Category Archives: MEMS

Vesper, developer of the world’s most advanced acoustic sensors, DSP Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:DSPG), a global provider of wireless chipset solutions for converged communications, and Sensory, Inc., the leader in voice interface and keyword-detect algorithms, will demonstrate a turnkey development platform that boasts the lowest overall power consumption for far-field always-listening voice interfaces. This platform is the first to achieve overall power consumption low enough to enable battery-powered always-listening far-field systems.

“Today consumers who want to turn on their battery-powered smart speakers, TV remotes, smart home systems and Internet of Things (IoT) devices have to push a button to wake their device from sleep. This limits consumers’ ability to interact seamlessly and naturally with their devices, leaving them tethered to touch,” said Matt Crowley, CEO, Vesper. “The Vesper-DSP Group-Sensory development platform offers an alternative technology based on the fundamentally different physics of piezoelectric materials that wakes devices from sleep, while sipping mere microwatts of power. Due to the rugged nature of piezoelectric microphones, this platform is also ideal for systems that need to survive outdoors or in harsh environments.”

Crowley added, “The Vesper-DSP Group-Sensory wake-on-sound platform consumes 5x less power than existing approaches, potentially allowing products to run for years rather than months without battery replacement.”

The new development platform – which the companies will demonstrate at CES 2017 for the first time — integrates Vesper’s VM1010 wake-on-sound piezoelectric MEMS microphone with DSP Group’s DBMD4, an ultra-low-power, always-on voice and audio processor based on Sensory’s Truly Handsfree™ voice control embedded algorithms. The platform gives developers the ability to initiate voice processing through Sensory’s wake-up word technology, which ensures that only a specific trigger word activates the device.

“Our development platform enables and dramatically accelerates time to market for far-field voice-controlled battery-powered consumer electronics,” said Ofer Elyakim, CEO, DSP Group. “It gives OEMs and integrators a fully integrated solution for consumer electronics that actively listen and sense both voice activity and commands while in near-zero-power mode, alleviating battery strain, improving device usability, and extending battery life.”

“Voice-activated battery-powered consumer electronics, such as smart speakers and TV remotes, are proliferating,” said Todd Mozer, CEO, Sensory, Inc. “The Vesper-DSP Group-Sensory development platform — which features the same Sensory TrulyHandsfree voice activation algorithms that have already shipped in over 1 billion devices — is a major advancement in speeding the design-to-deployment cycle of keyword-activated battery-powered electronics.”

Vesper, DSP Group and Sensory will demonstrate their new development platform from January 5-8, 2017 during CES 2017.

Intel has agreed to purchase a 15 percent ownership stake in HERE, a global provider of digital maps and location-based services, from HERE’s current indirect shareholders: AUDI AG, BMW AG and Daimler AG.

In conjunction with Intel’s acquisition of a stake in HERE, the two companies also signed an agreement to collaborate on the research and development of a highly scalable proof-of-concept architecture that supports real-time updates of high definition (HD) maps for highly and fully automated driving. Additionally, the two companies plan to jointly explore strategic opportunities that result from enriching edge-computing devices with location data.

“Cars are rapidly becoming some of the world’s most intelligent, connected devices,” said Brian Krzanich, Intel CEO. “We look forward to working with HERE and its automotive partners to deliver an important technology foundation for smart and connected cars of the future.”

“A real-time, self-healing and high-definition representation of the physical world is critical for autonomous driving, and achieving this will require significantly more powerful and capable in-vehicle compute platforms,” said Edzard Overbeek, HERE CEO. “As a premier silicon provider, Intel can help accelerate HERE’s ambitions in this area by supporting the creation of a universal, always up-to-date digital location platform that spans the vehicle, the cloud and everything else connected.”

The proof-of-concept architecture HERE and Intel plan to deliver will be designed to help make autonomous driving as safe and predictable as possible. For example, today’s navigation technology can pinpoint a car’s location to within meters, but next generation, HD mapping supports localization to within centimeters. This will help vehicles precisely position themselves on the roadway to enable reliable autonomous driving functionality. HERE HD Live Map, HERE’s cloud service supporting vehicle automation, gives vehicles the ability to “see” obstacles beyond their immediate field of vision and receive real-time updates as environments change due to traffic, road conditions and other factors.

Intel will also work with AUDI AG, BMW AG and Daimler AG to test the architecture. Intel and HERE envision making the architecture broadly available across the automotive industry as a seamlessly integrated offering that simplifies and shortens time of development for automakers.

Intel is positioned to provide a secure, flexible and scalable technology foundation for the future of autonomous driving from the vehicle to the data center. Intel’s assets span: high-performance and flexible, in-vehicle computing; robust cloud and machine-learning solutions; and high-speed wireless connectivity. In addition to furthering Intel’s efforts in autonomous driving, the next generation location services that result from this collaboration can fuel the continued growth of cloud computing and the Internet of Things.

HERE is a private company, which is indirectly wholly owned by AUDI AG, BMW AG and Daimler AG. HERE is a global provider of embedded navigation solutions. By working with Intel, HERE aims to offer automakers a universal solution that reduces both complexity and long-term development costs. Intel also provides expertise in developing and optimizing hardware, which will be fundamental to moving cloud-based algorithms to in-vehicle architectures. This same expertise will support HERE’s strategy to connect multiple industries beyond automotive, such as in the Internet of Things where location algorithms and location-based services are increasingly becoming embedded into connected devices. Intel and HERE intend to explore other potential collaborative opportunities spanning next-generation cloud analytics, IoT applications, machine learning, augmented reality and more.

