Category Archives: MEMS

December 6, 2012 – KLA-Tencor says its new fourth-generation LED wafer inspection system achieves greater flexibility, increased throughput, and improved efficiency for inspecting defects and performing 2D metrology in LED applications, as well as MEMS and semiconductor wafers (up to 200mm).

The ICOS WI-2280, built on the company’s WI-22xx platform, supports handling of whole wafers in carriers and diced wafers in hoop ring or film frame carriers, to accommodate multiple media with minimal equipment changeover. An enhanced rule-based binning defect classification and recipe qualification engine enable faster yield learning during production ramps, and improved process control and process tool monitoring strategies. Highly flexible advanced optical modules with dedicated image processing enable high defect capture rate and recipe robustness against varying process background. A frontend-to-backend-of-line connectivity analysis capability — working in conjunction with the company’s Candela LED unpatterned wafer inspection system and Klarity LED automated analysis and defect data management system — delivers a single platform for defect source analysis.

"Increasingly, LED manufacturers are demanding improved detection and classification of yield relevant defects of interest, which enables them to take faster corrective actions to improve their yields at higher inspection throughput. There is also a growing need to boost productivity by enabling faster production recipe creation," stated Jeff Donnelly, group VP for growth and emerging markets at KLA-Tencor. The ICOS WI-2280 "ultimately enabl[es] LED manufacturers to achieve better lumens per watt and lumens per dollar performance."

In addition to LED manufacturing, the system can work in MEMS, semiconductor and compound semiconductor, and power device applications (wafers spanning 2-8 in.), the company says: backend-of-line and post-dicing outgoing quality control or binning; frontend-of-line patterned wafer inspection for baseline yield improvement, rework, excursion control, or overlay; and 2D surface inspection and metrology.

As technology continues to scale to finer dimensions, large caches are being integrated into microprocessor die. This chart shows the general trend of large cache integration.

Subcommittee chair Stefan Rusu of Intel in Santa Clara, CA will present on trends in high-performance digital. The relentless march of process technology, he says, brings more integration and performance. IBM’s System z processor leads the charge at ISSCC 2013, clocking in at 5.7GHz and with 2.75B transistors. Read more.

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The prime application for thin-film-transistors are backplanes for active-matrix displays, including in particular flexible displays. They are well-suited for integration with temperature or chemical sensors and more. Hoi-Jun Yoo of KAIST in South Korea presents.

Technology directions in the field of large-area and low-temperature electronics focuses on lowering the cost-per-unit- area, instead of increasing the number of functions-per-unit-area that is accomplished in crystalline Si technology, according to the well-known Moore’s law. Subcommittee chair Hoi-Jun Yoo will present on the trends of these large-area flexible electronics. Read more.

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The market for MEMS sensors is becoming more robust with demands coming from automotive, industrial, mobile and scientific markets. By Uploaded by Michael Schmid (Cropped image from [1]) [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons.

Since 2010, there has been growth beyond expectations in the adoption of mobile devices, e.g. smart phones and tablets, which has called for larger volumes of CMOS image sensor chips to be produced. The resolution and miniaturization races are ongoing, and the performance metrics are also becoming more stringent. Roland Thewes of TU Berlin, Germany shares on the 2013 trends in imagers, MEMS, medical applications and displays. Read more.

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Memory Trends


December 4, 2012

Memory capacity trend of emerging nonvolatile memories will be discussed by Kevin Zhang of Intel in Oregon.

Subcommittee chair Kevin Zhang of Intel will be discussing trends in memory in 2013. According to Zhang, we continue to see progressive scaling in embedded SRAM, DRAM, and floating-gate based Flash for very broad applications. However, due to the major scaling challenges in all mainstream memory technologies, we see a continued increase in the use of smart algorithms and error-correction techniques to compensate for increased device variability. Read more.

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Energy-Efficiency Trends


December 4, 2012

Attribution: By gillyberlin (Flickr: Motorola Milestone Test) [CC-BY-2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons

Demand for mobile functionality to achieve enhanced productivity, a better social-networking experience and improved multimedia quality continues to drive innovation in technologies that will deliver these objectives in an energy and cost-efficient manner. Subcommittee chair Stephen Kosonocky of AMD in Fort Collins, CO, writes on energy efficient digital trends of 2013, as well as another area of growing importance: energy harvesting. Read more.

