Category Archives: LEDs

Leti_Jean-Eric_MichalletBy Jean-Eric Michallet, Leti Vice President of Sales and Marketing

Smart devices for the Internet of Things are among the top three growth drivers for the semiconductor industry, but the IoT is a highly fragmented market where multiple applications have varying energy requirements.

Speaking at a session on “Consumer & Energy Efficiency” at the LetiDays annual event in Grenoble, France, Edith Beigné, a senior scientist in the Architecture, ID Design, and Embedded Software Department at CEA-Leti, said the fragmentation presents challenges for technology providers, because it is difficult and expensive to design a single chip for one application or to provide a software or hardware platform to cover each archetype.

Leti’s new Internet of Things platform, L-IoT, is designed to overcome the challenges of fragmentation by providing a complete, flexible ultra-low power solution with adaptable analog and digital building blocks globally optimized for high energy efficiency and that “sleep” when energy-supply is low. All functionality, except the sensors, is integrated on a single chip.

L-IoT: a Flexible Platform

LetiDays 2-1

Adaptive Always-Responsive/On-Demand, according to energy levels

Known as “Elliot”, the platform includes both an “always-on” subsystem and “on-demand” subsystem. For applications such as video surveillance, secure communications, data fusion and tracking and monitoring, for example, the “on-demand” system can be woken up to provide additional data, as needed.

The application may have a variety of power sources for the “on-demand” tasks, but energy harvesting is the preferred choice, Beigné said.

Silicon Impulse

Leti also recently introduced Silicon Impulse, a comprehensive IC technology platform offering IC design, advanced intellectual property, emulator and test services and industrial multi-project wafer (MPW) shuttles. The eight-member consortium supporting the platform offers leading-edge, hardware-and-software solutions, including embedded software dedicated to geo-location and people location, for instance; subsystems such as 3D multi-core and low-power CPU modules, and a wide range of ICs: FD-SOI, RF, sensors, mixed-signal, MEMS and NEMS and 3D devices.

Caroline Arnaud, head of the Platform and Design Center Department at Leti, said the platform supports 28nm FD-SOI now, and Leti is in discussions with GLOBALFOUNDRIES for access to 22nm technology next year.

From sensor fusion to context awareness

Vivian Cattin, Leti project Manager, outlined future consumer applications that context-awareness technology can provide. She summarized Leti’s ongoing work with InvenSense, the world’s leading provider of MotionTracking sensor system-on-chip (SoC) and sound solutions for consumer electronic devices. In 2014, the company acquired the Leti spinout Movea, which was widely recognized for its advanced software for ultra-low-power location, activity tracking and context sensing.

The continuing collaboration is focused on improving context awareness by combining data from a variety of sensors, including accelerators and gyrometers, with other sources, such as WiFi beacons and the GPS systems from a person’s mobile device, to not only locate the person but estimate his or her direction or trajectory. The application also can estimate the travel time to the destination.

Cattin said a next step, called “user-adaptive processing”, would combine additional sensors, including wearable devices, software that supports machine learning, and the user’s own cloud-based information to support new uses such as personal wellness tips.

Less energy, more powerful applications for consumers

Jean-Michel Goiran, IoT business-development manager at Leti, highlighted Leti programs and projects that provide more powerful applications for consumers in the Internet of Things era, while using less power.

Connected sensor nodes typically reserve two-thirds of available power in standby mode for the microprocessor, while 13 percent is used by the sensor, 11 percent by the radio, and 10 percent by the active microprocessor. “We need an ultra-low standby-power solution for sustainable and long-living IoT devices deployment,” he said.

Non-volatile memory will be a big part of the solution for better standby-power management, because its content doesn’t require periodic refreshing. Super directivity, which refers to very small antennas directing their signals in only one direction, are another energy saver for IoT applications. Mutualizing functions on a single sensor, such as C02 detection, ventilation, presence detection and fire alarms, also can significantly lower power demand. “You need energy for sensors, so the fewer sensors the better,” Goiran said.

