Category Archives: Advanced Packaging

Five University of California, Riverside professors will receive a total of $5 million as part of a $35 million research center aimed at developing materials and structures that could enable more energy efficient computers, mobile phones, and other electronic devices.

The research center, which will be called the Center for Function Accelerated nanoMaterial Engineering (FAME), will be located at UCLA and led by Jane P. Chang, a professor of chemical and biomolecular engineering at UCLA.

Four professors from UC Riverside’s Bourns College of Engineering are part of the center: Alexander A. Balandin, Alexander Khitun, Jianlin Liu and Roger Lake, all of whom are part of the electrical engineering department and materials science and engineering program. Jeanie Lau, a professor of physics and astronomy who is also part of the materials science and engineering program, is the fifth professor. Each professor will receive about $1 million.

FAME is one of six new university microelectronics research centers recently established with $194 million over the next five years from the Semiconductor Research Corporation (SRC) and the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA). The funding supports the continued growth and leadership of the U.S. semiconductor industry.

The other five centers will be located at UC Berkeley, University of Michigan, University of Notre Dame, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and University of Minnesota.

The University of Minnesota center is called the Center for Spintronic Materials, Interfaces and Novel Architectures (C-SPIN). Three UC Riverside researchers – Roland Kawakami, Ludwig Bartels and Cengiz Ozkan – received a total of $3 million as part of that center.

The goal of the FAME center is to create and investigate new nonconventional atomic scale engineered materials and structures of multi-function oxides, metals and semiconductors to accelerate innovations in analog, logic and memory devices for the semiconductor and defense industries.

The center includes 35 faculty researchers from 16 universities: UCLA, Columbia, Cornell, UC Berkeley, MIT, UC Santa Barbara, Stanford, UC Irvine, Purdue, Rice, UC Riverside, North Carolina State, Caltech, Penn, West Virginia and Yale.

Balandin, Lau and Liu will focus on van der Waals materials – a broad range of crystalline solids with layer structures. The van der Waals materials include graphene, topological insulators and charge-density wave materials. It is expected that this class of materials can be used in future information processing.

At SPIE Photonics West 2013, imec will present a prototype hyperspectral imager for snapshot and video acquisition. Being fast, compact and cost-efficient, the CMOS-based imaging systems with integrated hyperspectral filters are suited for multiple industrial vision applications. Imec is currently sampling the line scan version of its hyperspectral imaging solution, offering a ready-to-use evaluation kit to the industry to line scan and analyze specific sample material.

Imec’s prototype hyperspectral imager for snapshot and video captures an entire multispectral image at one discrete point in time. The imager is achieved by applying a hyperspectral filter in a novel tiled lay-out on a commercially available CMOS-based image sensor (CMOSIS CMV2000, 2 megapixel, max 340fps). The imager and off-the-shelf fore-optics simultaneously duplicates the scene onto each filter tile, acquiring multispectral image cubes of 256×256 pixels over 32 bands in the spectral range of 600-1000nm at up to 340 cubes per second—compliant to normal machine vision illumination levels. Due to its simple cube assembly process, the camera is able to acquire real-time hyperspectral video.

Imec’s line scan solution monolithically integrates hyperspectral filters on a CMOSIS CMV4000 imager (4 megapixel, max 180fps). It scans 100 spectral bands in the 600-1000nm wavelength range. The filter bandwidth (Full Width Half Max) is about 10nm across the spectral range, with a transmission efficiency of ~85%. The speed of the system corresponds to an equivalent speed of 2,000 lines per second, significantly exceeding current state-of-the-art hyperspectral sensors.

Imec is the first to sample CMOS integrated hyperspectral imaging sensors, giving the industry access to a compelling innovative technology. Evaluation kits of imec’s line scan solution are available now. They are fast and easy to set-up, enabling hyperspectral scanning and analysis of sample material, and delivering relevant test data within a few days after installation. The kits include all required components, from imager to host PC and software, and can be easily rebuilt into different configurations. During the course of 2013, imec expects to also launch evaluation systems compatible with its novel hyperspectral sensor for hyperspectral snapshot and video acquisition.

