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Boosted by orders from unbranded, white-box Chinese manufacturers, global demand for tablet panels is exceeding expectations, spurring IHS to increase its forecast for displays by six percent for 2013.

A total of 262 million displays for tablets are forecast to be shipped in 2013, compared to the previous forecast of 246 million, according to the May Edition of the “LCD Industry Tracker—Tablet” report from information and analytics provider IHS. This will represent 69 percent growth from 155 million in 2012.

“Competitive dynamics in the tablet market have changed dramatically this year as Chinese white-box smartphone makers have entered the tablet market in droves,” said Ricky Park, senior manager for large-area displays at IHS. “These companies are producing massive quantities of low-end tablets that appeal to consumers in China and other developing economies. Because of this, the white-box manufacturers are driving up demand for tablet panels, particularly smaller displays using the older twisted nematic (TN) technology, rather than the newer screens using in-plane switching (IPS).”

Unbranded tablet makers purchased 40 percent of all tablet panels in April, up from just 17 percent in the first quarter of 2012.

Partly because of the rise of white-box makers, shipments of smaller 8- and 9-inch tablet displays will rise by nearly 200 percent in 2013. In contrast, larger displays in the 9-, 10- and 11-inch range will suffer a five percent decline.

The boom in white-box tablets is being driven the introduction of turnkey designs offered by processor makers. The designs make it easy for new, inexperienced market entrants to offer tablet products.

The Chinese white-box manufacturers hold certain advantages over the major incumbent tablet manufacturers. The white-box manufacturers are able to produce tablets at lower cost, more quickly and with greater flexibility in production. These companies also have the capability to manufacture both unbranded tablets, and make products for the major brands on a contract manufacturing basis.

Such white-box players also have been agile enough to take advantage of the current high availability and low-cost of tablet panels. Makers of displays for the shrinking PC market have switched over to the tablet market, spurring a glut that has depressed pricing. As prices have fallen, the white-box makers have demonstrated enough flexibility to boost production of low-cost tablets.

“Playing to their strengths, the white-box manufacturers are set to continue to increase their presence in tablets and propel the expansion of the overall tablet market,” Park said.

IHS believes the strong growth of tablet panel demand continued in the second quarter. The arrival of more turnkey tablet design solutions will drive up demand for 7- and 8-inch panels throughout the year.

The 8-inch panels are becoming an increasingly large segment of the tablet market, with a display area more appealing to users than the 7-inch size. In all, the 8-inch panels accounted for 11 percent of panel shipments in April, with Samsung and Acer having recently launched new tablets in that size. With more introductions likely coming in the third quarter, IHS expects a substantial market share for the 8-inch by the end of this year.

The market for larger-sized, 10-inch and bigger tablet panels may begin to enjoy a recovery in shipments with the launch of the new Intel Corp. Atom microprocessor, code-named Bay Trail. This new device could help reduce the cost of x86 microprocessor-based tablets and improve battery life. Bay Trail also could generate opportunities for hybrid-form tablets that include keyboards.

The x86 tablets, with Microsoft Corp.’s new Windows 8 operating system, would have functionality better suited to the needs of the commercial and business worlds than either the Google Android- or the Apple  iOS-based tablets, which are designed with the consumer in mind.

 

Imec has developed a Manganese (Mn)-based self-formed barrier (SFB) process that significantly improves Resistance Capacitance (RC) performance, via resistance and reliability in advanced interconnects. It provides excellent adhesion, film conformality, intrinsic barrier property and reduced line resistance. This technology paves the way towards interconnect Cu metallization into the 7nm node and beyond.

With continuous interconnect scaling, the wire resistance per unit length increases, which has a detrimental impact on the device performance (RC). Moreover, when reducing the dimensions with conventional barrier layers, an increased loss of copper (Cu) cross sectional area is observed, resulting in high resistance and decreased interconnect lifetime (electro-migration and time dependent dielectric breakdown – EM and TDDB). To overcome these interconnect metallization issues when scaling beyond the 1X technology node, imec’s R&D program on advanced interconnect technology explores new barrier and seed materials as well as novel deposition and filling techniques. The Mn-based SFB was demonstrated to be an attractive candidate for future interconnect technology.  At module level, Mn-based SFB resulted in a 40 percent increase in RC benefits at 40nm half pitch compared to conventional barrier and good lifetime performance (comparable to TaN/Ta reference).