Wired houses for energy efficiency and security

Joël Mercelat, chief technical officer at Delta Dore, described a fully connected house that provides enhanced security and maintains residents’ preferred heating/cooling and lighting preferences, while cutting energy use. These functions are automated, but also can be controlled be hand-held devices.

Read more from CEA-Leti: 

What chipmakers will need to address growing complexity, cost of IC design and yield ramps

 

Using a single molecule as a sensor, scientists in Jülich have successfully imaged electric potential fields with unrivalled precision. The ultrahigh-resolution images provide information on the distribution of charges in the electron shells of single molecules and even atoms. The 3D technique is also contact-free. The first results achieved using “scanning quantum dot microscopy” have been published in the current issue of Physical Review Letters. The technique is relevant for diverse scientific fields including investigations into biomolecules and semiconductor materials.

“Our method is the first to image electric fields near the surface of a sample quantitatively with atomic precision on the sub-nanometre scale,” says Dr. Ruslan Temirov from Forschungszentrum Jülich. Such electric fields surround all nanostructures like an aura. Their properties provide information, for instance, on the distribution of charges in atoms or molecules.

For their measurements, the Jülich researchers used an atomic force microscope. This functions a bit like a record player: a tip moves across the sample and pieces together a complete image of the surface. To image electric fields up until now, scientists have used the entire front part of the scanning tip as a Kelvin probe. But the large size difference between the tip and the sample causes resolution difficulties – if we were to imagine that a single atom was the same size as a head of a pin, then the tip of the microscope would be as large as the Empire State Building.

Single molecule as a sensor

In order to improve resolution and sensitivity, the scientists in Jülich attached a single molecule as a quantum dot to the tip of the microscope. Quantum dots are tiny structures, measuring no more than a few nanometres across, which due to quantum confinement can only assume certain, discrete states comparable to the energy level of a single atom.

The molecule at the tip of the microscope functions like a beam balance, which tilts to one side or the other. A shift in one direction or the other corresponds to the presence or absence of an additional electron, which either jumps from the tip to the molecule or does not. The “molecular” balance does not compare weights but rather two electric fields that act on the mobile electron of the molecular sensor: the first is the field of a nanostructure being measured, and the second is a field surrounding the tip of the microscope, which carries a voltage.

“The voltage at the tip is varied until equilibrium is achieved. If we know what voltage has been applied, we can determine the field of the sample at the position of the molecule,” explains Dr. Christian Wagner, a member of Temirov’s Young Investigators group at Jülich’s Peter Grünberg Institute (PGI-3). “Because the whole molecular balance is so small, comprising only 38 atoms, we can create a very sharp image of the electric field of the sample. It’s a bit like a camera with very small pixels.”

Universally applicable

A patent is pending for the method, which is particularly suitable for measuring rough surfaces, for example those of semiconductor structures for electronic devices or folded biomolecules. “In contrast to many other forms of scanning probe microscopy, scanning quantum dot microscopy can even work at a distance of several nanometres. In the nanoworld, this is quite a considerable distance,” says Christian Wagner. Until now, the technique developed in Jülich has only been applied in high vacuum and at low temperatures: essential prerequisites to carefully attach the single molecule to the tip of the microscope.

“In principle, variations that would work at room temperature are conceivable,” believes the physicist. Other forms of quantum dots could be used as a sensor in place of the molecule, such as those that can be realized with semiconductor materials: one example would be quantum dots made of nanocrystals like those already being used in fundamental research.

EV Group (EVG), a supplier of wafer bonding and lithography equipment for the MEMS, nanotechnology and semiconductor markets, today unveiled the HERCULES NIL—a fully integrated track system that combines cleaning, resist coating and baking pre-processing steps with EVG’s SmartNIL large-area nanoimprint lithography (NIL) process in a single platform. Offering industry-leading productivity and throughput, the HERCULES NIL provides a complete, dedicated UV-NIL solution that is ideally suited for high-volume manufacturing (HVM) of emerging photonic devices. It does so by imprinting structures in sizes ranging from tens of nanometers up to several micrometers that alter or improve the optical response of surfaces and devices, such as anti-reflective layers, color and polarizer filters, light guiding plates, patterned sapphire substrates used in manufacturing light emitting diodes (LEDs), and many others. Other rapidly emerging applications for NIL include MEMS, NEMS, biological and nano-electronic applications.

