Category Archives: Displays

By Tom Morrow, chief marketing officer, SEMI

Spending on LED fab manufacturing equipment will decline 9.2% in 2013 as the industry faces weak long-term demand and consolidates manufacturing capacity. According to the SEMI LED/Opto Fab Forecast, spending on LED fab manufacturing equipment will drop to $1.68 billion in 2013, down from $1.85 billion in 2012. Global LED manufacturing capacity will continue to grow this year, reaching an estimated 2.57 million 4-in. wafer equivalents, a 24% increase over 2012. The outlook for equipment spending in 2014 is currently projected at less than $1 billion, as manufacturers assess an uncertain competitive environment and potential alternative manufacturing strategies.

Underlying the softening in manufacturing investment is weak long-term demand for package LED components. Despite growing demand for solid state lighting systems, total demand for packaged LEDs is at or nearing its peak. Last year, Strategies Unlimited forecasted that demand for LEDs would peak in 2012 or 2013 at approximately $13.3 billion, declining to less than $13.0 billion in 2014. Recently, IMS Research forecasted that LED demand would peak in 2015 at nearly $14 billion before declining through the remainder of the decade.

World LED capacity trend. (Source: SEMI Opto/LED Fab Forecast, Nov. 2012)

Among the reasons for weak long-term demand is the LED count per device is dropping fast and the long-life of LED-based lighting systems radically reduces the replacement lamp market. For LED manufacturers, average selling prices continue to drop, especially in high-growth mid- and low-power segments serving the lighting industry.

With excess manufacturing capacity continuing to place price pressures on LED components, manufacturers will be cautious in embarking on major new manufacturing investments. Low fab utilization is also delaying the transition to 6-in. sapphire wafers. In addition, new GaN on silicon products are just now reaching the market, creating further uncertainty. Last month, Toshiba announced the beginning of production of white LEDs using GaN on 8-in. silicon substrates, utilizing depreciated IC fabs with modern automation tools. Working with technology from Bridgelux, Toshiba has reportedly indicated they will eventually ramp to 10 million units per month. German-based Azzurro Semiconductors announced that Taiwan LED leader, Epistar, has successfully migrated their LED structures to its 150mm GaN-on-Si templates and the company is feverishly working on 200mm technology. Philips, OSRAM, and Samsung are all actively exploring GaN on silicon technology.

GaN on silicon could be a game-changer in the LED market, but its impact is still uncertain. Yole Developpement estimates that significant cost benefits can only occur if equivalent yields to sapphire processes can be achieved, and that production utilizes fully amortized 200mm lines. Sapphire wafer prices have significantly declined over the past 18-months, lessening the benefits of a move to silicon.

Apart from major substrate technology changes, manufacturing spending will increasingly be focused on yield rather than capacity and throughput. Equipment, materials and technology suppliers who can deliver an ROI through improved manufacturing yields can still prosper in the weakened market.

China pursues leadership

China’s 12th Five Year Plan took effect in 2011 and renewed the country’s commitment to LED and solid state lighting technologies. While the massive MOCVD spending of 2010/2011 has significantly declined, China remains the leading region in manufacturing investments. China will be the largest market for LED fab equipment in 2013 with projected spending of $667 million, approximately 40% of the total worldwide spending and almost double Japan’s spending, the second largest region. In 2011, China spent over $1.2 billion on LED fab manufacturing equipment.

China’s generous national and local subsidy programs behind the massive industry development (China now has 82 LED fabs, up from only 16 in 2006) have all but disappeared, but the country remains committed to developing all sectors of the LED industry. China is a major consumer of LEDs in signage, mobile displays, TVs, and lighting that utilize low and mid-power LEDs that Chinese suppliers specialize in. Energy conservation through solid state lighting is a national priority. Most observers predict a consolidation of the China LED industry, with perhaps one of two companies emerging as global powerhouses. While much of China’s LED capacity is dormant, in transition or reliant on older technology, companies such as SanAn and ETi will invest new and upgraded manufacturing technology over the next two years.