Today, Bosch Sensortec launches the BMP380, the company’s smallest and best performing barometric pressure sensor, with a compact size of only 2.0 x 2.0 x 0.75 mm³.

The BMP380 is aimed at the growing markets of gaming, sports and health management, as well as indoor and outdoor navigation. By measuring barometric pressure, the sensor enables drones, smartphones, tablets, wearables and other mobile devices to accurately determine altitude changes, in both indoor and outdoor environments.

Wide range of applications

This new BMP380 sensor offers outstanding design flexibility, providing a single package solution that can be easily integrated into a multitude of existing and upcoming applications and devices.

Typical applications for the BMP380 include altitude stabilization in drones, where altitude information is utilized to improve flight stability and landing accuracy. This simplifies drone steering, thereby making drones attractive for a broader range of users. The BMP380 can also substantially improve calorie expenditure measurement accuracy in wearables and mobile devices, for example by identifying whether a person is walking upstairs or downstairs in a step tracking application. Especially in hilly environments, this allows runners and cyclists to significantly improve the monitoring accuracy of their performance. In smartphones, tablets and wearables, this sensor brings unprecedented precision to outdoor/indoor navigation and localization applications, i.e. by utilizing altitude data to determine the user’s floor level in a building, and enhancing GPS accuracy outdoors.

Accurate and unmatched ease of use

Pressure and temperature data can be stored in the built-in FIFO of 512 byte. The new FIFO and interrupt functionality provide simple access to data and storage. This greatly improves ease of use while helping to reduce power consumption to only 2.7µA at 1Hz during full operation.

The sensor is more accurate than its predecessors, covering a wide measurement range from 300 hPA to 1250 hPA. Tests in real-life environments have verified a relative accuracy of +/-0.06 hPa (+/-0.5m) over a temperature range from 25°C to 40°C. The absolute accuracy between 300 and 1100 hPa is +/- 0.5 hPa over a temperature range from 0°C to 65°C.

This new barometric pressure sensor exhibits an attractive price-performance ratio coupled with low power consumption. The small package size of only 2.0 x 2.0 x 0.75 mm³ complies with new industry benchmarks and is more than one third smaller than the previous-generation BMP280, thus offering increased placement flexibility.

“We are very excited about the opportunities that this sensor opens up for designers to further advance their products,” says Jeanne Forget, Vice President Global Marketing at Bosch Sensortec. “Our product is unmatched in its scope, precision and footprint, and provides an improvement for outdoor localization, thereby reducing our reliance on GPS signals”.

The powerful features and solid performance specifications of the BMP380 are the result of more than a decade of experience that Bosch has acquired in the manufacturing of MEMS pressure sensors. Bosch invented a completely new “Advanced Porous Silicon Membrane” (APSM) process for the manufacture of MEMS pressure sensors and has applied this technology to produce more than one billion pressure sensors. Today, Bosch is the number one MEMS supplier and industry leader in barometric pressure sensors.

The sensor will be available for selected customers with the start of channel promotion in the 2nd quarter of 2017.

Worldwide combined shipments of PCs, tablets, ultramobiles and mobile phones are projected to remain flat in 2017, according to Gartner, Inc. Worldwide shipments for these devices are projected to total 2.3 billion in 2017, the same as 2016 estimates.

There were nearly 7 billion phones, tablets and PCs in use in the world by the end of 2016. However, Gartner does not expect any growth in shipments of traditional devices until 2018, when a small increase in ultramobiles and mobile phone shipments is expected (see Table 1).

“The global devices market is stagnating. Mobile phone shipments are only growing in emerging Asia/Pacific markets, and the PC market is just reaching the bottom of its decline,” said Ranjit Atwal, research director at Gartner.

“As well as declining shipment growth for traditional devices, average selling prices are also beginning to stagnate because of market saturation and a slower rate of innovation,” added Mr. Atwal. “Consumers have fewer reasons to upgrade or buy traditional devices (see Table 1). They are seeking fresher experiences and applications in emerging categories such as head mounted displays (HMDs), virtual personal assistant (VPA) speakers and wearables.”

Table 1 
Worldwide Devices Shipments by Device Type, 2016-2019 (Millions of Units)

Device Type

2016

2017

2018

2019

Traditional PCs (Desk-Based and Notebook)

219

205

198

193

Ultramobiles (Premium)

49

61

74

85

PC Market

268

266

272

278

Ultramobiles (Basic and Utility)

168

165

166

166

Computing Devices Market

436

432

438

444

Mobile Phones

1,888

1,893

1,920

1,937

Total Devices Market

2,324

2,324

2,357

2,380

Note: The Ultramobile (Premium) category includes devices such as Microsoft Windows 10 Intel x86 products and Apple MacBook Air.
The Ultramobile (Basic and Utility Tablets) category includes devices such as Apple iPad and iPad mini, Samsung Galaxy Tab S2, Amazon Fire HD, Lenovo Yoga Tab 3, and Acer Iconia One.
Source: Gartner (January 2017)

The embattled PC market will benefit from a replacement cycle toward the end of this forecast period, returning to growth in 2018. Increasingly, attractive premium ultramobile prices and functionality will entice buyers as traditional PC sales continue to decline. The mobile phone market will also benefit from replacements. There is, however, a difference in replacement activity between mature and emerging markets. “People in emerging markets still see smartphones as their main computing device and replace them more regularly than mature markets,” said Mr. Atwal.