“The HERCULES NIL demonstrates EVG’s ‘Triple i’ philosophy of ‘invent-innovate-implement’ at work,” stated Paul Lindner, executive technology director at EV Group. “EVG has been an early pioneer in the development of NIL equipment. After more than a decade of research and continuous improvements, EVG has now propelled NIL technology to a level of maturity that enables significant advantages for certain applications compared to traditional optical lithography. In addition, the Hercules NIL allows a wider array of applications, particularly in the fields of photonics and biotechnology, to finally leverage the cost-of-ownership and resolution benefits of NIL in volume production.”

The HERCULES NIL combines EVG’s expertise in NIL, resist processing and HVM solutions into a single integrated system that offers unmatched throughput (40 wph for 200-mm wafers). The system is built on a highly configurable and modular platform that accommodates a variety of imprint materials and structure sizes—giving customers greater flexibility in addressing their manufacturing needs. The fully integrated approach also minimizes the risk of particle contamination.

Key product attributes include:

  • Fully automated UV-NIL imprinting and low-force detachment
  • Processing substrates up to 200mm in diameter
  • Full-area imprint coverage, which avoids pattern stitching errors associated with step-and-repeat lithography systems due to limited field size
  • Volume manufacturing of structures down to 40nm and smaller
  • Highest coating uniformity of +/- 1 percent, which results in minimal residual layer thickness and variation for processed structures over the entire wafer
  • Supports a wide range of structure sizes and shapes, including 3-D
  • Can be used on high-topography (rough) surfaces
  • Ability to fabricate multiple-use soft stamps to extend the lifetime of master imprint templates

EVG’s new HERCULES NIL system is available now. Systems have already been installed and are being used for high-volume manufacturing at production sites of leading photonic device manufacturers.

Global semiconductor capital equipment manufacturer OEM Group announced today it has received first-in-fab and repeat tool orders for its Cintillio wet chemical processing system from several leading Ultra Bright LED manufacturers working in the automotive lighting market.  With these orders, OEM Group has now successfully expanded its production proven and patented ECO-Process wafer surface preparation solutions from the established markets of Power Device, CMOS IC, and MEMS manufacturing into UBLED fabrication, a new market for Cintillio.  The tools will be used for ozone processing of some of the most sensitive layers exposed during LED manufacturing, including exposed silver, which to date has presented LED makers with difficult challenges where surface preparation is involved.

Along with novel ozone processes optimized for exposed Ag, OEM Group’s ECO-Processes provide LED customers with significant reductions in chemical waste disposal and DI water consumption.

LEDs are eco-friendly light sources that provide high power efficiency in automotive applications, contributing to improved fuel efficiency by reducing electrical power consumption. As a result, the EU has officially recognized LED headlamps as being an energy-efficient technology, resulting in the notable adoption of UBLED headlamps by European automobile manufacturers.

The market research firm LEDInside expects continued significant growth in the automotive LED segment, particularly in Daytime Running Lights, High/Low headlamp beams, and fog light applications, with a compound annual growth rate of 48% forecast from 2014 to 2018.

And McKinsey & Company notes in a recent report that LED adoption can be accelerated by applying best practices in manufacturing, including increased automation levels and “lean” manufacturing methods, as OEM Group now offers for the LED market with Cintillio.  The repeat and first-in-fab orders from major UBLED manufacturers in Asia and Europe reflect the confidence OEM Group’s customers have in these surface preparation processes and reinforces the value proposition benefits they bring.

