defray the rising costs of developing cutting-edge solutions key to the growth of emerging industry verticals.

5) Support high-tech SMEs, entrepreneurship and startups to become globally competitive

European SMEs, the backbone of EU’s manufacturing, are already strong players in the global economy, making outsize contributions to Europe’s innovation. Yet more of Europe’s small and young businesses with limited resources are challenged in Europe’s regulatory labyrinth. Only by improving the European regulatory environment in a way that supports young and small businesses can Europe fulfill its vision of a dynamic electronics ecosystem and digital economy. Access to finance must also be easier, particularly as underinvested startups struggle under a European venture capital apparatus that is smaller and more fragmented than those in North America and Asia. Early-stage funding instruments such as bank loans are essential for young businesses but they often face barriers to finance due to the sophistication of their proposed business models that are difficult to be understood and supported by banks.

One answer is to better familiarize Europe’s financial sector with industrial SMEs and startups so they can co-develop financial tools that support the growth of small and young businesses. Also, the narrow European definition of SME with staff headcount limited to 250 block innovative companies from access to financial tools exclusively provided to SMEs. By contrast, the United States defines SMEs as businesses with as many as 500 employees, placing their EU counterparts at distinct funding disadvantage. EU should ensure that its SME policy is aligned with global trends and industry needs.

6) Create a bigger and more diverse talent pipeline with a hybrid skills set 

Europe’s world-class education and research capabilities help supply the electronics industry with skilled workforce. Yet the blistering pace of technology innovation calls for rapidly evolving skills sets, a trend that has led to worker shortages at electronics companies and left the sector fighting to diversify its workforce and strengthen its talent pipeline. The deepening penetration of electronics in AI, IoT, AR/VR, high-performance computing (HPC), cybersecurity and smart verticals is giving rise to a new set of skills that blend production technologies, software and data analytics. As more technologies converge, the gap between university education and business needs continues to widen.

One solution is work-based learning – allowing students to build job skills in a setting related to their career pathway. Encouraging higher female participation in STEM education programs at the high school and university levels is also a must to overcome the traditionally low number of females entering high technology. To build on its reputation as “a place to work” in the eyes of the international job seekers, Europe also needs a more flexible immigration framework to attract skilled labour to high-tech jobs.

Save the Date: Industry leaders, research and government representatives will meet again next year at the ISS Europe organized by SEMI on 28-30 April 2019 in Milan, Italy. More details regarding the event will be published soon on www.semi.org/eu.

Research included in the April Update to the 2018 edition of IC Insights’ McClean Report shows that the world’s leading semiconductor suppliers significantly increased their marketshare over the past decade. The top-5 semiconductor suppliers accounted for 43% of the world’s semiconductor sales in 2017, an increase of 10 percentage points from 10 years earlier (Figure 1).  In total, the 2017 top-50 suppliers represented 88% of the total $444.7 billion worldwide semiconductor market last year, up 12 percentage points from the 76% share the top 50 companies held in 2007.

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Figure 1

As shown, the top 5, top 10, and top 25 companies’ share of the 2017 worldwide semiconductor market each increased from 10-12 percentage points over the past decade.  With the surge in mergers and acquisitions expected to continue over the next few years (e.g., Qualcomm and NXP), IC Insights believes that consolidation will raise the shares of the top suppliers to even loftier levels.

As shown in Figure 2, Japan’s total presence and influence in the IC marketplace has waned significantly since 1990, with its IC marketshare (not including foundries) residing at only 7% in 2017.  Once-prominent Japanese names missing from the top IC suppliers list are NEC, Hitachi, Mitsubishi, and Matsushita. Competitive pressures from South Korean IC suppliers—especially in the memory market—have certainly played a significant role in changing the look of the IC marketshare figures over the past 27 years. Moreover, depending on the outcome of the sale of Toshiba’s NAND flash division, the Japanese-companies’ share of the IC market could fall even further from its already low level.

Figure 2

Figure 2

With strong competition reducing the number of Japanese IC suppliers, the loss of its vertically integrated businesses, missing out on supplying ICs for several high-volume end-use applications, and its collective shift toward the fab-lite IC business model, Japan has greatly reduced its investment in new semiconductor wafer fabs and equipment.  In fact, Japanese companies accounted for only 5% of total semiconductor industry capital expenditures in 2017 (two points less than the share of the IC market they held last year), a long way from the 51% share of spending they represented in 1990.