Device vendors are increasingly trying to move into faster-growing emerging device categories. “This requires a shift from a hardware-focused approach to a richer value-added service approach,” said Mr. Atwal. “As service-led approaches become even more crucial, hardware providers will have to partner with service providers, as they lack the expertise to deliver the service offerings themselves.”

More detailed analysis is available to clients in the reports “Forecast: PCs, Ultramobiles and Mobile Phones, Worldwide, 2013-2020, 4Q16 Update.”

Adding intelligence to materials and products facilitates the fully decentralized operations model associated with Industry 4.0.

BY FRANCISCO ALMADA LOBO, Critical Manufacturing, Moreira da Maia, Portugal

Industry 4.0 is coming. It is the next major industrial revolution that will re-define manufacturing as we know it today. But what does Industry 4.0 bring to benefit an industry that already has highly advanced sophisticated manufacturing techniques?

The semiconductor industry is currently not one of those embracing Industry 4.0. Some of the reasons for this are based around the far reaching supply chain the industry uses, some because of the size of batches is still large in some businesses, and some because the idea of gathering greater quantities of information from machines is really not a new concept for the industry. To understand the benefits of Industry 4.0 to semiconductor production, let’s first look at exactly what it is.

A little about Industry 4.0

Industry 4.0 takes innovative developments that are available today and integrates them to produce a modern, smarter production model. It merges real and virtual worlds and is based on Cyber-physical Systems (CPS) and Cyber-physical Production Systems (CPPS), as show in FIGURE 1. The model was created to increase business agility, enable cost-effective production of customized products, lower overall production costs, enhance product quality and increase production efficiency. It brings with it new levels of automation and automated decision making that will mean faster responses to production needs and much greater efficiency.

FIGURE 1. Industry 4.0 merges real and virtual worlds and is based on Cyber-physical Systems (CPS) and Cyber-physical Production Systems (CPPS)

FIGURE 1. Industry 4.0 merges real and virtual worlds and is based on Cyber-physical Systems (CPS) and Cyber-physical Production Systems (CPPS)

The Industry 4.0 model is inherently a de-centralized one with masses of data being transferred. The reduced cost of computer technology enables it to be embedded into shop floor materials and products. CPS then integrate computational networks with the surrounding physical world and its processes. Using the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT), products will have the ability to collect and transmit data; communicate with equipment, and take intelligent routing decisions without the need for operator intervention. Cloud computing technology further gives a ready platform to store this data and make it freely available to systems surrounding it.

As CPPS compete to provide services to CPS devices a smart shop floor is created that acts as a marketplace. Adding communication and integration throughout the wider supply chain also means that different manufacturing facilities and even individual processes within a factory can compete for work; creating a Manufacturing as a Service (MaaS) model.

With hundreds of devices and shop floor entities producing information, Big Data and advanced analytics are also a major part of Industry 4.0. Simply collecting a lot of data doesn’t improve a factory’s performance. Advanced analytical software is needed to transform structured and unstructured data into intelligent, usable information. Having huge volumes of data also means this powerful software can be used to help predict production scenarios to further drive efficiencies and improve production strategy.

The intelligent operation and advanced analytics within Industry 4.0 will enable smarter decision making and provide the opportunity to further enhance processes. It will enable new products to be created, tested and introduced at a much faster rate with assured quality, consis- tency and reliability. The benefits are far reaching and so significant that this revolution will certainly come but the change will be gradual. To be sure not to be left behind, manufacturers will need to plan for the implementation of this predicted industrial revolution.

What does Industry 4.0 mean for semiconductor manufacturers?

For the semiconductor industry, the high cost of wafers make attaching electronic components to each wafer carrier or FOUP completely viable and presents huge benefits in increased production efficiency. Adding intelligence to materials and products facilitates the fully decentralized operations model associated with Industry 4.0 (FIGURE 2). With devices communicating with each other, the increased flexibility and productivity this model produces will make it possible to meet an increasing demand for greater manufacturing mixes and individualized products at much lower costs. For the production of semiconductors in particular, the very nature of the product being manufactured means there may also be opportunity and added benefit for some devices to hold their own information without the need for additional electronics. The information gathered from the decentralized model and analytical software used in Industry 4.0 also makes it easier to account for the cost of each item, resulting in better intelligence for business strategy and product pricing.

FIGURE 2. Adding intelligence to materials and products facilitates the fully decentralized operations model associated with Industry 4.0.

FIGURE 2. Adding intelligence to materials and products facilitates the fully decentralized operations model associated with Industry 4.0.

Although equipment used in the production of semiconductors already have sensors and transmit intelligent information into wider systems, the concept of the CPPS using the IoT adds a new level of simplicity to this idea. The cost of production within the semiconductor industry also means that even marginal variable improvements through the increased use of big data analytics will have huge financial benefits. The Internet of Things (IoT) will further enhance flexibility in measurement and actuation possibilities and free manufacturers from the time and cost associated with changes to sophisticated interfaces on production equipment.