“It is a testament to the development work on ozone processing over sensitive layers, such as Ag, carried out by our process development group based in Coopersburg, PA, that we are seeing traction and growth in the UBLED market. This work has enabled us to provide process solutions not only for UBLED FEOL applications, but also throughout the entire UBLED process flow,” said Paul Inman, Business Development, Chemical Process Technology, OEM Group.

“The ability to reduce DI water consumption by up to 85%, and the virtual elimination of chemistry and related disposal costs, are factors leading to a marked increase in interest in the ECO-Processes, especially in areas suffering severe water shortages” added Graham Pye, CPT Product Manager at OEM Group.

The Semiconductor Industry Association (SIA), representing U.S. leadership in semiconductor manufacturing and design, today announced worldwide sales of semiconductors reached $28.2 billion for the month of May 2015, an increase of 5.1 percent from May 2014, when sales were $26.8 billion. Global sales from May 2015 were 2.1 percent higher than the April 2015 total of $27.6 billion. Regionally, sales in the Americas increased 11.4 percent compared to last May to lead all regional markets. All monthly sales numbers are compiled by the World Semiconductor Trade Statistics (WSTS) organization and represent a three-month moving average.

“The global semiconductor industry overcame lingering macroeconomic uncertainty to post solid year-to-year growth in May,” said John Neuffer, president and CEO, Semiconductor Industry Association. “Year-to-year sales have now increased for 25 straight months, month-to-month sales increased for the first time in six months, and we expect modest growth to continue for the remainder of 2015 and beyond.”

In addition to the Americas market, year-to-year sales also increased in China (9.5 percent) and Asia Pacific/All Other (8.0 percent), but decreased in Europe (-7.8 percent) and Japan (-11.8 percent). Compared to last month, sales were up in China (4.0 percent), Asia Pacific/All Other (3.3 percent), and the Americas (0.2 percent), but decreased slightly in Europe (-0.6 percent) and held flat in Japan.

“Congress and the President recently gave the U.S. semiconductor industry and other trade-dependent sectors a major boost by enacting Trade Promotion Authority (TPA), which makes it easier for the United States to strike deals on free trade agreements,” said Neuffer. “With TPA, the United States is more likely to get the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) and other critical trade agreements across the finish line, leading to continued growth and innovation in our industry and across the U.S. economy.”

May 2015

Billions

Month-to-Month Sales                               

Market

Last Month

Current Month

% Change

Americas

5.61

5.62

0.2%

Europe

2.89

2.87

-0.6%

Japan

2.54

2.54

0.0%

China

7.78

8.09

4.0%

Asia Pacific/All Other

8.78

9.07

3.3%

Total

27.61

28.20

2.1%

Year-to-Year Sales                          

Market

Last Year

Current Month

% Change

Americas

5.05

5.62

11.4%

Europe

3.12

2.87

-7.8%

Japan

2.88

2.54

-11.8%

China

7.39

8.09

9.5%

Asia Pacific/All Other

8.40

9.07

8.0%

Total

26.83

28.20

5.1%

Three-Month-Moving Average Sales

Market

Nov/Dec/Jan

Feb/Mar/apr

% Change

Americas

6.23

5.62

-9.7%

Europe

2.88

2.87

-0.2%

Japan

2.55

2.54

-0.6%

China

7.76

8.09

4.4%

Asia Pacific/All Other

8.32

9.07

9.0%

Total

27.74

28.20

1.7%

 

By Christian Dieseldorff and Lara Chamness, SEMI

We, in the semiconductor supply chain, are constantly immersed in detailed numbers. It’s important to pull back and look at the major trends that have profoundly changed and are reshaping our industry.