Industry structure implications

Another troublesome aspect of the LED industry is that nearly 70% of the LED market is supplied by only ten companies, most of whom are directly involved in manufacturing lighting systems. Increasingly, the LED components may be seen as loss leaders offering little incentive for manufacturing investments. With falling ASP’s, soft demand, vertically integrated customers, and increasing supply of quality products from China and elsewhere, the outlook for continued LED manufacturing investments will be limited for the foreseeable future.

Tom Morrow will be providing the keynote address at the Strategies in Light (SIL) conference, February 12, 2013. SEMI members can receive a special discount rate with up to $200 savings to attend the Manufacturing Track. To register for SIL, click here.

The SEMI HB-LED Wafer Task Force, Equipment Automation Task Force, and Impurities & Defects Task Force will be meeting in conjunction with the Strategies in Light conference in Santa Clara, CA (Feb. 12-14). Following Strategies in Light, the NA HB-LED committee and its task forces will meet in April 1-4 in conjunction with the NA Standards Spring 2013 meetings in San Jose, California. For more information and to register for these meetings, please visit the SEMI Standards website here: www.semi.org/en/Standards.

For more information on SEMI’s involvement in the LED market, visit www.semi.org/LED.

by Todd Traylor, Vice President of Global Trading for Smith & Associates.

Consumer devices and cutting-edge tech make Consumer Electronics Show (CES) exciting; this year’s show stealers are the components that power it all. If you have any doubt look to center stage and Qualcomm’s opening keynote.

To those embedded (pun intended) in the semiconductor and electronics industry, Qualcomm is not a surprise keynote presenter. But CES is about the consumer, and their keynote highlighted what’s really at the core of consumer electronics’ (CE) success: powerful components. Components, after all, enable the innovative feature capabilities, mobility, power efficiency, and the integration of hardware and software, all which make CE devices "smart."   

Get smarter

The innovation behind the expanding class of smart devices (from phones to cars and all that is between) is the component breakthroughs from manufacturers – the processors, microelectromechanical sensors (MEMS) and sensor hubs, and the chips that are the brains, communication, and power of the devices.

Qualcomm unveiled their Snapdragon 800 and 600 series, processors designed for a range of mobile devices. The 800 series, manufactured using 28nm architecture, enables the integration of the new Krait 400, quad-core CPU with each core running at 2.3GHz, the new Adreno 330 GPU, 4G LTE, and 802.11ac WiFi, all with reduced power consumption, due in part to the smaller and more integrated chipset; the Snapdragon 600 series has similar architecture but slower speeds. The user experiences fast processing power for the next generation of smart devices, but at the level of traditional PCs, with the added benefits of always-on, always-connected plus the enhanced graphics and fast data communication speeds.

Nvidia’s latest Tegra 4 and Samsung’s Exynos 5 are among the direct competitors to the Snapdragon series . Nvidia’s Tegra 4 boasts 72 GPU cores in addition to the powerful quad-core Cortex A15 CPU, code-named "Wayne," for processing plus an additional low-power Cortex A15 running background tasks. The Tegra 4 CPU combination improves power use, essential in today’s devices, while integrating the CPU and GPU to improve performance and signal processing, important for graphics in digital cameras.

Tough competition improves CE field

At CES we see the envelope pushed to  be the  fastest, lightest, smallest, most efficient, best integrated, or first-mover. Intel scooped CES with the announcement of the new, quad-core, 22nm, Atom processor, Bay Trail, due this year to compete with ARM processors in mobile. Beyond speed, Bay Trail is only 8mm thick and enables all-day battery-life, essential to both mobile and Ultrabooks. AMD is showcasing its new Temash chip, based on the Jaguar CPU core, designed for tablets to support long battery life, HD graphics, powerful processing for full-applications for business productivity, as opposed to the reduced capabilities found mostly today. AMD’s Kabini chips are also on display, designed for the new line of low-powered laptops with A8 and A10 quad-core chips. These advances will support Ultrabook adoption in 2013 as prices decreases and features increase.