The smart marketplace

With components interacting with machines and having the information they need within them about the processing steps they require, this creates a smart marketplace where the CPS requests services (demand) and the CPPS provides them (supply). Using mobile communications and cloud computing, this can of course be further expanded into the wider supply chain.

The concept of Manufacturing as a Service (MaaS) is, to some extent, already present in the semiconductor industry. The full supply chain has many different steps and, because of the high value of the product, transportation costs become pretty much irrelevant. This means that processing steps can be geographically distributed and the smart marketplace bidding for the work can extend throughout the world. Different factories may compete with each other for procuring specific processing steps and still be competitive regardless of location. Industry 4.0 gives the industry all the tools it needs for a smart, highly efficient marketplace that can add significant production flexibility while reducing both costs and production times.

Benefits of virtual and augmented reality

There are already few manual steps in the semiconductor production process with wafer production in particular using highly automated processes. This means there are few operators to oversee significant amounts of operations and equipment. Industry 4.0 opens up new areas in virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR) that will help keep operations running smoothly.

The visualization and control of the wide spread autonomous elements within the CPS and CPPS in a decentralized production model requires a move away from standard, fixed, desk-top like workstations. Mobile devices are now more than capable of handling the demanding tasks of an operator workstation and offer the potential to decrease operational costs and increase productivity (FIGURES 3a and b).

Industry 3

FIGURE 3. Mobile devices are now more than capable of handling the demanding tasks of an operator workstation and offer the potential to decrease operational costs and increase productivity.

FIGURE 3. Mobile devices are now more than capable of handling the demanding tasks of an operator workstation and offer the potential to decrease operational costs and increase productivity.

Using more comprehensive digital data and mobile computing technology, operators would be able to simply point a tablet at a piece of equipment and get real time information about what is happening. Locations of personnel could also be monitored to make most efficient use of human resources available. For the semiconductor industry; the use of secure, mobile devices further reduces the need to take up space in valuable clean-room environments.

Using mobile interfaces, maintenance technicians will also be able to conveniently move between machines without the need to logon at different workstations.

They can interact with different pieces of equipment and gather information about processes while carrying out tasks such as ordering spare parts all from a single mobile device. For specific operations relating to a piece of equipment, apps that automatically launch onto the technician’s tablet depending upon their location may further be used to add important additional infor- mation about a piece of equipment. For example, a particular part may be highlighted to be checked or replaced or additional information about specific machine readings highlighted on the display.

With all the amount of data sent by sensors, products and equipment it will also be possible to visualize in real-time the complete status of a production floor using VR 3D maps. Combining information about where personnel are within the factory and which direction they are facing, this further enables the implementation of some compelling AR scenarios. Indeed, the capability of mobile devices and the increase in real-time data available will likely make the wider use of both VR and AR a fundamental part of shop floor operations.

The Route to Industry 4.0 – the next generation of MES

There are a number of challenges that Industry 4.0 brings with it and its implementation will certainly not happen overnight. The huge benefits the model has to offer, however, can be planned into business strategies and realized over time. One of the first areas to consider is vertical integration of the model. This is important because corporate processes must not be avoided with the autonomy of materials and machines. Business processes for compliance, logistics, engineering, sales or operations all have components inside the plant as well as others that reside beyond the factory that are crucial to a business process being executed effectively. Without these, it’s almost impossible to properly manage a production floor of a certain complexity.

Modern Manufacturing Execution Systems (MES) based on decentralized logic offer a platform for the development of the Industry 4.0 model and a natural route to its vertical integration. MES have always been most effective when integrated into Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems ‘above’ while monitoring and controlling production processes ‘below’.

With the CPS and CPPS communicating directly with each other, the MES can trigger business rules or workflows for the complete production process. For example, quality processes may demand that a device may need additional verification steps before processing continues as part of a higher level quality sampling strategy. This requires communication to intersect the business rules so the quality procedures are not bypassed before the device continues through its production processes.

Another area that is reliant on good vertical integration of systems within Industry 4.0 is Statistical Process Control (SPC). SPC requires data to be collected over time from numerous materials passing through the factory. For example, if a device within the CPS knows it needs to collect a measurable variable, this needs to be confirmed against SPC rules that it is within limits. If it is not, corrective action may be required. Flags for such actions need to be triggered in systems above the CPS and, again, the MES is an ideal platform for this.

By its very nature, the concept of a smart shop floor will generate huge volumes of data. An Industry 4.0 MES will need to aggregate this data and put it into a shop floor context. Indeed, to handle the decentralized logic and vertical integration of the autonomous entities on the shop floor, MES manufacturers need to fully expand their systems’ capabilities to ensure all plant activities are visible, coordinate, managed and accurately measured.

Future MES can also help to realize the full MaaS. This requires horizontal integration so all functions and services can be consumed by all entities on the shop floor including the CPS smart materials and CPPS smart machines. For individual equipment or processes to be procured in single steps, the MES needs to offer exceptional flexibility to expose all available services, capacity and future production plans. With visibility of the complete supply chain, MES also need to consider security and IP related challenges with multi-dimensional security. This needs to be at a service level but also at individual process, step and equipment levels and at any combination of these.