Data from SEMI World Fab Forecast reports

1997

2002

2007

2012

2017
Global Volume Fab Count
Number of Fabs WW 

682

802

849

861

864
Number of Fabs WW (excluding discrete and LED)

472

508

499

440

440
Global Volume Fabs by Wafer Size
Number of volume 200mm fabs (excluding discrete and LED)

111

170

173

152

149
Number of volume 300mm fabs (excluding discrete and LED)

0

13

62

81

109
Global Fab Capacity by Device Type
Fab Capacity (200mm equiv. thousand wafer starts per month)

5,655 

7,519 

15,441 

18,068 

20,609 

Memory

20%

19%

36%

29%

27%

Foundry

13%

19%

18%

27%

30%

MPU&Logic

35%

31%

22%

17%

16%

Analog, Discretes, MEMS & Other

32%

31%

24%

27%

26%
Largest Regional Fab Capacities
Fab Capacity Regional Trends (excluding discrete and LED)

Largest installed capacity

Japan

Japan

Japan

Japan

Taiwan

Second largest installed capacity

Americas

Americas

Taiwan

S. Korea

S. Korea

Third largest installed capacity

Europe

Europe

S. Korea

Taiwan

Japan
Source: SEMI (www.semi.org) 

The table shows that the largest increase of new fabs occurred in the time frame from 1997 to 2002 with 18 percent growth rate. The growth rate drops to 6 percent from 2002 to 2007, 1 percent from 2007 to 2012 and flat from 2012 to 2017. This drop in change rate does not mean that there are no new fabs being built but is explained by fabs closing. There are still new fabs being built ─ especially for 300mm ─ but the rate of fabs closing is overshadowing this fact. From 2007 to 2012 alone over 150 facilities closed with majority from 2008 to 2010.

With the rise of 300mm at begin of the millennium we see a rapid increase of 300mm fabs from 2002 to 2007 with 380 percent and at the same time a decrease of new 200m fabs from 50 percent to 2 percent. From 2007 to 2012 more 200mm fabs were closed but this trend is slowing. With emerging IOT demand, 200mm fabs will be part of the capacity mix for the foreseeable future.

Fueled by the fabless or “fab lite” movement, we see that the foundry era has a strong and steady growth since begin of its era in the 90s. By 2017, foundry capacity will have surpassed memory with 30 percent of the total capacity.

Both foundry and memory mainly use 300mm wafers which contribute to the large increase in capacity. The other sector MPU & Logic uses mainly 300mm but there are still fabs with wafer sizes of 200mm or less. While the Logic sector is increasing in capacity with System LSI applications, we see a decline for MPU which contributed to the decline in share.  Although we see an increase of capacity for sensors and analog/mixed signal, the sector combined as “Analog, Discretes, MEMS & Others” shows modest growth mainly because the wafer sizes used are 200mm and below which contributes to the less share of capacity.

For decades Japan was the leader in installed capacity which will have changed by 2017 when Taiwan will have taken over the highest capacity spot.  Japan is restructuring business models and approaching a more fab-lite to fabless model.  Korea is mainly driven by Samsung and is benefitting from the mobile business using memory and System LSI chips.

For more information on market data, visit www.semi.org/en/MarketInfo and attend an upcoming SEMICON: SEMICON West 2015 (July 14-16) in San Francisco, Calif; SEMICON Taiwan 2015 (September 2-4) in Taipei, Taiwan; SEMICON Europa 2015 (October 6-8) in Dresden, Germany; SEMICON Japan 2015 (December 16-18) in Tokyo, Japan.

Each year at SEMICON West, the largest microelectronics exposition in North America, the “Best of West” awards are presented by Solid State Technology and SEMI. The award was established to recognize new products moving the industry forward with technological developments in the microelectronics supply chain.

The Best of West 2015 Finalists will be displaying their tools on the show floor at Moscone Center from July 14-16:

  • ClassOne Technology: Solstice S4 — Solstice S4 is the first automated plating tool that delivers advanced performance on smaller substrates at affordable prices. Described as “advanced plating for the rest of us,” Solstice is designed specifically for the smaller-substrate users in emerging technologies such as MEMs, LEDs, Power Devices, RF Communications, Interposers, Photonics and Microfluidics. Solstice sets new standards for plating performance and affordability. South Hall, Booth #2521.
  • National Instruments: NI Semiconductor Test Systems — NI’s Semiconductor Test Systems (STS) feature PXI modular instrumentation and open system design software for semiconductor test environments. Unlike traditional ATE systems that incur costs as old generations of equipment become obsolete, NI STS’ open architecture allows engineers to retain their investments and easily scale. Its compact design eliminates floor space, power, and maintenance costs, and is ideal for characterization and production to decrease time to market. North Hall, Booth #5472.
  • Nordson ASYMTEK: Programmable Tilt + Rotate 5-Axis Fluid Dispenser — With requirements for precision, accuracy, and speed more stringent than ever and pushing the limits of dispensing equipment capabilities, the new programmable Tilt + Rotate 5-Axis Fluid Dispenser solves these problems, achieving unparalleled accuracy and precision in X, Y, and Z axes for thin lines and small dots, to make high-volume manufacturing possible for today’s new products. North Hall, Booth #5743.

The Best of West Award winner will be announced during SEMICON West (www.semiconwest.org) on Wednesday, July 15, 2015.

– In 2015,Taiwan is projected to have the highest capex for semiconductor manufacturing worldwide. Taiwan’s aggressive semiconductor factory plans are bringing exhibitors and attendees to SEMICON Taiwan 2015 on September 2-4 at the TWTC Nangang Exhibition Hall. Over 40,000 visitors are expected to attend the exhibition and conferences.  Entering its 20th year, SEMICON Taiwan connects attendees with the companies, people, products, and information facilitating the future for design and manufacturing for the advanced electronics industries.

According to SEMI market reports, foundry and DRAM are the two sectors of capital equipment investment in Taiwan, with OSATs’ advance packaging facilities as a key growth driver. Fab equipment spending in Taiwan is projected to be about $10.5 billion in 2015, approaching 30 percent of the overall industry spending on fab equipment. Overall, Taiwan represents 21 percent of the installed fab capacity globally and 25 percent of the installed 300mm capacity.

In 2015 alone, companies in Taiwan are forecast to spend $1.5 billion or more on packaging and test equipment. With the growing importance of packaging and testing, SEMI will host the Silicon in Packaging (SiP) Global Summit 2015 from September 3-4. The two-day SiP Global Summit 2015 consists of two major forums: 3D-IC Technology Forum and Embedded and Wafer Level Package Technology Forum.

SEMICON Taiwan covers a wide array of critical issues. Business programs will include the Executive Summit, Market Trends Forum, CFO Executive Summit, and Memory Executive Summit. Technology programs include: Materials Forum, Sustainable Manufacturing Forum, Advanced Packaging Technology Symposium, TechXPOTs, MEMS Forum, High-Tech Facility International Forum, eMDC Forum, Patterning Challenges (Cost vs. Performance), IC Design Summit, and more.

SEMICON Taiwan also features: Supplier Search Program and Buyers Briefing.  As always, the event features a Leadership Gala dinner, an elite networking event and one of the most important annual executive gatherings for the high-tech industry in Taiwan.

Among the many exhibition technology pavilions, SEMICON Taiwan will host:

  • Smart Manufacturing Pavilion
  • Materials Pavilion
  • Precision Machinery Pavilion
  • CMP (Chemical Mechanical Planarization) Pavilion
  • Secondary Market Pavilion
  • AOI (Automated Optical Inspection) Pavilion
  • MIRDC (Metal Industries Reach & Development Center) Pavilion
  • High-Tech Facility Pavilion

Also, SEMICON Taiwan will host country pavilions:

  • Belgium Pavilion
  • Holland High Tech Pavilion
  • German Pavilion
  • Moscow Pavilion
  • Cross-Strait Pavilion
  • Kyushu (Japan) Pavilion
  • Korea Pavilion
  • SICA (Shanghai Integrated Circuit Association) Pavilion

SEMI Taiwan (www.semi.org/ch/) hosts SEMICON Taiwan with TAITRA and TSIA as co-organizers. The event is advised by the Taiwan Ministry of Economic Affairs.