Expanded connectivity is also CES theme this year, such as Broadcom’s "Connected Life," enhancing consumer experiences in the home, car, and across wired and wireless devices. Pushing connectivity moves CE toward a unified experience as users move through environments. It also paves the growth path for NFC opportunities, content sharing, and allows for the latest in seamless "whole-home connectivity" through Broadcom’s  4th-generation, Gigabit DOCSIS system-on-chip (SoC) series, and dedicated SoC solutions for the fastest TV, internet, and mobile connected solutions.

Another set of breakthroughs comes from Atmel XSense™ flexible touch sensor, winner of CES’ Innovations Award in the Embedded Technologies. Flexible touchscreens are certain to be a desired feature in next-gen mobile devices, and Atmel’s expertise in sensor hubs and innovative material designs will ensure success.

Opportunities for everyone

One final note, it is not just the high-end CE devices that are targeted at CES. There is more attention this year to low-cost solutions designed for the emerging markets, which are set for double-digit growth for these devices, provided low-price points are met.

Author biography:

Todd Traylor began his career with Smith in 1997 in OEM sales, and was promoted to Trading Manager in 1999. In 2001, he transferred to The Netherlands to serve as General Manager of Smith’s Amsterdam office, and was promoted to Managing Director of Europe for Smith in 2002. Todd was named CPU Commodity Manager upon returning to Houston in 2003, and in 2012 was promoted to Vice President of Global Trading. Todd is a 1991 graduate of Texas A&M University, where he earned his bachelor’s degree in Business Management.

By Adrienne Downey, Director of Technology Research, Semico Research

In February 2012, Semico forecast 2012 semiconductor capex to reach $59.8 billion.  In December 2012, that forecast was virtually unchanged at $59.9 billion, down 5.6% from 2011.  After two years of double-digit growth (98% in 2010 and 26.2% in 2011), the semiconductor industry needed to back off and regroup.  Most concerning is that the gap between the big spenders and the small has expanded.  The top ten spenders for 2012 made up 81% of the total; this figure is up from the 76% of the total in 2011.  Overall, the top ten combined spent $48.2 billion, which is only 0.3% up from 2011.  Meanwhile, the rest of the companies went from spending $15.3 billion in 2011 to $11.7 billion in 2012, a decline of 24%.  Some of the decline can be attributed to companies like SanDisk, which, along with its partner Toshiba, delayed fab expansion projects until 2013.  Other companies like ST and TI made capacity improvements over the past few years, so spending in 2012 was mainly for maintenance.

In December 2012, most companies have still not announced capex plans for the following year.  This year is no different.  However, a handful of companies have given some indication of what they might spend next year.  For example, TSMC is forecasting 2013 capex to be slightly up compared to 2012.  Most of the other companies that have given a hint of 2013’s capex have indicated flat to down spending compared to 2012.  These companies include GLOBALFOUNDRIES, Avago, Fairchild, Micron, ON Semiconductor, SMIC, Spansion, and STMicroelectronics.  GLOBALFOUNDRIES announced its “Vision 2015” initiative to expand 300mm capacity in Singapore, but no budget was announced for the project. 

That being said, there are several construction projects that may give some indication of spending in 2013.  Samsung is retrofitting its Austin fab to switch from NAND to logic production, with mass production beginning in the second half of next year.  This is a $4 billion project spread out over 2012-2013.  Intel’s D1X and Fab 42 construction will wrap up in 2013; the company will also begin production at 14nm by the end of this year.  Samsung, TSMC, and GLOBALFOUNDRIES are also working on the 14nm and 20/22nm nodes.  UMC has Fab 12A Phases 5 and 6 under construction, with production schedule to begin in 2014.  SanDisk and Toshiba will probably increase their spending to complete the ramp of Fab 5, which they said would be complete by the end of 2013. 