Ultimately it is envisioned that the Cloud will deliver the storage and the ‘anytime, anywhere’ ability to handle the volume of data created from sensors, processing and connectivity capability distributed throughout the plant. The manufacturing intelligence needed and provided by MES today therefore also has to expand to better accommodate the diversity and volume of big data. Fast response to any manufacturing issues will come from real-time analysis where advanced techniques such as “in-memory” and complex event processing may be used to drive operational efficiency even further, where the value of the process makes this a viable return on investment.

Support for advanced analytics in MES is needed to analyse historical data fully understand the performance of the manufacturing processes, quality of products and supply chain optimization. Analytics will also help by identifying inefficiencies based on historical data and pointing staff to corrective or preventive actions for those areas.

Legacy MES

Semiconductor was probably one of the first industries to embrace the idea of MES. First adopters were as early as the 1970s before the term ‘MES’ was even established. Some of these systems still exist today. The problem is that, as the limits of these early systems were reached; small applications have been added around them to meet modern manufacturing demands. These systems are so embedded into production processes that changing them is like replacing the heart of the factory and is no small consideration. There will, however, be some point where these systems can no longer be patched up to meet needs and factories will need to change to survive. The huge potential benefits Industry 4.0 offers may well be the catalyst to change and the basis of sound strategic planning for the future of a business.

Summary

One of the main areas of benefit of the Industry 4.0 decentralized model is the ability to individualize products efficiently with high quality results. This benefits all industries as trends show an increased demand for high mix, smaller batches to meet varying consumer demands. More than for many other industries, the high cost of individualized semiconductors makes the value of adding autonomy to customized processes even higher.

MES have been at the heart of the semiconductor industry for many decades but future-ready MES, based on models with de-centralized logic, offer a pathway to realizing the benefits Industry 4.0 has to offer. For semiconductors these benefits centre on reduced production costs, particularly for small production batches; enhanced efficiency of small workforces, and the business and cost reductions to be gained from the MaaS model and smart supply chain.

Although the semiconductor industry has been somewhat protected, competition is still fierce, especially in areas of mass production. In all different manufacturing areas, however, batch sizes will become smaller and the demand for individualized products will increase. Semiconductor manufacturers that can adapt more quickly to this trend will gain competitive edge and ultimately will be the businesses that survive and grow for the future. Without the Industry 4.0 model manufacturers will of course be able to produce in the future context of more customization, but costs will be much higher than for those who embrace this industrial revolution. If the full scope of Industry 4.0 is realized throughout the supply chain with MaaS, it will be even harder for companies that are outside of this model to compete in the smart marketplace.

With the dawn of Industry 4.0, manufacturing is moving into a new era that brings huge benefits and it is unlikely that the semiconductor industry will let itself be left behind!

From the ground-breaking research breakthroughs to the shifting supplier landscape, these are the stories the Solid State Technology audience read the most during 2016.

#1: Moore’s Law did indeed stop at 28nm

In this follow up, Zvi Or-Bach, president and CEO, MonolithIC 3D, Inc., writes: “As we have predicted two and a half years back, the industry is bifurcating, and just a few products pursue scaling to 7nm while the majority of designs stay on 28nm or older nodes.”

#2: Yield and cost challenges at 16nm and beyond

In February, KLA-Tencor’s Robert Cappel and Cathy Perry-Sullivan wrote of a new 5D solution which utilizes multiple types of metrology systems to identify and control fab-wide sources of pattern variation, with an intelligent analysis system to handle the data being generated.

#3: EUVL: Taking it down to 5nm

The semiconductor industry is nothing if not persistent — it’s been working away at developing extreme ultraviolet lithography (EUVL) for many years, SEMI’s Deb Vogler reported in May.

#4: IBM scientists achieve storage memory breakthrough

For the first time, scientists at IBM Research have demonstrated reliably storing 3 bits of data per cell using a relatively new memory technology known as phase-change memory (PCM).

#5: ams breaks ground on NY wafer fab

In April, ams AG took a step forward in its long-term strategy of increasing manufacturing capacity for its high-performance sensors and sensor solution integrated circuits (ICs), holding a groundbreaking event at the site of its new wafer fabrication plant in Utica, New York.

#6: Foundries takeover 200mm fab capacity by 2018

In January, Christian Dieseldorff of SEMI wrote that a recent Global Fab Outlook report reveals a change in the landscape for 200mm fab capacity.

#7: Equipment spending up: 19 new fabs and lines to start construction

While semiconductor fab equipment spending was off to a slow start in 2016, it was expected to gain momentum through the end of the year. For 2016, 1.5 percent growth over 2015 is expected while 13 percent growth is forecast in 2017.

#8: How finFETs ended the service contract of silicide process

Arabinda Daa, TechInsights, provided a look into how the silicide process has evolved over the years, trying to cope with the progress in scaling technology and why it could no longer be of service to finFET devices.

#9: Five suppliers to hold 41% of global semiconductor marketshare in 2016

In December, IC Insights reported that two years of busy M&A activity had boosted marketshare among top suppliers.