A*STAR’s Institute of Microelectronics, based in Singapore, signed an agreement to collaborate with Petroleum Geo-Services (OSE:PGS), to develop a high performance MEMS-based sensor for deep sea seismic oil and gas exploration. PGS is a geophysical company headquartered in Oslo, Norway. The MEMS sensor is targeted for incorporation into a PGS commercial streamer system, and will be used to acquire more precise seismic data during seismic survey to locate and estimate the size of offshore oil and gas reserves. The streamer systems are towed behind large ships.

Schematic illustration of a ship towing a large streamer spread with deep towing depth.

The collaboration leverages IME’s experience in designing high performance MEMS sensors, MEMS process platform and in-house packaging capability, and PGS’s expertise in seismic exploration. The project will demonstrate a MEMS sensor and provide guidelines for the packaging and integration with ASIC in the next phase.  

 “Collaborating with an industry leader provides an opportunity for us to further our research in sensing technology for oil and gas applications,” said Prof. Dim-Lee Kwong, Executive Director, IME. “IME’s integrated capabilities and deep understanding of different sensing technologies in MEMS will enhance our partner’s technology development capabilities and shorten the product development time.”

The oil and gas industry uses seismic imaging to provide 3-dimensional images showing the locations of oil and natural gas deposits. Imaging accuracy is critical to determining the optimum location for drilling to increase extraction efficiency. Two critical needs for improving image resolution and fidelity above today’s results are increasing the spatial density of sensors deployed in the field and generating ultra low noise measurements in a wider frequency band.

One of the advantages that MEMS accelerometers have over geophones is the flat frequency response at low frequencies. Unlike geophones which are velocity sensors and operate above their resonance frequencies, accelerometers operate below their resonance frequencies. The small size and lower power consumption of the sensor nodes will significantly reduce the cost of large scale deployments, enabling data from more channels to be collected, thus increasing the channel density in any given survey.

In earlier work between Shell and HP (unrelated to the A*Star/PGS announcement), a MEMS sensor was fabricated from three separate single crystal silicon wafers bonded together and singulated into a small vacuum encapsulated die. The proofmass was suspended by silicon flexures etched through the center wafer. Electrodes were arrayed on one surface of the proofmass and on the stationary wafer opposite the proofmass. A small gap was maintained between the two wafers.

The touch panel market is growing rapidly due to the increasing sale of smartphones and tablet PCs. The touch panel market size in 2012 was 1.3 billion units, a 39.4% growth over 2011. The market is projected to grow 34% in 2013, growing to more than 1.8 billion units, according to a new research report from Displaybank.

Source: Displaybank, "Touch Panel Market Forecast and Cost/Issue/Industry Analysis for 2013"

Smartphone and tablet PCs, major applications that use touch panels, are expected to continue to grow at a high rate. In addition, most IT devices that use display panels have either switched to or will start using the touch panels soon. Therefore the touch panel market will show a double digit growth annually until 2016, by unit. The market size is expected to reach more than 2.75 billion units by 2016.

With the explosion in the sale of smartphones and tablet PCs during the past few years, our lives have changed dramatically. They are now common place in our lives, and have a huge influence in the IT industry in general. With the introduction of Windows 8 OS in October 2012, upsizing of touch panels has begun. The impact of this event on the immediate growth of the touch panel market and the long-term effect is so immense that it cannot be estimated at the moment.

The financial crisis that started in 2008 left much of the IT industry hobbling worldwide. But only the touch panel market is enjoying a boom. Many new players are pouring into the industry, and those on the sidelines are waiting for the opportune moment to enter. As more players enter the competitive landscape, touch panel prices are falling rapidly. In addition, to gain competitiveness and to differentiate itself in the market has led players to develop and improve structure, technique and process, and seek out new materials.