Based on current indications, capital spending would seem to be flat in 2013.  However, Semico predicts healthy revenue growth this year, which may encourage more spending, particularly in the second half of the year.  This may bring total capex for 2013 into the positive range. 

By Mario M. Pelella, VP of Engineering, sp3 Diamond Technologies

Interest in diamond continues to grow within traditional thermal and wear applications (packaging, tool coating) and beyond into new applications (semiconductor, MEMS/NEMS, optical, interposers, electrodes, sensors, wastewater treatment, acoustic) that were previously difficult to exploit.

Diamond’s unique physical and electrical properties, which include the highest known thermal conductivity, highest Young’s modulus (diamond is the hardest substance man has ever discovered), a wide band gap, excellent electrical insulator properties, very low thermal expansion, very high breakdown voltage, very high carrier mobility, high radiation hardness, chemical and biochemical inertness and the broadest electromagnetic transmission spectrum, makes this remarkable technology a key enabler to break through current limitations and extend the performance and scalability of existing products well into the future.

For the currently available diamond-deposition systems, hot-filament chemical vapor deposition (HFCVD) growth technology provides the most reliable, safest and most cost effective solution that enables high throughput and good uniformity, control, repeatability and ease of scaling over large areas. Although current deposition areas are in the 350 mm x 375 mm range, scaling the HFCVD technology deposition area to 1000mm x 1000mm is viable, unlike other diamond-growth technologies.

The next step in the evolution of the semiconductor industry is to establish an SOD (silicon-on-diamond) substrate platform that mitigates the thermal impact of ever increasing power densities and suppresses local hot spots that influence peak performance and reliability (FIT rates) specifications, especially for RF power circuits and 3D-ICs. Moreover, incorporating diamond solutions into the MtM (more-than-Moore) technology roadmap will help extend electronic device and sensor performance metrics for a broad array of applications. All the process integration pieces to fully embrace SOD technology have been demonstrated, although productizing a 200mm (or larger) SOD substrate platform for high volume is still an elusive goal for the industry. Government agencies and corporate research and development funding continue to champion the maturity and advancement of diamond technology, which will help shorten the commercialization cycle of this exceptional material.

Recent advances in diamond applications (diamond-on-silicon, MEMS, optical), including record folded-beam RF resonator performance with a Q value of 146,580 at 232.4 kHz, IR transmission values nearing the theoretical limit of 71 percent, brighter, more energy-efficient LED lamps, exceptional figure-of-merit for RF power devices that are 40-50 times better than Si substrates, and demonstrated diamond-based diodes, BJTs, FETs, SAW filters, and field-emission devices, suggest that its utilization into a broader scope of commercial products is not far away.

December 28, 2012 – The FlexTech Alliance has awarded 4D Technology (Tucson, AZ) a contract to develop an optical system that addresses a shortcoming in roll-to-roll (R2R) electronics manufacturing: in situ, high-resolution mapping of surface topography and defects on a moving, flexible web. The $956K development project, expected to be completed in early 2014, will enable new, real-time levels of process control and yield enhancement, according to the groups.

Surface metrology and defect detection of web materials in R2R are well-known needs for flexible electronics manufacturing. This project’s primary focus is on analyzing and measuring transparent substrates, but the partners claim it will be applicable to translucent and reflective materials. Suppliers and customers of web materials will be able to agree upon and implement practical specifications and quality metrics to ensure consistent materials (incoming and outgoing) at the lowest possible cost.

Surface roughness, defect density, and cleanliness, key parameters for R2R substrates, are difficult to measure with high-resolution on moving substrates, noted Malcolm J. Thompson, chief technical advisor to the FlexTech Alliance. “This project with 4D Technology was initiated in order to upgrade the equipment industry’s capability to provide a metrology tool that can be integrated into a manufacturing line.”

“The new metrology system, as an on-line instrument, will register, identify and classify defects for pre-processing and post-processing of transparent flexible web materials. This will help overcome current manufacturing obstacles by replacing qualitative specs and visual inspection methods with quantitative specs supported by data acquisition and analysis,” added James Millerd, PhD, president of 4D Technology.

Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp., or SMIC, (NYSE: SMI; SEHK: 981), is claiming a breakthrough in its development of backside-illuminated (BSI) CMOS image sensor (CIS) technology, with the first test chip demonstrating good image quality even in low-light conditions. The complete BSI process technology, which has been independently developed by SMIC, will serve the market for high-end mobile phone cameras, and is targeted to enter risk production with partnering customers in 2013.

The BSI process development allows SMIC to broaden its CIS foundry service offerings to customers with five-megapixel and higher resolution phone cameras and high-performance video camera products. BSI sensors are more light-sensitive than frontside-illuminated CMOS sensors, allowing today’s top smartphones to take brighter, clearer pictures at night or indoors. While driving its BSI technology toward commercial production, the company is soon to begin early development of next-generation CIS technology based on 3D integrated circuits.

"We are proud to be the first Chinese foundry to successfully develop BSI CMOS image sensors," said SMIC CEO Dr. TY Chiu. "CMOS image sensors are among the key value-added technologies that SMIC offers for customers in the mobile device and imaging markets."

"With this achievement as a stepping stone, our development team will drive the BSI sensor technology to timely commercialization," added Dr. Shiuh-Wuu Lee, SMIC’s Senior Vice President of Technology Development.

Since the introduction of its frontside-illuminated CIS process in 2005, SMIC says it has become a major foundry for CIS wafers, primarily for mobile phone and consumer electronics applications. In order to provide turnkey CIS fabrication service, SMIC and Toppan Printing of Japan operate a joint venture, Toppan SMIC Electronics (Shanghai) Co., Ltd., (TSES), which fabricates on-chip color filters and micro lenses at SMIC’s Shanghai site.

Earlier this year, rival foundry United Microelectronics Corp. (UMC) and STMicroelectronics said they are collaborating on 65nm CMOS image sensor (CIS) technology using backside illumination (BSI), following completion of a frontside illumination (FSI) process at UMC’s 300mm Fab 12i in Singapore.

December 20, 2012 – Ultratech has acquired the assets of Cambridge Nanotech, a developer and supplier of atomic-layer deposition (ALD) technology with hundreds of installed systems in the field. Financial terms were not disclosed.

The company says adding the ALD technology will expand its nanotechnology and IP portfolio, enabling it to address new areas within the electronics industry and entry into new markets such as biomedical and energy. "By increasing our IP and expanding our nanotechnology portfolio to new levels, we expect to generate a new revenue stream in existing and new markets," stated Ultratech chairman/CEO Art Zafiropoulo.

Cambridge Nanotech was founded in 2003 by Jill Becker based on her Ph.D work in ALD at Harvard University. Weeks ago Cambridge Nanotech was quietly put up on the auction block; an announcement by Gerbsman Partners, the firm retained by the firm’s main backer Silicon Valley Bank, noted that the company had ceased operations on November 9 and that an auction would take place on Dec. 14. The firm indicated Cambridge Nanotech’s sales from 2004-2011 increased at a 84% CAGR (to $18.7M in 2011, according to a local report), with initial profitability after the first year but "lumpy" since then. "Recent working capital constraints and an overly leveraged balance sheet" were cited as the reasons for the decision to sell the company’s assets.

The asset sale includes several ALD product and technology lines, in place at academic and manufacturing environments for a range of electronics, MEMS/MOEMS, display/lighting, and energy applications:

– "Savannah" — R&D lab equipment
– "Fiji" — R&D lab equipment with plasma and additional
– "Phoenix" and "Tahiti" — Production equipment for high-volume manufacturing
– "Preboost" — To proliferate the use of more precursors in any ALD system
– "Roll2Roll" — Fast ALD; high throughput; atmospheric ALD

December 12, 2012 – Increased tablet adoption, with Apple’s continued dominance and emergence by new players (see Google, Microsoft) are changing the mobile PC competitive landscape — and supply-chain partners are having to rethink their strategies to stay atop the game.