#10: Countdown to Node 5: Moving beyond FinFETs

A forum of industry experts at SEMICON West 2016 discussed the challenges associated with getting from node 10 — which seems set for HVM — to nodes 7 and 5.

BONUS: Most Watched Webcast of 2016: View On Demand Now

IoT Device Trends and Challenges

Presenters: Rajeev Rajan, GLOBALFOUNDRIES, and Uday Tennety, GE Digital

The age of the Internet of Things is upon us, with the expectation that tens of billions of devices will be connected to the internet by 2020. This explosion of devices will make our lives simpler, yet create an array of new challenges and opportunities in the semiconductor industry. At the sensor level, very small, inexpensive, low power devices will be gathering data and communicating with one another and the “cloud.” On the other hand, this will mean huge amounts of small, often unstructured data (such as video) will rippling through the network and the infrastructure. The need to convert that data into “information” will require a massive investment in data centers and leading edge semiconductor technology.

Also, manufacturers seek increased visibility and better insights into the performance of their equipment and assets to minimize failures and reduce downtime. They wish to both cut their costs as well as grow their profits for the organization while ensuring safety for employees, the general public and the environment.

The Industrial Internet is transforming the way people and machines interact by using data and analytics in new ways to drive efficiency gains, accelerate productivity and achieve overall operational excellence. The advent of networked machines with embedded sensors and advanced analytics tools has greatly influenced the industrial ecosystem.

Today, the Industrial Internet allows you to combine data from the equipment sensors, operational data , and analytics to deliver valuable new insights that were never before possible. The results of these powerful analytic insights can be revolutionary for your business by transforming your technological infrastructure, helping reduce unplanned downtime, improve performance and maximize profitability and efficiency.

The Electronic System Design (ESD) Alliance Market Statistics Service (MSS) today announced that the Electronic Design Automation (EDA) industry revenue increased 7.0 percent for Q3 2016 to $2093.7 million, compared to $1957.5 million in Q3 2015. The four-quarters moving average, which compares the most recent four quarters to the prior four quarters, increased by 3.7 percent.

“The industry realized solid growth in Q3, with all of the geographic regions – Americas, Europe, Middle East and Africa, Japan, and Asia/Pacific – reporting revenue increases,” said Walden C. Rhines, board sponsor for the ESD Alliance MSS and chairman and CEO of Mentor Graphics. “Product categories CAE, Semiconductor IP, IC Physical Design & Verification, and services all reported increases in the third quarter.”

Companies that were tracked employed a record 35,515 professionals in Q3 2016, an increase of 6.2 percent compared to the 33,430 people employed in Q3 2015, and up 1.5 percent compared to Q3 2016.

The complete quarterly MSS report, containing detailed revenue information broken out by both categories and geographic regions, is available to members of the ESD Alliance.

Revenue by product category

Computer Aided Engineering (CAE) generated revenue of $666.7 million in Q3 2016 which represents a 5 percent increase compared to Q3 2015. The four-quarters moving average for CAE decreased 1.2 percent.

IC Physical Design & Verification revenue was $441.3 million in Q3 2016, an 8.2 percent increase compared to Q3 2015. The four-quarters moving average increased 2.8 percent.

Printed Circuit Board and Multi-Chip Module (PCB & MCM) revenue of $162.2 million for Q3 2016 represents a decrease of 0.1 percent compared to Q3 2015. The four-quarters moving average for PCB & MCM increased 0.9 percent.

Semiconductor Intellectual Property (SIP) revenue totaled $720.9 million in Q3 2016, a 10.4 percent increase compared to Q3 2015. The four-quarters moving average increased 10.1 percent.

Services revenue was $102.6 million in Q3 2016, an increase of 3 percent compared to Q3 2015. The four-quarters moving average increased 2.9 percent.

Revenue by region

The Americas, EDA’s largest region, purchased $932.9 million of EDA products and services in Q3 2016, an increase of 3.2 percent compared to Q3 2015. The four-quarters moving average for the Americas increased 1.3 percent.

Revenue in Europe, the Middle East, and Africa (EMEA) increased 2.3 percent in Q3 2016 compared to Q3 2015 on revenues of $297 million. The EMEA four-quarters moving average decreased 0.7 percent.

Third-quarter 2016 revenue from Japan increased 3.9 percent to $213.2 million compared to Q3 2015. The four-quarters moving average for Japan increased 5.5 percent.

The Asia/Pacific (APAC) region revenue increased to $650.6 million in Q3 2016, an increase of 16.6 percent compared to the third quarter of 2015. The four-quarters moving average increased 9 percent.

The complete MSS report, available to the ESD Alliance members, contains additional detail for countries in the Asia/Pacific region.

Sensor sensation


December 22, 2016

Microfluidic platforms have revolutionized medical diagnostics in recent years. Instead of sending blood or urine samples off to a laboratory for analysis, doctors can test a single drop of a patient’s blood or urine for various diseases at point-of-care without the need for expensive instruments. Before the sample can be tested however, doctors need to insert specific disease-detecting biomolecules into the microfluidic platform. While doing so, it has to be ensured that these biomolecules are well-bound to the inside of the device to protect them from being flushed out by the incoming sample. As this preparatory step can be time-consuming, it would be advantageous if microfluidic platforms could come pre-prepared with specific biomolecules sealed inside. However, this sealing process requires exposure of the device components to high energy or ‘ionized’ gas and whether biomolecules can survive this harsh process is unknown.

