Category Archives: Advanced Packaging

Fab equipment spending for Front End facilities is expected to be flat in 2013, remaining around $31.7 billion, increasing to $39.3 billion in 2014 — a 24% increase. The SEMI World Fab Forecast also reveals that in 2013 increases for fab equipment spending will vary by technology node and that fab construction spending will increase an overall 6.7% with major spending in China. The report tracks equipment spending at over 180 facilities in 2013. 

More than 262 updates have been made since the last publication of the SEMI World Fab Forecast. Updates are based on announced spending plans, including major changes for TSMC, Samsung, Intel, SK Hynix, Globalfoundries, UMC, and for some Japanese facilities and LED facilities.  Despite these adjustments, the overall forecast for equipment spending for 2013 has remained about the same. Depending on macro-economic risk factors, possible scenarios project a range of -3% to +3% change rate for fab equipment spending in 2013; in other words, hovering around flat.

Though the overall outlook has improved some, fewer players in the market can afford the rising costs for research and development and upgrading facilities as the amount of money needed to upgrade facilities at the leading edge technologies is immense.  The World Fab Forecast report shows increases for fab equipment spending, varying by technology node.  Fab equipment spending for 17nm and below is expected to kick off in 2013 and increase by a factor of 2.4 to about $25 billion from 2013 to 2014.

Fab construction spending is now expected to increase 6.7% with construction spending to reach almost $6 billion. In 2014, however, construction project spending is expected to contract by about 18%. Construction spending is led by TSMC, with seven different projects for the year; followed by Intel. Fab construction spending in China will increase by a factor of four due to Samsung’s Mega fab in Xian.

Capacity is now forecasted to expand by just 2.8% for this year and to improve to 5.4% growth in 2014.  Excluding 2009, the years 2012 and 2013 show the lowest growth rate for new capacity over the past ten years.   However, pent-up demand is expected for some product types because capacity additions have been cut to minimum levels while chip demand keeps increasing. Capacity additions and equipment spending are expected to pick up in the second half of 2013. In 2014, at least 5% in new capacity will be added and fab equipment spending will increase by 2%. The World Fab Forecast gives detailed capacity information by industry segment and by individual company and fab.

Since the last fab database publication at the end November 2012 SEMI’s worldwide dedicated analysis team has made 262 updates to more than 210 facilities (including Opto/LED fabs) in the database. The latest edition of the World Fab Forecast lists 1,146 facilities (including 310 Opto/LED facilities), with 58 facilities starting production this year and in the near future.

The SEMI World Fab Forecast uses a bottom-up approach methodology, providing high-level summaries and graphs; and in-depth analyses of capital expenditures, capacities, technology and products by fab. Additionally, the database provides forecasts for the next 18 months by quarter. These tools are invaluable for understanding how the semiconductor manufacturing will look in 2013 and 2014, and learning more about capex for construction projects, fab equipping, technology levels, and products.

SEMI’s Worldwide Semiconductor Equipment Market Subscription (WWSEMS) data tracks only new equipment for fabs and test and assembly and packaging houses.  The SEMI World Fab Forecast and its related Fab Database reports track any equipment needed to ramp fabs, upgrade technology nodes, and expand or change wafer size, including new equipment, used equipment, or in-house equipment.

PNI Sensor Corporation and EM Microelectronic -Marin SA announce the introduction of the Sentral sensor fusion hub: a new, highly effective way to integrate complex motion sensors on mobile devices. The Sentral sensor fusion hub is the first hub designed specifically to manage sensor outputs on a low-power integrated circuit, making 9-axis motion sensing outputs both super-precise and practical to implement. Carrying top-of-the-line sensor fusion algorithms on an extremely low-power integrated circuit, Sentral eliminates the need for complex sensor configurations, calibrations and algorithm development. Further, it dramatically reduces power usage, offloading sensor fusion work from less efficient host CPUs or sensor CPUs onto an ultra-low-power IC tailor-made for sensor optimization.

This is welcome news for mobile device manufacturers, as Sentral makes the integration of 9-axis sensor systems faster and easier, and at the same time, improves the quality, reliability and utility of output from the accelerometers, gyroscope and geomagnetic sensors. Compatible with Android and Windows 8-based mobile products, Sentral delivers the most accurate (2º of heading accuracy), real-time motion-related data available.