The introduction of Windows 8 is leading the increase in touch capable Notebook and AIO PCs. It is still too early for the touch interface to completely displace keyboard and mouse, but the touch functionality does add convenience to some operations. We are sure to see an increase in specialized apps that capitalize on such functions. Therefore, touch functions will complement traditional input methods. As the technology is still in early implementation stages, it is used only in select high-end Ultrabooks. But it’s only a matter of time before touch functions make its way to mid-end products.

Forecasting the future of touch panel industry is not only difficult, but also outright confusing in the current landscape due to the rapid expansion; the increase in number of devices that use touch panels; more players in the market; and rapid development of new products and new processes. Displaybank has released "Touch Panel Market Forecast and Cost/Issue/Industry Analysis for 2013" to provide industry outlook by application, product, and capacitive touch structure. The report also includes the supply chain of set makers and touch panel manufacturers; and cost analysis of major capacitive touch panels by size and type. This report will serve as a guide to bring clarity and understanding of rapidly transforming touch panel industry.

memsstar Limited, a provider of etch and deposition equipment and technology solutions to manufacturers of semiconductors and micro-electrical mechanical systems (MEMS), announced two etch system order wins from new MEMS customers in Asia. memsstar recently shipped its memsstar R&D system to manufacturing customers in Korea and India for use in MEMS research and development, representing the first memsstar etch release system orders from these countries.

The R&D tool was selected by both customers for vapor phase isotropic etching of silicon for MEMS structures to support their new product development efforts. In addition to being suited to R&D applications, all memsstar’s processes are scalable for volume manufacturing using the same processing techniques, offering a process transfer and lower cost of ownership from R&D through to full scale production.

“Our proprietary memsstar systems are aggressively positioned for growth, delivering critical technological differentiators to customers engaged in MEMS etch release and surface coatings,” said Tony McKie, general manager of memsstar, Ltd. memsstar’s patented process is compatible with a wide range of metals — especially Al/alloy and other metals commonly used in MEMS mirrors and electrical contacts, while the single wafer processing platform offers excellent release etch repeatability with a wide process window to maximize performance and yield. memsstar¹s dry release etch process using hydrogen fluoride (HF), or xenon difluoride (XeF2), is unique because of its ability to eliminate stiction in a single process.

SiTime Corp. introduced the SiT8920 MEMS oscillator for industrial and high reliability applications. While operating over the widest temperature range, -55°C to +125°C, the SiT8920 consumes half the power of quartz oscillators, is twice as stable, 20 times more reliable and 30 times more robust to shock and vibration. These key benefits dramatically improve system performance and reduce failures in harsh environments.

Piyush Sevalia, executive vice president of marketing at SiTime, said: “SiTime’s MEMS oscillators incorporate unique features that are simply not available from quartz products. For example, the SiT8920 incorporates SiTime’s unique SoftEdge rise/fall time control that reduces system EMI without additional components, expensive shielding or PCB re-design.”

SiTime is also introducing two additional devices that are well suited for replacing quartz oscillators and crystal resonators.

  • SiT1618 – a fixed-frequency oscillator that operates over -40°C to +125°C
  • SiT8918 – a programmable oscillator that operates over the same temperature range and supports any frequency between 1 and 110 MHz as well as 1.8V and 2.5 to 3.3V operation

 These new high-temp oscillators offer many unique features and benefits listed below.

  • Best robustness: 30 times better than quartz oscillators; 0.1 ppb/g vibration sensitivity; 50,000 g shock and 70 g vibration resistance
  • 500 million hours MTBF (2 FIT), 20 times better than quartz oscillators
  • ±25 PPM over the operating temperature for better system timing
  • Low power consumption: < 4 mA typical
  • Five industry-standard package options including a tiny 2.0 x 1.6 mm, all of which are drop-in replacements for quartz oscillators

The SiT8920, SiT8918 and the SiT1618 MEMS oscillators are sampling now with mass production scheduled for April 2013. Pricing is available upon request.

MEMS Industry Group (MIG) will host its second annual MEMS Executive Congress® Europe, March 12, 2013 in Amsterdam. This European edition of MIG’s executive event features an opening presentation by MIG Managing Director Karen Lightman, keynotes by Continental Automotive GmbH and SORIN GROUP, and panels exploring micro-electromechanical systems (MEMS) as a core enabling technology in both established and emerging markets.