Competitive conflicts are now a big concern, points out Jeff Lin, value chain analyst at NPD DisplaySearch; he cites Samsung Display planning to reduce its share in Apple and increase support to captive brands and other external customers, including Amazon and Barnes & Noble. New competitors in the market will seek to emphasize touch notebooks and ultraslim devices in 2013, while entrenched mobile PC competitors (Lin points to HP, Lenovo, Samsung, and Acer) need solid agreements with their own OEMs. Their collective demands will strain supply-chain logistics, from panels to OEMs, he notes.

“With 2013 business planning well underway, product portfolios, sales strategies, and sourcing plans for mobile PC brands will certainly impact the supply chain,” Lin noted. Top PC brands will see only 2% annual growth in 2012 for notebook PCs, and a -28% plunge in mini-notebook PCs — but tablet PC growth chugs on at 75%. In 2013, however, these PC companies are setting their sights higher, planning 16% Y/Y shipment increases on average for notebook PCs, while tablet PC growth "may be less impressive than in 2012,” he says.

LG Display was the top supplier of mobile PC panels, with more than a third of its shipments going to Apple. Still the clear leader in mobile PCs (defined as notebooks, tablets, and ultraslim PCs), Apple accounted for more than 84% of total tablet PC shipments in 2Q12 (primarily made by Foxconn). HP was second, with Quanta covering about 33% of its production. Foxconn led in all PC OEM production in 2Q12 with >85% of its volume from Apple’s new 9.7-in. iPad and iPad 2. (Quanta started making Google’s Nexus 7-in. tablet PC in 2Q12.)

OEM shipments to mobile PC customers, in millions. (Source: DisplaySearch)

What will 100M iPads do to the tablet supply chain?

Speaking of Apple, panel makers including Samsung, LG Display, Sharp, and Innolux are expected to ship 70M iPad panels (9.7-in.) in 2012; about a third of them (23M) for iPad 2 XGA panels and the rest (47M) the new iPad QXGA panels that use both a-Si and oxide TFT technologies. Strong sales of the legacy iPad model continue, though, so Apple and its panel makers are having to adjust their panel production plans.

Die-hard techies love their favorite devices, none more so than Apple fans. The iPad mini, which was recently voted one of the hottest consumer products of 2012 in Japan, immediately faced supply shortages for its 7.85-in. XGA display supplied by AUO and LG Display. Apple had originally planned to sell 6M units in 2012; only 1.6M panels shipped in 3Q12, but the company wants panel makers to ship another 12M to meet demand.

This is even harder than it sounds. The iPad panels are known to be complex and difficult to make, notes DisplaySearch’s David Hsieh. Not only must they have high resolution and low-power consumption, but their wide viewing angle and high color saturation require additional photomask steps. "Standard a-Si TFT backplanes require 4 or 5 photomask steps, but the iPad and iPad mini panels require 6 to 7," notes Hsieh. "And for panel makers with limited experience in IPS [in-plane switching] or FFS production, as many as 8 mask steps may be used. Increased mask steps means longer production times and lower yield rates."

If Apple’s expectations for a substantially bigger 2013 come true, it might have to rethink its supply chain even further. Answering the strong demand for the iPad mini, the company is targeting 100M iPad shipments in 2013 — half of those for the mini, 40M for the new iPad, and 10M of the iPad 2 model. (DisplaySearch projects over 170M total tablet PC shipments in 2013, which would give Apple continued domination at 60% share.) But there’s a downside, notes Hsieh: "If the iPad mini volume is anything near 50 million units, Apple will need to find other panel suppliers in addition to AUO and LG Display, just as it always has three suppliers for the iPad panels," he writes. Likely candidates include Century (China), Innolux (Taiwan), and Panasonic LCD (Japan), all of whom are experienced in IPS technologies. Apple must also manage its iPad panel supplies in case it ends up parting ways with longtime partner/competitor Samsung.