To learn more about exhibiting at SEMICON Taiwan 2015, visit www.semicontaiwan.org.

“Growing photolithography equipment markets in advanced packaging, MEMS and LEDs are attracting new players; but they have to navigate complex roadmaps,” announced Yole Développement (Yole). Under its new report, Yole’s analysts announce a projection system market for advanced packaging, MEMS and LEDs reaching more than US$150M in 2014. To perform this report, they interviewed leaders and outsiders of this market such as SUSS MicroTec, ASML, EV Group, Rudolph Technologies, USHIO. They analyzed their market positioning and their technical solutions.

Within a highly competitive and innovative environment, Yole’s analysis shows, at first glance, some similarities between “More Moore” and “More than Moore”. However the analysis is more complex.

“Photolithography Equipment & Materials for Advanced Packaging, MEMS and LED Applications” analysis provides a comprehensive overview of all the key lithography technologies used in advanced packaging, MEMS and LED applications and benchmarks them in terms of feature requirements. Yole’s analysts provide examples of lithography process steps for these applications. In parallel, Yole’s report describes associated technological breakthroughs and manufacturing process. More insights are included on specific lithography equipment tools for advanced packaging, MEMS and LED devices.

illus_lithography_market_yole_june2015

The semiconductor industry is very often identified by its “More Moore” players, driven by technology downscaling and cost reduction. There is one clear leader supplying photolithography tools to the “More Moore” industry: ASML, based in The Netherlands. The company proposes lithography equipment with $10M unit price and incredible optics, mechanics and precision stage in order to reach sub 20nm precision (Latest announcement from ASML, April 2015). ASML is followed by two Japanese outsiders, Nikon and Canon.

“Providing this market with photolithography equipment is highly complex and there are gigantic barriers to market entry,” asserted Claire Troadec, Technology & Market Analyst, Semiconductor Manufacturing at Yole. Enormous R&D investments are required as the key features to print shrink ever further. Also, the tolerances specified are very aggressive and thus equipment complexity keeps on increasing.

In the “More than Moore” industry the Holy Grail isn’t downscaling any more – it is adding functionality: according to Yole’s analysis, there are two clear leaders today: SUSS MicroTec (Latest order: lithography tools from TDK, Feb. 2015) in the MEMS and sensors industry, and Ultratech in the advanced packaging industry. Both players are closely followed by the following outsiders, EV Group, Rudolph Technologies and USHIO.

“But the similarities between both worlds, are only superficial,” commented Amandine Pizzagalli, Technology & Market Analyst, Advanced Packaging & Semiconductor Manufacturing at Yole. “Indeed market entry barrier is much lower in the “More than Moore” market. Equipment in the Advanced Packaging, MEMS and LEDs industries is less complex but customer adoption needs are higher, which leads to a much broader photolithography landscape,” she added.

The photolithography market structure for these three industries is very different compared to the “More Moore”, or mainstream semiconductor, industry. New entrants can penetrate these markets with a good knowledge of the technological building blocks. But the key to success is to adapt the equipment to the specific customer’s needs. That means that these markets are complex to develop and that they take a long time to penetrate.

To develop their knowledge and expand their range of products, some players entered through acquisition. Rudolph Technologies acquired Azores Corp. in 2012 to enter the advanced packaging photolithography equipment arena. Also in 2012, SUSS MicroTec acquired Tamarack Scientific Co. Inc. to enlarge its semiconductor back end photolithography equipment market.

Others like Orbotech, which acquired a leading MEMS and advanced packaging company, SPTS, is today only present in substrate and PCB direct imaging.

in this report, competition trends are carefully analyzed and presented as a competitive landscape and competitive analysis of the major equipment and materials suppliers involved in Advanced Packaging, MEMS and LED applications. Finally, a section is also dedicated to disruptive technologies such as LDI, laser ablation and nanoimprint lithography, which could reshape the lithography landscape in the future. Yole describes possible reshaping scenarios are described, including acquisitions, mergers, and joint ventures, along with their anticipated impact on the global photolithography market.