Further, because it is designed and built specifically to meet the power needs of the mobile market, the Sentral IC is ultra-low-power and consumes less than 10% of the power used by other CPUs performing the task of sensor fusion. It maximizes battery life even for applications that need constant processing of sensor data.

Sentral makes sensor implementation more practical as well. It can support a wide variety of gyros, accels and magnetic sensors from multiple and changing vendors. This allows for separate placement of the sensors, and manufacturers are not tied to a single source or sensor type. Because it uses a mere 800mAmps of power in normal operation, it frees up valuable CPU power and battery life, and with a mere 1.6×1.6×0.5mm footprint, it takes up virtually no space.

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Toshiba Corporation today announced that it has developed an intelligent vital signs sensor module: Smart healthcare Intelligent Monitor Engine and Ecosystem with Silmee, that simultaneously senses information on key vital signs, Electric Cardio Gram, pulse, body temperature and movements, and that can deliver the data to smartphones and tablet PCs with wireless technology. Toshiba has fabricated a prototype of the sensor module that is small enough to wear, and will present and demonstrate it at the International Symposium on Medical ICT 2013, to be held at Meiji University, Tokyo, Japan on March 7.

Current healthcare cloud and services make use of already developed individual healthcare devices, such as sphygmomanometers or clinical thermometers. Such services face major challenges in achieving market penetration because the equipment is too big and handling a number of pieces of equipment it too complex.

The recently developed Silmee includes a Pseudo-SoC analog front end, a 32bit ARM processor chip and a dual mode Bluetooth bare chip in a 14.5mm x 14.5mm small package. Simply adding a few devices to the module, such as an antenna, battery and sensor heads, achieves a completely wearable vital signs sensor system. Among the chips included in the module, the flexible and compact Pseudo-SoC analog front end is a very effective approach to implementing vital signs sensors, and extends recent rapid progress in vital sign sensor technologies.

Toshiba will demonstrate a very compact prototype implementation of Silmee: a 25mm x 60mm and 10 gram patch-type able to monitor all vital signs. Toshiba will contribute to the promotion of smart personal healthcare services by deploying the module and prototype terminal in a wide variety of smart healthcare service development and field trials.

Toshiba is a diversified manufacturer, solutions provider and marketer of advanced electronic and electrical products and systems.

wafer bonding and packagingEV Group (EVG), a supplier of wafer bonding and lithography equipment for the MEMS, nanotechnology and semiconductor markets, today announced that it is developing equipment and process technology to enable covalent bonds at room temperature. This technology will be available on a new equipment platform, called EVG580 ComBond, which will include process modules that are designed to perform surface preparation processes on both semiconductor materials and metals. EVG built on its decades of experience with plasma activated wafer bonding to create a novel process through which the treated surfaces form strong bonds at room temperature instantaneously without the need for annealing.

"In response to market needs for more sophisticated integration processes for combining materials with different coefficients of thermal expansion, we have developed a revolutionary process technology that enables the formation of bond interfaces between heterogeneous materials at room temperature," stated Markus Wimplinger, corporate technology development and IP director for EV Group. "Our expertise in wafer bonding process technology will allow us to provide different variants of the new process according to the requirements of different substrate materials and applications."

EV Group’s new process solutions will enable covalent combinations of compound semiconductors, other engineered substrates and heterogeneous materials integration for applications such as silicon photonics, high mobility transistors, high-performance/low-power logic devices and novel RF devices. The process technology and equipment that enables this room temperature covalent wafer bonding will be applied to EVG’s wafer bonding solutions for MEMS wafer-level packaging as well as to the integration of MEMS and CMOS devices.

Equipment systems based on a 200-mm modular platform, tailored for the specific needs of the new processes, will be available in 2013.

The employment of touch panels on mobile phones has paved the way for easy access to various operations. Moreover, there are increased demands for more specifications with the mobility, notably for outdoor readability. Touch panel makers are seeking ways to catch both greater specifications and lower cost at the same time, amid rapidly falling touch panel prices. Thus, the capacitive touch panel structure is undergoing the sea of changes.

Capacitive touch panels could be largely divided into the GG method (cover glass + ITO glass sensor), mostly used by Apple, and the GFF type (cover glass + two ITO film sensors). However, recent developments have introduced new structures that are more efficient in production and cost; ones with superior optical traits; and some with favorable weight/thickness.