These results were achieved in cooperation with imec’s key partners in its core CMOS programs Globalfoundries, Intel, Micron, Panasonic, Samsung, TSMC, Elpida, SK hynix, Fujitsu and Sony.

Imec exhibits at SEMICON West, July 9-11, 2013.

Altair Semiconductor, a maker of small, low-power semiconductors for wireless applications, announced today that it has completed a $25 million round of funding from existing investors.

altair logo

Altair said it plans to use the capital to further strengthen its position in the single-mode LTE market as well as to support high volume product deployments from its largest customers.

"As LTE networks reach coverage parity with 3G in key markets, carriers realize that removing 3G and adapting LTE-only is the most efficient way to significantly lower costs and increase mobile broadband attach rates," said Oded Melamed, Co-Founder and CEO of Altair. "Our month over month increase in chip shipments is a testament to the widespread move towards LTE-only across the industry and we intend to use the funds to support our customers as they ramp high volume production and deploy their products in the field."

The cost of integrating LTE-only is substantially lower than LTE+3G, minimizing the prohibitively high cost delta that exists today between basic Wi-Fi models and those with mobile broadband connectivity. The lower cost of integrating LTE-only connectivity is also a key factor in the enablement of widespread availability of cloud-connected devices in the consumer and machine to machine space, driving what is known as the "Internet of Everything."

Altair has pioneered the introduction of cutting edge, low cost single-mode LTE chipsets and, since rolling out its first chipset in 2009, has achieved many industry-firsts, including the release of the first FDD/TDD chipset in the world, the first commercial LTE chipset to exceed 100Mbps and the first chipset to be certified by Verizon Wireless’ 4G chipset certification program.

To date, Altair’s products have been integrated into more than 100 different product models, including tablets, Ultrabooks, portable hotspots, USB dongles and routers, designed by more than 30 global customers.

Gigaphoton Inc. announced today that it has completed delivery of its first ArF immersion Excimer laser supporting 450mm multi-patterning, the GT64A.

This product is the latest advancement in Gigaphoton’s ArF platform – offering even greater levels of performance and efficiency to support the growing requirements of our customers’ High Volume Manufacturing (HVM) environment. The product inherits proven "timeless" technologies from its predecessors such as the twin-chamber architecture, output control algorithm, and beam alignment technologies, and advances them further to achieve greater output power, beam performance and stability.

The GT64A, with its extremely high laser efficiency levels, can produce variable power outputs ranging from 90W to 120W for multi-patterning in 450mm wafer production applications. Power output can be automatically adjusted to optimal levels based on the scanner’s requirements and the customers’ process. With its highly stable energy, spectral bandwidth, and beam profile, combined with longer pulse durations, the product offers greatly improved overlay accuracy, critical dimension control, and minimization of line edge roughness – all of which are extremely important for multi-patterning.

"To support the semiconductor industry’s health and growth during turbulent times, it is essential to our company’s existence that we continue to focus on delivering the most effective Excimer laser technology for HVM in conjunction with world-class support and services", said Hitoshi Tomaru, president and CEO of Gigaphoton. "With this in mind, I am very pleased we were able to deliver our first product designed to support the highly anticipated 450mm wafer scanners. This achievement also signifies our contribution to the industry’s goal of maturing 450mm technology – bringing us one step closer to HVM."

The future is bright for the future semiconductor and IT industry, according to Samsung exec Yoon Woo (Y.W.) Lee. In a keynote talk at The ConFab, Mr. Lee described a future with dramatic advances in almost every field, including healthcare, nano, energy and the environment, all powered by semiconductors. The end result:  a smarter, healthier and cleaner planet. Mr. Lee, who is widely credited with the success of Samsung’s semiconductor business, is now an Executive Advisor at Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. He previously held positions at Vice Chairman and CEO, Chairman of the Board of Directors, and Chief Technology Officer at Samsung Electronics.

Mr. Lee noted two major trends in the world’s population: more people living in cities, and a greater number of elderly. “There will be 500 cities with over 1 million people by 2015,” Mr. Lee said. “Such a trend will stimulate the IT industry.” According to UN projections, more than 400 of these cities will be in developing countries. The number of "megacities" of 10 million people or more also will increase. Worldwide by 2015, 22 cities will be this big, all but five in developing countries. “Asia continues to grow into the largest economy in the world,” Lee said.

By 2020, most of the rich world will be a “super-aged” society, Lee added. A country can be described as an aging society when people aged sixty-five or above make up more than 7% of the total population (as in China). When the elderly make up more than 20% of the population, the country has a super-aging society.