The nMIS sensor created by researchers in OIST's Micro/Bio/Nanofluidics Unit. The sensor detects biomolecule charge in a conventional way, but additionally, the gold nano-islands enable the detection of biomolecule mass. Credit: Micro/Bio/Nanofluidics Unit, OIST

The nMIS sensor created by researchers in OIST’s Micro/Bio/Nanofluidics Unit. The sensor detects biomolecule charge in a conventional way, but additionally, the gold nano-islands enable the detection of biomolecule mass. Credit: Micro/Bio/Nanofluidics Unit, OIST

To answer this question, researchers at the Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology Graduate University (OIST) have created a novel sensor that detects biomolecules more accurately than ever before. This sensor was used to demonstrate that biomolecules can be successfully sealed within microfluidic devices. The results, published in Nanoscale, have profound implications for healthcare diagnostics and open up opportunities for producing pre-packaged microfluidic platform blood or urine testing devices.

Traditionally, metal oxide semiconductor (MOS) sensors are used to detect the binding of biomolecules to a surface by measuring changes in charge. Comprised of a silicon semiconductor layer, a glass insulator layer and a gold metal layer, these sensors are incorporated in an electric circuit with the biomolecule sitting in an electrolyte-filled plastic well on top of the sensor. If you then apply a voltage and measure current, you can work out the charge from the capacitance reading given off. Biomolecules with different charges will give you different capacitance readings, enabling you to quantify the presence of biomolecules.

The novel sensor created by researchers in OIST’s Micro/Bio/Nanofluidics Unit, measures charge using the same technique as conventional sensors but has the additional function of measuring mass. Instead of having a solid gold metal layer, the so-called nano-metal-insulator semiconductor (nMIS) sensor has a layer of tiny gold metal islands. If you shine light on these nanostructures, the surface electrons start oscillating at a specific frequency. When biomolecules are added to these nanoislands, the frequency of these oscillations change proportional to the mass of the biomolecule. Based on this change, you can use this technique to measure the mass of the biomolecule, and confirm whether it survives exposure to ionized gas during encapsulation within the microfluidic platform.

“We made a simple sensor that can answer very complex surface chemistry questions,” says Dr. Nikhil Bhalla who worked on the creation of the nMIS sensor.

Measuring two fundamental properties of surface chemical reactions on the same device means that researchers can be far more confident that biomolecules have been successfully encapsulated within the microfluidic platform. A measurement of charge or mass alone could be misleading, making it look like biomolecules have bound to a surface when in fact they have not. Having more than one technique in the same device means that you can switch from one mode to the other to see if you have the same result.

“Scientists have to validate one reaction with multiple techniques to confirm that an observation is authentic. If you’ve got a sensor that enables the detection of two parameters on a single platform, then it is really beneficial for the sensing community,” says Dr. Bhalla.

“By combining these two simple measurement techniques into one compact platform, it opens doors to create portable and reliable sensing technologies in the future”, adds PhD student Shivani Sathish.

In a proof-of-concept experiment, by combining information about both the mass and charge of the biomolecule, the scientists were able to show that a common biomolecule survives exposure to ionized gas at a specific energy level. A single reading of charge alone gives a misleading result, but looking at the complementary parameters together allows for more accurate biomolecule detection.

This novel nMIS sensor could be used to create microfluidic platforms that test for various diseases. By measuring charge and mass using the nMIS sensor, researchers can ensure that disease-detecting biomolecules are successfully sealed and functional inside the testing device.

“It would be like a pre-packaged pregnancy test,” says Professor Amy Shen, head of OIST’s Micro/Bio/Nanofluidics Unit. “If there is already something adsorbed then all you have to do is introduce whatever sample you are using, such as urine or blood.”

It might also be possible to combine several biomarkers in the same device to test for different diseases at the same time. By integrating this dual sensing technology with the ready-to-use devices, it offers great promise in the field of healthcare diagnostics owing to its advantages of portability and point-of-care testing.

Faster production of advanced, flexible electronics is among the potential benefits of a discovery by researchers at Oregon State University’s College of Engineering.

Taking a deeper look at photonic sintering of silver nanoparticle films — the use of intense pulsed light, or IPL, to rapidly fuse functional conductive nanoparticles — scientists uncovered a relationship between film temperature and densification. Densification in IPL increases the density of a nanoparticle thin-film or pattern, with greater density leading to functional improvements such as greater electrical conductivity.

The engineers found a temperature turning point in IPL despite no change in pulsing energy, and discovered that this turning point appears because densification during IPL reduces the nanoparticles’ ability to absorb further energy from the light.

This previously unknown interaction between optical absorption and densification creates a new understanding of why densification levels off after the temperature turning point in IPL, and further enables large-area, high-speed IPL to realize its full potential as a scalable and efficient manufacturing process.

Rajiv Malhotra, assistant professor of mechanical engineering at OSU, and graduate student Shalu Bansal conducted the research. The results were recently published in Nanotechnology.

“For some applications we want to have maximum density possible,” Malhotra said. “For some we don’t. Thus, it becomes important to control the densification of the material. Since densification in IPL depends significantly on the temperature, it is important to understand and control temperature evolution during the process. This research can lead to much better process control and equipment design in IPL.”