Regardless of the type, the cover glass and touch sensor have a high cost ratio for all structures. As for 10.1-inch tablet PCs, the cover glass takes up 35% and the touch sensor around 30~32% for both GG and GFF types, which is why all the attention is being put on touch sensors.

Cost Ratio of Touch Materials by Structure

display market analysis

(Source: Displaybank, “Touch Panel-use ITO Film/ITO Glass 2013”)

With the rapid growth of the tablet PC market, the ITO film market has seen a staggering growth in demand with more manufacturers, which once insisted on glass sensors, switching over to film. The ITO film industry is even faced with supply shortages because it was late in responding to the exploding demand.

Meanwhile, some laptop models and all-in-one PCs have been employing touch panels with the launch of Windows 8. Since it is still in its initial stages, the touch panels are only employed on some of the high-end ultrabook models. But touch functions are expected to be increasingly applied on mid-end products. Considering that touch panels applied on mid-end products need to be cost efficient, GFF or GG types are most likely to be employed rather than the current G2. However, since there is an absolute shortage of large-sized glass sensor lines, and because mobile devices have to be light, GFF types have a higher chance of employment over the GG, which is why demands for ITO film is expected to grow. But along with such movements, large supplies of ITO film are forecasted for next year, suggesting a quick fall in ITO film sensor prices.

Against this backdrop, Displaybank analyzed and forecasted the ITO film/ITO glass market, technologies, and industry. The report forecasts the market by continuously observing and assessing the following issues:

ITO Sensor Market Forecast
Market forecast based on future touch panel strategies; cost simulations; possible supply capacity; and surrounding infrastructure of the major models, such as the iPad, the iPhone, the Galaxy Note, and the Galaxy.

Film Sensor
Considered enhanced outdoor readability through narrow bezel, use of sunglass film, and increased direct bonding; greater demands for fine patterning as a result of enhanced readability; the problem of resistance which is an obstacle to upsizing; and trends surrounding replacements.

Glass sensor
Considered the employment of thin-film glass; and how to maintain the side solidity to expand the sheet G2 market

InvenSense, Inc. and Avnet Memec this week announced the formation of a pan-European distribution agreement. With the new partnership, Avnet Memec is chartered with sales and support for InvenSense’s MotionTracking devices throughout Europe and Israel.

“Aligning with InvenSense is very exciting as they have industry-leading MEMS sensors, and their 6- and 9-axis MotionTracking devices are particularly compelling and innovative,” said Steve Haynes, president of Avnet Memec. “Also, their proven products meet the expanding demands of consumer electronics OEMS, as well as industrial and automotive manufacturers. Our agreement with InvenSense is poised to open new and exciting opportunities for both organizations throughout Europe.”

“The demand for InvenSense products is growing throughout the pan-European region,” said Behrooz Abdi, President and CEO of InvenSense. “As Avnet Memec has a worldclass sales and support infrastructure that is intensely focused on customer support and demand creation, it is the ideal partner to increase InvenSense’s footprint in this region.”

MotionTracking devices are widely deployed in many consumer electronic devices including smartphones, tablets, gaming consoles, and smart TVs as they provide an intuitive way for consumers to interact with their electronic devices by tracking motion in free space and delivering these motions as input commands. Accurately tracking complex user motions requires the use of motion sensors such as gyroscopes, accelerometers, compasses, and pressure sensors.

Corning, Apple’s glass supplier, announced yesterday that it will probably take at least three years before companies start making flexible displays using its new Willow flexible glass material.

Speaking with Bloomberg, Corning president James Clappin says that products with flexible displays are likely still three years out, adding that it’s now busy making "a lot of effort" to teach what it describes as "very big name" companies how to fully use the product. The glass has been rolled out as companies, such as Google, are considering launching wearable computers.

Clappin told reporters that companies have yet to come up with products that take advantage of Willow glass. The glass can be rolled up like a newspaper, allowing companies to make curved or flexible displays. Clappin believes people are not accustomed to glass you roll up.

Willow glass may be used in some simple products this year, said Clappin. Examples of these products could be thin films behind some touch panels or a flexible barrier for solar panels.