December 11, 2012 – Our slideshow of 14 interesting papers at this week’s IEEE International Electron Devices Meeting (IEDM 2012), did not include what are often some of the more intriguing papers — the ones that come in late and are unavailable for preview. This year there are four such papers, and we’re now able to give you a sneak peek at them, being unveiled starting this afternoon and through the week at IEDM in San Francisco.

ZnNO for next-gen displays

Stability degradation, especially at high mobility regime, limits the application of oxide semiconductors in next-generation displays. Zinc oxynitride, with its high mobility characteristics and small bandgap, is getting attention as an alternative for pixel-switching devices in ultra-high definition and large-area displays. Researchers from Samsung Advanced Institute of Technology and Seoul National University will describe ZnON-thin film transistors (TFTs) with field effect mobility near 100 cm2/Vs and operation stability(< 3 V) under light-illumination bias-stress. The uniformity is observed to be suitable for display applications, and with mobility performance comparable to that of polysilicon (poly-Si). (#5.6, "High mobility zinc oxynitride-TFT with operation stability under light-illuminated bias-stress conditions for large area and high resolution display applications")

Structure of ES-type ZnON-TFT fabricated by photolithography. (left) Top view from optical microscope and (b) cross-sectional TEM image at the vicinity of contact region.

SnO transistor for BEOL-CMOS I/Os

Renesas Electronics’ LSI Research Laboratory has devised a new P-type amorphous SnO thin-film transistor with high Ion/Ioff ratio (>104) as a component to complement N-type IGZO transistors for on-chip voltage-bridging BEOL-CMOS I/Os on conventional Si-LSI Cu-interconnects. (The transistor gives standard LSIs a special add-on function to control high-voltage signals directly.) Their BEOL-transistor (BEOL-Tr) uses a wide-band-gap InGaZnO (IGZO) as the channel and cap-SiN/Cu-interconnect as the gate dielectric/bottom-gate electrode. Normally-off transistor characteristics with relatively high mobility, high-Vd tolerance, high Ion/Ioff ratio, have made the BEOL-Tr attractive for voltage-bridging devices mountable onto advanced MCUs and SoCs. Realization of P-type transistors to complement IGZO-based NFETs and form BEOL-CMOS is also a key function for more sophisticated applications, they claim. (#18.8, "High On/Off-ratio P-type Oxide-based Transistors Integrated onto Cu-interconnects for On-chip High/Low Voltage-bridging BEOL-CMOS I/Os")

XTEM of the integrated device structure with G/D offset of 0.5μm. SnO is integrated onto Cu interconnect to realize P-type BEOL-Tr with high Ion/Ioff ratio. Device integration requires only one mask addition.

III-V TFETs for the 7nm node

III-V tunneling field-effect transistors (TFET) for low-voltage logic applications have gained attention, but their nonoptimized carrier tunneling limit drive currents. Researchers from the Rochester Institute of Technology and SEMATECH set out to map III-V Esaki tunnel diode performance, engineering tunnel diodes (TD) with ultrahigh-current densities while maintaining large peak-valley current ratios. In this paper, they report a comprehensive experimental benchmarking of an Esaki diode, including GaAs, In0.53Ga0.47As, InAs, InAs0.9Sb0.1/Al0.4Ga0.6Sb, and InAs/GaSb. Engineering the hetero-junctions enhances peak and Zener current densities beyond homo-junctions, to a record 2.2 MA/cm2 and 1.1 MA/cm2 (-0.3 V), laying the groundwork for III-V TFETs at the 7nm technology node. (#27.7, "Benchmarking and Improving III-V Esaki Diode Performance With a Record 2.2 MA cm2 Current Density to Enhance TFET Drive Current")

(a) Cross-section of a TD fabrication process flow. (b) SEM image of a characteristic submicron TD after mesa etch. (c) schematic of a fully-fabricated TD.