“From a business perspective, bio and healthcare holds great potential,” Lee said. He also spoke on the importance of global sustainability, which he said will face strain. “There are finite reserves of oil. We must also address global warming which is behind extreme weather conditions.”

Lee said much of the remarkable progress in fields such as mobile computing and medicine has been possible due to the advancement of IT, and semiconductors in particular. “The industry strives for greater performance, lower power, and smaller form factor to enable this technology migration,” he said.

He noted that new innovations, such as nanowires and transistors with III-V channels, are being developed for 10nm chips, and said the use of new TSV technology “will raise transfer speed, function less power and reduce size.”

He also predicted that optical interconnects would soon be required. “Exascale computing will require optical interconnection to communicate between the CPU and memory chip,” he said.

He also gave a nod to MEMS devices, saying nanostructures would be used to switch mechanical energy such as background noise and wind into electric energy. “Our movement will be converted into electricity that charges most of our mobile device in the future,” he said.

As part of his presentation, Lee asked the audience to imagine what it would be like in the year 2025, when we will experience a smarter world, a healthier life and a cleaner planet. Among the advances expected:

  • A light field 3D camera that easily captures three dimensional information, color and depth data simultaneously from different viewpoints in order to generate an accurate real-life picture.
  • Tangible interaction technology that will enable the user to directly touch and freely manipulate three dimensional images in open space. One will be able to actually feel the shape, the temperature and even the texture of a real object.
  • Displays in the form of a contact lens. Augmented reality on such lenses will inform you of traffic and weather conditions.
  • With thermochromic materials, it will be easy to check what’s inside the fridge. When exposed to heat, these thermal sensitive molecules lose their alignment and by transmitting light more readily the material becomes semi-transparent.
  • A terahertz medical mirror that exploits terahertz antenna technology to enable real-time medical diagnosis, or remote treatment with nanotechnology allowing the system to be miniaturized for household or portable use.
  • Using intra-operative optical spectroscopic imaging, tissue can be analyzed without waiting for the pathology lab. By 2025, the aggregate medical data from patients worldwide will reach 6 zettabytes (1021 bytes), roughly equivalent to 6 quadrillion books. From the use huge volume of databases, we can find similar cases by analyzing the organ, physiological and molecular level data, using this “big data” to optimize medical diagnoses.
  • Clean and inexhaustible energy based on hydrogen, from sunlight and water will provide electricity and heat without releasing greenhouse gases.
  • Batteries will be entirely redesigned to utilize abundant and affordable substances such as magnesium or sodium, taking increasingly important roles in the future of large scale power storage.
  • Next generation microorganisms can biodegrade waste and transform these products into highly concentrated raw materials. This technology can also be used to inexpensively produce new plastic materials for many applications.

Lee concluded with a call for collaboration, which he said is critical in intra-regional trade and development. “Countries will need to lower risk and boost efficiency through closer cooperation along the supply chain, forging alliances, devising common standards, and undertaking joint R&D,” he said.

Gigaphoton Inc., a lithography light source manufacturer, announced today that it has successfully achieved two hour continuous operation of its laser-produced plasma (LPP) light source for EUV lithography scanners. This milestone was confirmed using a prototype LPP system which generates EUV light by irradiating Tin (Sn) Droplets with a solid-state pre-pulse laser and a CO2 main pulse laser. The Tin debris generated from the irradiation is mitigated through the combination of a high power superconducting magnet and Sn etching using H2 gas. The two hour continuous operation produced an averaged output power of 5W at two percent conversion efficiency (CE). Considering the current commercially accepted EUV output level is around 10W, the results demonstrated by Gigaphoton represents that yet another critical milestone has been reached for achieving initial production level laser performance. Gigaphoton is committed to continuing its development efforts targeting 250W output.

Gigaphoton has focused on developing unique technologies that enable high output, stable, and economical (cost effective) LPP light sources since 2002. Since that time, Gigaphoton has introduced several unique technologies including the development of droplet-on-demand systems with each Tin droplet measuring less than 20µm, the combined use of short wavelength solid-state pre-pulse and CO2 main pulse lasers, and the use of high power superconducting magnets for debris mitigation. The recent achievement in reaching production level output can be attributed to Gigaphoton’s highly advanced technical capabilities and has brought the company one step closer to the mass production of LPP light sources.