Intense pulsed light sintering allows for faster densification — in a matter of seconds – over larger areas compared to conventional sintering processes such as oven-based and laser-based. IPL can potentially be used to sinter nanoparticles for applications in printed electronics, solar cells, gas sensing and photocatalysis.

Earlier research showed that nanoparticle densification begins above a critical optical fluence per pulse but that it does not change significantly beyond a certain number of pulses.

This OSU study explains why, for a constant fluence, there is a critical number of pulses beyond which the densification levels off.

“The leveling off in density occurs even though there’s been no change in the optical energy and even though densification is not complete,” Malhotra said. “It occurs because of the temperature history of the nanoparticle film, i.e. the temperature turning point. The combination of fluence and pulses needs to be carefully considered to make sure you get the film density you want.”

A smaller number of high-fluence pulses quickly produces high density. For greater density control, a larger number of low-fluence pulses is required.

“We were sintering in around 20 seconds with a maximum temperature of around 250 degrees Celsius in this work,” Malhotra. “More recent work we have done can sinter within less than two seconds and at much lower temperatures, down to around 120 degrees Celsius. Lower temperature is critical to flexible electronics manufacturing. To lower costs, we want to print these flexible electronics on substrates like paper and plastic, which would burn or melt at higher temperatures. By using IPL, we should be able to create production processes that are both faster and cheaper, without a loss in product quality.”

Products that could evolve from the research, Malhotra said, are radiofrequency identification tags, a wide range of flexible electronics, wearable biomedical sensors, and sensing devices for environmental applications.

From artificial intelligence to the Internet of Things (IoT), far-reaching innovations are unfolding in virtually every technology sector around the globe, continuing to change the way consumers, businesses and machines interact while also spurring the next revolution in tech market growth, according to a new white paper from IHS Markit (Nasdaq: INFO).

For the white paper, IHS Markit surveyed its leading technology experts, who represent various industry segments including advertising, automotive, connected networks, consumer devices, entertainment, displays, media, semiconductors, telecommunications and others. These analysts were asked to provide their informed predictions for the global technology market in the New Year.

The Top Seven Technology Trends for 2017, as identified in this IHS Markit report and listed in no particular order, are as follows:

Trend #1 – Smart Manufacturing Accelerates With More Real-World Products

  • Companies use IoT to transform how products are made, how supply chains are managed and how customers can influence design.
  • Example: look for automation/operator tech firms to release their own Platforms-as-a Service (PaaS) offering in the cloud as they compete to offer and own IoT projects for the industrial market.

Trend #2 – Artificial Intelligence (AI) Gets Serious

  • Already, personified AI assistants from a handful of companies (Amazon’s Alexa, Apple’s Siri) have access to billions of users via smartphones and other devices.
  • However, even bigger, more profound changes are on their way as levels of human control are ceded directly to AI, such as in autonomous cars or robots.

Trend #3 – The Rise of Virtual Worlds

  • After several years of hype, the operative reality behind virtual, augmented and mixed digital worlds is set to manifest more fully in 2017. The technology for augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR) will advance significantly as Facebook, Google and Microsoft consolidate their existing technologies into more exhaustive strategies.
  • New versions of VR-capable game consoles featuring 4K video and high dynamic range (HDR) will also create the medium for high-quality VR content, even if availability will be limited for the next few years.

Trend #4 – The “Meta Cloud” Era Arrives

  • Communication service providers plan to deliver a new wave of innovation, allowing for a single connection to the enterprise and acting as a gateway to multiple cloud service providers. IHS Markit refers to this as the meta cloud.
  • In 2017, new offerings will become available from traditional Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) vendors, coupled with expanded offers from the likes of IBM, Amazon and— most notably—Google via its Tensor chip. Watch for the development and deployment of more specialized silicon in the next two years.

Trend #5 – A Revolution in New Device Formats

  • The development of the consumer drone is the closest example of a product type evolved over the past few years that has quickly gone mass market. 3D printers and pens are heading the same way.
  • The next set of new devices may well materialize at the boundary of cheap 3D printing and inexpensive smartphone components to create completely novel device types and uses.

Trend #6 – Solar Still the Largest Source of Renewable New Power

  • The next year, 2017, will see photovoltaic (PV) technology retaining—and confirming—its position as the planet’s largest source of new renewable power.
  • More than a quarter of all PV capacity added worldwide in 2016 and 2017 will be in the form of solar panels. The growth of solar can be attributed to sharp drops in the cost of PV systems, combined with favorable country policies toward new renewable power.

Trend #7 – Low-Power Technologies Extend Reach to Inaccessible IoT Devices

  • The first batch of low-power, wide-area networks (LPWAN) will go live around the world in 2017 as an alternative to short-range wireless standards such as Wi-Fi and Bluetooth. LPWAN technologies will connect hard-to-reach, IoT devices more efficiently and at a lower cost, dealing with challenges stemming from range limitation to poor signal strength. As a result, opportunities will open up for telecom providers to support low-bit-rate applications.
  • In turn, the increased availability and low cost of LPWAN technologies will drive connectivity for smart metering, smart building and precision agriculture, among many other applications.