IEDM 2012 slideshow: Go to First Slide >>>

Analog Trends


December 4, 2012

Subcommittee chair Bill Redman-White of NXP/Southhampton University in the United Kingdom discusses the global challenges facing analog circuit research. While the manipulation and storage of information is efficiently performed digitally, the conversion and storage of energy must fundamentally be performed with analog systems. As a result, the key technologies for power management are predominantly analog. Read more.

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RF Trends


December 4, 2012

The RF chips presented at ISSCC 2013 confirm that RF devices will continue to see larger levels of integration at the chip- and package- level for years to come.

This year has shown increased innovation, integration and technical maturity across RF frequency bands. ISSCC authors will present on an ongoing drive toward increasing levels of integration. This trend can be seen in all areas of RF design from mm-Wave, to cellular, to imaging, to wireless sensors. Subcommittee chair Andreia Cathelin of STMicroelectronics in Crolles, France discusses these trends. Read more.

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December 4, 2012 – A*STAR’s Institute of Microelectronics (IME) and SFC Fluidics will be collaborating to develop a portable diagnostic tool for rapid triaging of traumatic brain injury (TBI) victims. TBI is one of the most common causes of death and disability in the world, usually resulting from blasts, falls, knocks, traffic accidents, and assaults.

The proposed diagnostic tool is a fully integrated, automated biosensor device that requires only a drop of blood to detect up to three biomarkers released by the brain after sustaining injury. The biomarker readings, along with an indicator indicating the severity of the injury, will be displayed on-screen.

Unlike conventional diagnostic tools such as neurological tests and computed tomography (CT) scans, the biosensor device does not require any trained personnel for sample handling. The device is portable, allowing rapid on-site diagnosis of the injury.

"This collaboration exemplifies the extension of ‘More-than-Moore’ technologies to health care. Building on our core capabilities in silicon-based microfluidics and biosensor technology, we can help our partner create innovative diagnostic tools to improve TBI treatment," says Prof. Dim-Lee Kwong, executive director of IME.

"By leveraging IME’s industry standard mass production facilities, we can cut down the product development cycle time," says Dr. Sai Kumar, VP of R&D at SFC Fluidics, a Fayetteville, AK microfluidics-based biomedical device development company.

The Institute of Microelectronics (IME), Singapore, is research institute of the Science and Engineering Research Council of the Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR).

Qualcomm Incorporated (NASDAQ: QCOM) announced an expansion of its display technology agreement between its subsidiary Pixtronix, Inc. and  Sharp Corporation to develop and commercialize high-quality color, low-power MEMS displays incorporating IGZO (Indium Gallium Zinc Oxide) technology. The goal is to build the displays using existing LCD manufacturing infrastructure. As a result of the equity investment (of up to $120 million), Qualcomm will become a minority shareholder in Sharp.

Qualcomm’s equity investment in Sharp and the expanded joint development agreement build upon the existing work between Sharp and Pixtronix as the two companies have been engaged in development activities for the last year and a half. The goal of this joint effort is to accelerate commercialization of Pixtronix’s low power MEMS displays utilizing Sharp’s IGZO technology.

The equity investment by Qualcomm will take place in stages and the consummation of the transaction is subject to certain contingencies. 

The Wall Street Journal reported that Sharp is discussing possible injections of cash from Intel and Dell, in addition to the Qualcomm deal.

"As one of the leading electronics companies in the world, Sharp has an established industry brand and is a recognized leader in the development and commercialization of new innovative display technologies," said Derek Aberle, executive vice president and group president of Qualcomm. "Expanding our existing relationship with Sharp to jointly commercialize new MEMS display technologies will help both companies realize their shared goal of driving high performance, lower power displays for a variety of devices, including smartphones and tablets."

"Sharp has brought many innovations to the display industry, including the world’s first commercialization of IGZO technology in LCD displays this year," said Yoshisuke Hasegawa, executive managing officer of Sharp Corporation. "Sharp is targeting to accelerate the commercialization of MEMS displays by combining Sharp’s cutting-edge IGZO technology and Pixtronix’s MEMS display technology."