“European companies and research organizations are breaking new ground in mobile communications, automotive systems, energy production and conservation, and medical/quality of life applications for aging populations—and a share of the astounding progress they are making is attributable to MEMS,” said Karen Lightman, managing director, MEMS Industry Group. “MEMS Executive Congress Europe allows the global MEMS community to tap into the expertise of some of the top European minds in these growing fields. It is a forum for exchanging vital information about business and market challenges and opportunities in using MEMS for life-improving and life-changing applications.”

Keynotes

  • Ralf Schnupp, PhD, vice president, Segment Occupant Safety & Inertial Sensors, Continental Automotive GmbH—“Future Trends in Automotive — Smart Systems and Sensors”
  • Renzo Dal Molin, PhD, advanced research director, SORIN CRM within Cardiac Rhythm Management business unit, SORIN GROUP—“Vision for Implanted Medical Devices Healthcare Solutions and Technical Challenges”

Panels

  • “MEMS in Consumer Products”—MEMS is pervasive in consumer electronics. Consumers are demanding—and receiving—more natural user interfaces in smartphones, tablets and remotes; more immersive gaming experiences; more personalized consumer-health applications; and so much more. European companies are leading innovation in this rapidly growing market—but why? Panelists will explore whether the climate for innovation, including corporate-government partnerships and consumer-OEM relationships, fosters greater innovation in the EU than in other regions. Panelists will also discuss the intense pressures of this highly competitive but lucrative market.
  • “MEMS in Automotive”—MEMS has been critical to advancements in the automotive industry for decades, starting with accelerometers in airbag crash sensors and other automotive safety and environmental control applications. Today MEMS is opening a whole new world of safety, energy-efficiency and performance features in automotive. We are moving towards cars that drive themselves, zero-emission vehicles, and automobiles that meet the ubiquitous connectivity needs of today’s consumer. Panelists will examine how MEMS is enabling new classes of applications in the well-established yet highly competitive and consumer-driven automotive industry. They will explore the maturation of MEMS components into essential elements used in every new automotive technology—and will examine if lessons learned on the journey can be applied to other applications and industries.
  • “MEMS in Energy”—the energy industry is undergoing significant change—from deregulation in existing markets and expansion into new energy sources and regions to the rapid increase of energy costs. With current energy sources not able to meet future global demand, we require new solutions that are portable and highly efficient. Once again the EU is leading the way. European organizations are looking to MEMS in harnessing alternative energy and in generating more energy-efficient, lower-cost power. Panelists will discuss current MEMS initiatives for energy applications and will explore areas of the energy industry that might benefit from integration with MEMS.
  • “MEMS in Medical — Focus on Aging”—medical and quality of life applications that allow people to live longer and more independently are gaining mindshare—and market share. With medical-device manufacturers increasingly pursuing growing commercial opportunities, they are turning to MEMS for patient monitoring, management, rehabilitation, replacement, and drug delivery, including microfluidics. As people in the developed world live longer, and expect a high quality of life to the very end, how can MEMS help to meet the needs of a vast and aging populace? Panelists will address the MEMS’ connection to lifesaving and life-enhancing applications.

About MEMS Executive Congress Europe 2013

MEMS Executive Congress Europe 2013 brings together business leaders from a broad spectrum of industries: automotive, industrial/energy, biomedical/quality of life, and consumer goods. It is a unique professional forum at which executives from companies designing and manufacturing MEMS technology sit side-by-side with their end-user customers in panel discussions and networking events to exchange ideas and information about the use of MEMS in commercial applications.

Premier sponsors of MEMS Executive Congress Europe include: Platinum Sponsor – EV Group; Gold Sponsor – SPTS Technologies; Silver Sponsors – Analog Devices, STMicroelectronics and SUSS MicroTec; and Bronze Sponsor – Applied Materials.