Integrated CMOS silicon photonics on 90nm

IBM researchers in the US and Europe are demonstrating the first sub-100nm technology (a current 90nm base SOI logic technology) that allows monolithic integration of optical modulators and germanium photodetectors — putting optical and electrical circuits side-by-side on the same chip. The resulting 90nm CMOS-integrated nano-photonics technology is optimized for analog functionality to yield power-efficient, single-die multichannel wavelength-mulitplexed 25Gbps transceivers. (IBM has a fuller description of the technology in a separate press release.) (#33.8, "A 90nm CMOS Integrated Nano-Photonics Technology for 25Gbps WDM Optical Communications Applications")

Cross-sectional SEM view of a 90nm CINP metal stack with Ge PD embedded into the front-end. Zoomed-in image of a photodetector is shown on top left. Optical microscope top-down image is shown on the low left.

Angled view of a portion of an IBM chip showing blue optical waveguides transmitting high-speed optical signals and yellow copper wires carrying high-speed electrical signals.

December 10, 2012 – Japanese consumer electronics giants Sony and Toshiba have shrugged off weak financial performances and increased their investments in new products to revitalize their businesses, notes IHS. Sony’s spending on semiconductors will rise about 5% in 2013 to $8.4B and will just barely increase in 2014 (0.1%), while Toshiba will spend about 2% more in 2013 (to $6.1B) and over 6% in 2014 ($6.5B). That’s in contrast to other major Japanese electronics OEMS — Panasonic and Sharp will both pull back their investments in the next two years.

"All the Japanese consumer electronics OEMs are struggling financially, prompting them to take measures to cut costs in order to shore up their profits," stated Myson Robles-Bruce, senior analyst for semiconductor spending and design activity at IHS. "But even in these grim circumstances, Sony and Toshiba remain optimistic about the future, and are taking steps to invest in innovative products."

Economic slowdown in various key global markets, lower demand in certain product segments, and increased competition from South Korea and China have weighed down Japan’s major consumer electronics manufacturers; all four aforementioned OEMs are projected to lose money this year on collectively -7% lower sales, IHS notes. Sony, for example, has issued bonds twice this year to raise funding (even as its credit rating plummeted), is eliminating up to 10,000 jobs in the current fiscal year, and selling off manufacturing plants and JVs. "The Japanese consumer electronics companies face a changed marketplace, due to the rising influence of Apple and other competitors that have redefined some of the product segments or else simply just taken away share in key areas," noted Robles-Bruce.

Nonetheless, Sony and Toshiba made splashes at CEATEC in October, Japan’s version of the big US Consumer Electronics Show (CES), he notes. Sony demo’d everything from smartphones and tablets to PCs, cameras, televisions, home networking, and storage equipment. Highlights included the Bravia 4K LCD TV and new hybrid PCs that can be used as either tablets or laptops. Toshiba, meanwhile, showed off its own 4K resolution TV, as well as ultrabooks and tablets. Products were on display in small, medium, and large screen sizes. It also introduced new REGZA HD TVs with built-in DVR capabilities.

Will these investments in new technologies and products pay off for the struggling Japanese OEMs? IHS sees a mixed bag: Sony’s sales are expected to rebound 3.7% in 2013, but Toshiba’s sales will slip another -1%, and declines are expected to continue at Panasonic and Sharp.

The real question, according to Robles-Bruce, is whether these persistent declines can be overcome or if they represent a long-term trend. "The Japanese consumer electronics companies face a changed marketplace, due to the rising influence of Apple and other competitors that have redefined some of the product segments or else simply just taken away share in key areas," he writes. "Based upon the current financial evidence, it appears as though total revenue for Sony might be higher for next year, although estimates for Toshiba actually show a slight decline."

  2012 2013 2014
Sony $7,979    $8,352 $8,363
Toshiba   $6,025 $6,148 $6,535

Net semiconductor spend forecast for Sony and Toshiba, in US $M. (Source: IHS iSuppli)