Corning said they have sent out samples of the flexible glass to makers of phones, tablets and TVs in June. Corning CFO, James Flaws, at the time said that the company hoped it would be available in consumer products this year.

Shipments of microelectromechanical system (MEMS) microphones in 2012 amounted to 2.05 billion units, up 57% from 1.30 billion in 2011, according to IHS iSuppli. Shipments will climb by another 30% to 2.66 billion units in 2013, to be followed by at least three more years of notable double-digit-rate increases. By 2016, approximately 4.65 billion MEMS microphones will be shipping, IHS predicted.

Revenues also made big gains in 2012, up 42% to $582 million, on the way to a projected $1.0 billion by 2016, IHS indicated.

"Microphones continue to be one of the biggest success stories in MEMS, with the rapid growth of the device due to its increasing penetration in the four areas of cellphones, laptops, headsets and media tablets," said Jeremie Bouchaud, director and senior principal analyst for MEMS & sensors at IHS. "MEMS microphones also can be found to a lesser extent in applications such as gaming, cameras, televisions and hearing aids, contributing to their broadening use overall, with further utilization coming to set-top boxes this year and to automotive during the next three years."

For handsets – by far the top application – penetration of MEMS microphones rose to 69% in 2012, up from 52% in 2011 and 38% in 2010, IHS said. In particular, multiple microphones are now being adopted in smartphones for noise suppression, in which the cancellation of ambient sounds is crucial for handsets when carrying out voice commands, like what Siri does in the Apple iPhones. The total number of microphones per handset is also on the rise: While midrange to high-end smartphones mostly used two microphones in 2010 and 2011, three microphones are fast becoming standard ever since Apple introduced a third device on the back of the iPhone 5 for high-definition video recording.

MEMS microphones are likewise making major headway into tablets, expected to become the second-ranked application by 2016, IHS noted. Even though the first tablets on the market, such as the initial iPad from Apple and the Galaxy Tab from Samsung Electronics, used electret condenser microphones (ECM), MEMS microphones had started to appear by the second generation of tablets. New use cases for noise suppression and voice commands are expected to add to the total device count moving forward, resulting in as many as four microphones in some tablets in the future.

MEMS microphones were also present in more than half of notebooks in 2012, as well as in headsets for the iPhone 4 and 4S, IHS added.

The MEMS microphone market is driven by both price and performance considerations, IHS pointed out. While MEMS microphones remain much more expensive than ECMs – over which MEMS microphones enjoy advantages in reliability, performance and ease of manufacturing – the price gap between the two has been narrowing. Moreover, sound quality and acoustics are becoming important differentiators in mobile devices, with manufacturers like Nokia and Apple willing to pay a significant price premium to obtain better performance and recently migrating to MEMS.

Apple, for instance, used ECMs exclusively for its first iPad and until the iPhone 3GS. Since the iPad 2 and iPhone 4, however, the California-based maker has switched to solely using MEMS microphones, IHS observed.

Both Apple and Samsung were the top consumers of MEMS microphones in 2012, accounting for a combined 54% of all shipped MEMS microphones, well ahead of other significant users like LG Electronics and Motorola, according to IHS.

The top supplier of MEMS microphones was US-based Knowles Electronics, which continued to dominate even though its share of shipments in 2012 slipped to 58%, down from 74% in 2011, on the face of increased competition, said IHS. Knowles is a second supplier of MEMS microphones for the iPhone, and is a first supplier for the iPad mini.

Other important MEMS microphone suppliers were AAC and Goertek, both from China and ranked second and third, respectively, IHS said. In fourth place was Analog Devices from Massachusetts, the sole supplier in the iPhone 5 of the third microphone – a high-performance, high-revenue-generating part.

Together the four top makers represented nearly 90% of MEMS microphone shipments in 2012, with the remaining portion of the market split among seven other suppliers, including Italian-French supplier STMicroelectronics in fifth place, IHS said.

Chinese makers figure prominently in the industry – as do Chinese smartphones and handset manufacturers acting as consumers, emerging as a major driving force after utilizing some 200 million MEMS microphone units in 2012, IHS noted.

brooks instruments mass flow controllerBrooks Instrument, a provider of flow measurement and control instrumentation to the microelectronics industry, will launch the GF135 pressure transient insensitive (PTI) mass flow controller at SEMICON China, March 19-21 at Shanghai New International Expo Center. In its first year at SEMICON China, Brooks will showcase the GF135 and its high-performance digital solutions for flow, vacuum and pressure measurement with partner SCH Electronics at booth 5505.