The unique LPP light source technology introduced by Gigaphoton extends the lifetime of droplet generators by utilizing ultra-small Tin droplets on-demand, reducing downtime and cost. In addition, high EUV output conversion efficiency has been achieved through the optimized combination of short wavelength solid-state pre-pulse laser and CO2 laser as the main pulse. This technology contributes to the real possibility of achieving efficient, high output EUV light sources. In order to maximize the life of the collector mirror, a superconducting magnet is used to generate a powerful magnetic field that guides the unwanted debris resulting from the thermal expansion of the Tin droplets towards the tin catcher. This results in further reduction of cost and downtime.

"I am very pleased with the progress we have made in achieving two hours of continuous operation using our unique LPP light source technologies. This further proves that our vision for high output, stable, and economical LPP light sources is real," said Hitoshi Tomaru, president and CEO of Gigaphoton. "We will continue our efforts to help to bring the industry closer to realizing EUV lithography tools for HVM."

Deca Technologies, an electronic interconnect solutions provider to the semiconductor industry, today announced it has named semiconductor industry veteran Chris Seams its new CEO. Seams brings more than 25 years expertise in managing operations, manufacturing, and sales and marketing. He has also been appointed to the company’s board of directors.

Seams joins Deca from Cypress Semiconductor Corporation, where he served as executive vice president of Sales and Marketing. He takes over for Tim Olson, who will now serve as Deca’s Chief Technology Officer and a member of its board of directors.

"Deca has two key value propositions: truly revolutionary wafer level packaging technology and industry-leading manufacturing efficiency," said T.J. Rodgers, chairman of Deca’s board of directors. "Chris brings a wealth of manufacturing experience to the position. He directly managed Cypress’ manufacturing for 14 years, building up its reputation for world-class efficiency. We are confident Chris will successfully build upon Deca’s strong inroads with top customers and lay the groundwork for the next level of the company’s growth."

"This is an exciting time to be joining Deca," said Seams. "The company is poised for rapid growth with the continued development of its offerings. I welcome the opportunity to lead Deca’s efforts to bring the potential of our wafer scale packaging capabilities to reality. In so doing, we will transform the way our customers­the leading semiconductor manufacturers around the world­approach wafer level packaging."

Seams joined Cypress in 1990, where other assignments included technical and operational management in manufacturing, development, and operations. Prior to joining Cypress, he worked in process development for Advanced Micro Devices and Philips Research Laboratories.

Seams is a senior member of IEEE, serves on the Engineering Advisory Council for Texas A&M University, and is on the board of directors of Tessera Technologies, Inc. Seams earned his bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering from Texas A&M University and his master’s degree in electrical and computer engineering from the University of Texas at Austin.

Toshiba Corporation today announced that it will showcase its leading-edge semiconductor solutions for mobile devices at Mobile Asia Expo 2013. Toshiba will highlight solutions in five areas: "Smart Connectivity," "Smart Imaging," "Smart Audio," "Memory" and "Discrete," under the unifying concept "A Smart Future Starts from Toshiba Semiconductor Solutions."

Mobile Asia Expo 2013 will run from June 26 to June 28 at Shanghai New International Expo Centre (SNIEC) in Shanghai, China and Toshiba will be at booth N1.F78.

Outline of Toshiba’s Exhibition at Mobile Asia Expo 2013:

1) Smart Connectivity: Solutions that use various wireless environments, including near field communication technologies such as TransferJet(TM)and NFC, plus other technologies, among them FlashAir(TM), Bluetooth(TM), Wi-Fi(TM) and wireless charging.

2) Smart Imaging: System solutions including CMOS sensors and image processing technologies that help to create a safe and smart future.

3) Smart Audio: High quality, low noise, low power audio solutions, including a noise/echo canceller that brings clear communications to a variety of ever-changing user environments, such as audio and movie playback and device control through voice recognition.

4) Memory: High capacity memory products that enable users to store all sorts of data: music, movies, smartphone apps and more. The exhibit will also feature "SeeQVault(TM)", a next-generation content protection technology, which makes it possible to store high definition (HD) contents on memory cards.

5) Discrete: Discrete products in ultra-small packages, such as CSP, which support power management and high-speed interfaces on mobile devices. Products on display will include MOSFETs, load switches and ESD protection diodes.  

While military applications continue to drive the GaN device market, commercial applications have emerged that will help fuel rapid market growth. The recently released Strategy Analytics GaAs and Compound Semiconductor Technologies Service (GaAs) Forecast and Outlook, "GaN Microelectronics Market Update: 2012-2017," concludes that the overall GaN microelectronics device market closed 2012 with revenues of slightly less than $100 million. The report also forecasts that commercial RF and power management applications will begin shipping in volume during the forecast period and this activity will push the overall market to slightly more than $334 million by 2017.