The latest manufacturing, materials and production developments in semiconductor and related technologies will be featured at SEMICON West 2015 on July 14-16 at Moscone Center in San Francisco, Calif.  Semiconductor processing is at a crossroads and is changing how companies operate to be competitive. Learning about breakthrough technology and networking is essential to remain ahead of the curve.  

More than 25,000 professionals are expected, and over 600 companies will exhibit the latest in semiconductor manufacturing.  Major semiconductor manufacturers, foundry, fabless companies, equipment and materials suppliers — plus leading companies in MEMS, displays, printed/flexible electronics, PV, and other emerging technologies — attend SEMICON West.

SEMICON West will feature valuable on-exhibition floor technical sessions and programs that are included in the  $100 registration “expo pass” (registration fee increases on July 11).  Keynote events include: 

·         “Scaling the Walls of Sub-14nm Manufacturing” with panelists from Qualcomm, Stanford University, ASE and IBM, moderated by imec’s Jo de Boeck, senior VP of Corporate Technology (July 14, 9:00-10:00am)

·         “The Internet of Things and the Next Fifty Years of Moore’s Law“ by Intel’s Doug Davis, senior VP and GM of loT (July 15, 9:00am-9:45am)

TechXPOTs will provide updates in areas including test, advanced materials and processes, advanced packaging, productivity and emerging markets and technologies. TechXPOTs include:

·      What’s Next for MEMS? With speakers from ASE, CEA-Leti, EV Group, MEMS Industry Group, Silicon Valley Band of Angels, Teledyne DALSA, and Yole Developpement (July 14, 10:30am-12:30pm)

·      Automating Semiconductor Test Productivity with speakers from ASE, Optimal+, Texas Instruments, and Xcerra (July 14, 10:30am-12:30pm)

·      Materials Session: Contamination Control in the Sub-20nm Era with speakers from Entegris, Intel, JSR Micro, Matheson, and Nanometrics; moderated by Mike Corbett, Linx (July 14, 1:30pm-3:30pm)

·      Emerging Generation Memory Technology: Update on 3DNAND, MRAM, and RRAM (July 14, 1:30pm-3:40pm).

·      The Evolution of the New 200mm Fab for the Internet of Everything with speakers from Entrepix, Genmark Automation, Lam Research, Qorvo, and Surplus Global (July 15, 2:00pm-4:00pm)

·      Monetizing the IoT: Opportunities and Challenges for the Semiconductor Sector with Amkor, Cadence Design Systems, Ernst & Young, Freescale Semiconductor, and Gartner; moderated by Edward Sperling, Semiconductor Engineering (July 16, 10:30am-12:30pm)

·      The Factory of the (Near) Future: Using Industrial IoT and 3D Printing  with speakers from AirLiquide, Applied Materials, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, and Proto Cafe (July 16, 1:00pm-3:00pm) 

The Silicon Innovation Forum will be held on July 14-15.  A special exposition segment, this area will include exhibits and two days of presentations.  The first day will be a forum where start-up companies seeking investment capital will present to a panel of investors.  Open to all attendees, this session will feature exciting new technologies.  The second day will be a forum on new research. Attendees can hear presentations on advanced research from SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory, International Consortium for Advanced Manufacturing Research, SUNY Network of Excellence – Materials & Advanced Manufacturing, Novati Technologies, MIST Center, Micro/Nano Electronics Metrology at NIST, Texas State University and Georgia Tech Heat Lab. 

On July 16, University Day welcomes students and faculty to learn about the microelectronics industry, connect with industry representatives, and explore career opportunities. University Day is on the Keynote Stage (North Hall E). The agenda includes career networking, exploration forum, expo and SEMICON West tours.

For the eighth year, SEMICON West will be co-located with Intersolar North America, the leading solar technology conference and exhibition in the U.S.  Premier sponsors of SEMICON West 2015 include Applied Materials, KLA-Tencor, and Lam Research.  Register now at www.semiconwest.org.