The GF135 improves yield and uptime with real-time integral rate-of-decay flow measurement and advanced diagnostic capabilities to verify accuracy, check valve leak-by and monitor sensor drift without stopping production. It provides market-leading actual process gas accuracy and ultra-fast flow settling time for reduced process cycle time. Onboard diagnostic data logging, zero stability trending and correction, and early detection of valve corrosion or clogging allow semiconductor manufacturers to achieve tighter tolerances and maintain uniformity in etch profiles and critical dimensions. The combination of these features allows the GF135 to deliver accuracy and cost savings to the semiconductor industry.

Additionally, Brooks will demo its GF81 mass flow controller, the new high-flow version of the GF80. The GF81 is the mass flow controller of choice for process engineers in solar, coatings and industrial thin-film applications. The GF81 offers flow rates up to 300 slpm, as well as a high-purity flow path. Unlike other high-flow mass flow controllers, it has a smaller footprint and offers the broadest range of communication protocols.

Based in Pennsylvania, Brooks Instrument is a multi-technology instrumentation company serving a range of markets. Brooks also owns Key Instruments, which offers precision machined acrylic flow meters, molded plastic flow meters, glass tube flow meters, and flow control valves. The company has manufacturing locations, sales, and service offices in the Americas, Europe, and Asia.

New automotive technologies that go beyond touchscreens, satellite radio, and voice-activated GPS commands are being tested and improved, and will soon begin to appear in many more new car models, resulting in solid growth for the automotive IC market through 2016, according to the 2013 edition of IC Insights’ IC Market Drivers—A Study of Emerging and Major End-Use Applications Fueling Demand for Integrated Circuits.

Military-like night-vision systems that quickly identify pedestrians, animals or road hazards in low-light conditions; airbags stowed in shoulder harnesses of seatbelts; and the ability for drivers to customize the look of their dashboard instrument panels are examples of systems that are available in a select number of cars now, but will soon become available in many more vehicles. Along with backup cameras, electronic stability control, active-cruise control, and several other systems covered in the IC Market Drivers report, emerging electronic systems are forecast to help the automotive IC market grow 52% from $18.2 billion in 2012 to $27.7 billion in 2016. This growth translates to an average annual increase of 11% for the automotive IC market.

Analog ICs and MCUs are forecast to benefit most from the increasing electronic content within automobiles.  According to the IC Market Drivers report, analog ICs accounted for 41% of the 2012 automotive IC market (Figure 2).  Analog ICs are used in “traditional” applications such as to gauge input functions like speed measurement and for output functions like opening and closing power windows and adjusting power seats.  One of the newer applications for analog ICs in cars is LED lighting.  Depending on the application, LED drivers and various converters are used to supply constant current despite variations in battery voltage.

Microcontrollers accounted for 36% of the automotive IC market in 2012.  16-bit applications in chassis and safety applications (lane-detection warning, hands-free telematics, etc.) are increasing, but enhanced 8-bit and low-end 32-bit MCUs are competing for many of the same sockets as 16-bit controllers.  Applications like anti-skid braking and airbag systems are solidly 16-bit now, but are transitioning to larger bit widths.  Electronic parking assist could be a new sweet spot for 16-bit MCUs. These systems typically use two to four (but as many as eight) ultrasonic sensors to detect objects near the vehicle.  Processing the additional information drives the requirements into the domain of 16-bit devices.

The 32-bit chips are incorporated into powertrains to handle functions such as electronic throttle control, cylinder deactivation, variable valve timing, and fuel injection, and in next-generation chassis and safety systems including active high-end electronic stability control, complex smart airbag systems, and more.  In addition, 32-bit MCUs are used to process sophisticated, real-time sensor functions within safety and crash-avoidance systems.

Gesture recognition is a growing trend that is being incorporated both inside and outside the car. 32-bit MCUs are at the core of many emerging gesture-recognition systems and in many ways, they are an extension of gesture-recognition technology found onboard in game controllers.

Though the automotive market represents only about 7% of total IC sales, increasing electronic system content in motor vehicles is forecast to result in this segment being one of the fasting-growing end-use categories through 2016.