"The GaN device market has been ‘about to take off’ for a number of years," noted Eric Higham, director of the Strategy Analytics GaAs and Compound Semiconductor Technologies Service (GaAs).  "Based on our most recent research, it appears there are segments of the commercial market, like CATV and wireless infrastructure that are seeing higher volumes, but the broad commercial market is still not quite into the production phase. We do anticipate seeing more of these commercial segments contribute over the period and this will be the driver for strong revenue growth."

Asif Anwar, director in the Strategy Analytics Strategic Technologies Practice (STP) added, "Despite the interest and growth in commercial applications for GaN, military applications will continue to account for more than half of the GaN device revenue in 2017. The performance benefits of using GaN devices in military applications are clear and this will keep driving GaN usage."

The Strategy Analytics forecast segments the GaN device market by RF and power management applications, as well as substrate technology. The report also discusses technology advantages and challenges for GaN, along with trends and differentiators for commercial and military market segments. A summary of GaN research projects details contributions to the current state of the technology. 

For decades, electronic devices have been getting smaller, and smaller, and smaller. It’s now possible—even routine—to place millions of transistors on a single silicon chip. But transistors based on semiconductors can only get so small.

"At the rate the current technology is progressing, in 10 or 20 years, they won’t be able to get any smaller," said physicist Yoke Khin Yap of Michigan Technological University. "Also, semiconductors have another disadvantage: they waste a lot of energy in the form of heat."

Scientists have experimented with different materials and designs for transistors to address these issues, always using semiconductors like silicon. Back in 2007, Yap wanted to try something different that might open the door to a new age of electronics.

"The idea was to make a transistor using a nanoscale insulator with nanoscale metals on top," he said. "In principle, you could get a piece of plastic and spread a handful of metal powders on top to make the devices, if you do it right. But we were trying to create it in nanoscale, so we chose a nanoscale insulator, boron nitride nanotubes, or BNNTs for the substrate."

Electrons flash across a series of gold quantum dots deposited on a boron nitride nanotubes.

Yap’s team had figured out how to make virtual carpets of BNNTs, which happen to be insulators and thus highly resistant to electrical charge. Using lasers, the team then placed quantum dots (QDs) of gold as small as three nanometers across on the tops of the BNNTs, forming QDs-BNNTs. BNNTs are ideal substrates for these quantum dots due to their small, controllable, and uniform diameters, as well as their insulating nature. BNNTs confine the size of the dots that can be deposited.

In collaboration with scientists at Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), they fired up electrodes on both ends of the QDs-BNNTs at room temperature, and something interesting happened. Electrons jumped very precisely from gold dot to gold dot, a phenomenon known as quantum tunneling.

"Imagine that the nanotubes are a river, with an electrode on each bank. Now imagine some very tiny stepping stones across the river," said Yap. "The electrons hopped between the gold stepping stones. The stones are so small, you can only get one electron on the stone at a time. Every electron is passing the same way, so the device is always stable."

Yap’s team had made a transistor without a semiconductor. When sufficient voltage was applied, it switched to a conducting state. When the voltage was low or turned off, it reverted to its natural state as an insulator.

Furthermore, there was no "leakage": no electrons from the gold dots escaped into the insulating BNNTs, thus keeping the tunneling channel cool. In contrast, silicon is subject to leakage, which wastes energy in electronic devices and generates a lot of heat.

Other people have made transistors that exploit quantum tunneling, says Michigan Tech physicist John Jaszczak, who has developed the theoretical framework for Yap’s experimental research. However, those tunneling devices have only worked in conditions that would discourage the typical cellphone user.

"They only operate at liquid-helium temperatures," said Jaszczak.

The secret to Yap’s gold-and-nanotube device is its submicroscopic size: one micron long and about 20nm wide.

"The gold islands have to be on the order of nanometers across to control the electrons at room temperature," Jaszczak said. "If they are too big, too many electrons can flow." In this case, smaller is truly better: "Working with nanotubes and quantum dots gets you to the scale you want for electronic devices."

"Theoretically, these tunneling channels can be miniaturized into virtually zero dimension when the distance between electrodes is reduced to a small fraction of a micron," said Yap.

Yap has filed for a full international patent on the technology.