Sponsors include: Akustica, Bosch Automotive Electronics, Bosch Sensortec, Fries Research & Technology (FRT), imec, IVAM, Maxim Integrated, MEMS and Nanotechnology Exchange, MinacNed, Polytec, Roessingh Research and Development, Semicon Europa,Silex Microsystems, Solid State Technology and Tronics.

MEMS Executive Congress Europe will be held March 12, 2013 at the Steigenberger Airport Hotel, Amsterdam, The Netherlands. It is conveniently co-located with Smart Systems Integration 2013.

For more information, please contact MIG via phone: +1 412/390-1644, email: [email protected] or visit MEMS Executive Congress at: www.memscongress.com.

MEMS Industry Group (MIG) is the trade association advancing MEMS across global markets. Close to 150 companies comprise MIG, including Analog Devices, Applied Materials, Bosch, Freescale Semiconductor, GE, Honeywell, HP, Intel, InvenSense, Murata Electronics Oy, OMRON Electronic Components, Qualcomm Technologies, STMicroelectronics and Texas Instruments. For more information, visit: www.memsindustrygroup.org.

January 25, 2012 – Given the ascension of smartphones, it’s no surprise that Samsung and Apple remain far and away the biggest end-users of semiconductors, and are widening their lead on the rest of the field, according to the latest Gartner rankings.

Together they consumed $45.3 billion worth of semiconductors in 2012, nearly $8 billion more than in 2011, growing double-digits while overall chip consumption fell -3% (and several top-10 chip consumers actually fell by double-digits). They now represent 15% of the entire market for chips, up from 12% in 2011. (Samsung also has a big IDM foundry operation by which it supplies chips to others, including Apple.)

A weak macroeconomic environment, and a "dramatic change" in consumer demand hampered overall semiconductor demand in 2012, explained Masatsune Yamaji, principal research analyst at Gartner. The PC market still represented the largest end application, but the market noticeably shifted from traditional desktop and mobile PCs to mobile devices such as smartphones and media tablets which contain less semiconductor content.

On the flip side, the limited computing and storage capabilities of new mobile computing devices will require more resources in cloud computing services, meaning data centers and communications infrastructure will continue to be a key demand driver for semiconductors, Yamaji pointed out. Another factor in mobile computing devices: there’s been very little hardware differentiation, as new capabilities are quickly proliferated among other hardware vendors with commercial system-on-chip (SoC), software, and reference designs. "Semiconductor vendors must aid, or at least monitor, the hardware innovations of the market leaders," he says.

Top 10 semiconductor design total available market (preliminary) in US $B. (Source: Gartner)

January 22, 2012 – The Fraunhofer Institute for Applied Polymer Research (IAP) in Potsdam-Golm and fab/cleanroom developer MBRAUN have commissioned a new "near industrial-scale" pilot line for organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs) and organic solar cells.

The 15m-long pilot line, dubbed the Pilot Plant for Solution-based Processes for Organic Electronics at Fraunhofer IAP’s Application Center for Innovative Polymer Technologies, was commissioned during a two-day workshop last week (Jan. 15-16) entitled "Solution-based Organic Electronics: From Materials to Technology."

Showing the new ability to extend of previous laboratory-scale work, part of the ceremony apparently included showing a 1:20 scale bus shelter (10cm high), designed by a joint project of IAP and fdesign and funded by the Federal Ministry of Research. The mini-shelter is solar powered with partially transparent organic solar cells integrated into the roof and sidewall; OLEDs display the schedule or give light signals when a bus arrives. The Potsdam Fraunhofer Institute developed the OLEDs as well as the organic solar cells.

"The model shows that organic electronics has great design potential for energy-saving, intelligent lighting control and information systems," stated Armin Wedel, division director at Fraunhofer IAP. "To apply these technologies to life-size street furniture, the new pilot line now offers the possibility to realize organic electronic components under near-industrial conditions — a crucial prerequisite for the later transfer into commercial products."

Martin Reinelt, CEO of MBRAUN, added his hope that such partnerships can "strengthen the German research landscape in order to compete successfully with American and Asian research institutions. We also want to demonstrate the performance of German plant manufacturing."

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.