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The microelectronics industry in Russia has been receiving quite a lot of attention recently with growing realization that intensive industry development is crucial to achieve import substitution and eventually compete in the international market. At the conference that took place recently in Zelenograd as part of SEMICON Russia 2013, which is devoted to the development of microelectronics in Russia, Practise Director of Frost & Sullivan’s Technical Insight division in Europe, Ankit Shukla, shared with the audience his vision for growth of the microelectronics industry in changing business conditions.

"A number of fundamental aspects need attention for the harmonious development of microelectronics," noted Mr. Shukla. "The foremost is government and the private sector support for new trends in the technology. The formation of a nuanced state policy oriented towards the interests of the industry and the business community will play a strong role in the development of the microelectronics market, both in Russia and across the world. In this regard, providing tax exemptions and institutional support for the industry is a necessity for its progress."

During the event, Frost & Sullivan and Semiconductor Equipment and Materials International (SEMI) presented the first results of the research entitled "The Russian Microelectronics Market" based on a survey of representatives from domestic and foreign companies operating in the Russian market. Results showed that for a three-year outlook, all respondents expect a positive growth trend for the market. In addition, 45 per cent of those surveyed believe that their turnover will outpace industry growth rates.

A majority – 64 per cent – of respondents expect the processors segment, including microcontrollers (MCUs) and microprocessor units (MPUs), to be among the most promising in the market. Other indicated areas of development included radiofrequency modules and components by 43 per cent, optoelectronics by 36 per cent, and microcircuitry and sensors by 29 per cent of respondents.

An effective support tool for the microelectronics industry is the creation of special economic zones and clusters as evidenced by the experience in Russia as well as Asian and European countries. Such economic zones already exist in Zelenograd and Skolkovo. Human resources can also be a compelling aspect as the educational level of Russian technical specialists has traditionally been highly valued in the world. Such potential will unquestionably help market growth but the problem of migration of highly qualified personnel to other countries is one that cannot be ignored. Thus, retaining professionals within the country and creating an attractive work environment for them should be a fundamental task to further market development.

"In order to excel in the microelectronics market we must develop partnership programs on several levels since a simple a technology-oriented approach will not be enough," advised Mr. Shukla. "Market participants must concentrate their efforts on diversification, development of new technologies, optimization of expenditure, and development of new market niches."

North America-based manufacturers of semiconductor equipment posted $1.32 billion in orders worldwide in May 2013 (three-month average basis) and a book-to-bill ratio of 1.08, according to the May EMDS Book-to-Bill Report published today by SEMI.  A book-to-bill of 1.08 means that $108 worth of orders were received for every $100 of product billed for the month.

The three-month average of worldwide bookings in May 2013 was $1.32 billion. The bookings figure is 12.5 percent higher than the final April 2013 level of $1.17 billion, and is 18.1 percent lower than the May 2012 order level of $1.61 billion.

The three-month average of worldwide billings in May 2013 was $1.22 billion. The billings figure is 12.6 percent higher than the final April 2013 level of $1.09 billion, and is 20.5 percent lower than the May 2012 billings level of $1.54 billion.

“The SEMI Book-to-Bill continues to show steady improvement as the ratio remains at or above parity for the fifth consecutive month,” said Daniel P. Tracy, senior director of Industry Research and Statistics at SEMI.  “The spending outlook for the year is improving as foundries continue to invest in advanced technologies and NAND manufacturers plan to increase spending on equipment.”

The SEMI book-to-bill is a ratio of three-month moving averages of worldwide bookings and billings for North American-based semiconductor equipment manufacturers. Billings and bookings figures are in millions of U.S. dollars.

 

Billings 
(3-mo. avg)

Bookings
 (3-mo. avg)

Book-to-Bill

December 2012

1,006.1

927.4

0.92

January 2013

968.0

1,076.0

1.11

February 2013

974.7

1,073.5

1.10

March 2013

991.0

1,103.3

1.11

April 2013 (final)

1,086.3

1,173.9

1.08

May 2013 (prelim)

1,223.3

1,321.2

1.08

Source: SEMI, June 2013

The data contained in this release were compiled by David Powell, Inc., an independent financial services firm, without audit, from data submitted directly by the participants. SEMI and David Powell, Inc. assume no responsibility for the accuracy of the underlying data.

The data are contained in a monthly Book-to-Bill Report published by SEMI. The report tracks billings and bookings worldwide of North American-headquartered manufacturers of equipment used to manufacture semiconductor devices, not billings and bookings of the chips themselves. The Book-to-Bill report is one of three reports included with the Equipment Market Data Subscription (EMDS).

 

Researchers at UC Santa Barbara, in collaboration with University of Notre Dame, have recently demonstrated the highest reported drive current on a transistor made of a monolayer of tungsten diselenide (WSe2), a two-dimensional atomic crystal categorized as a transition metal dichalcogenide (TMD). The discovery is also the first demonstration of an "n-type" WSe2 field-effect-transistor (FET), showing the tremendous potential of this material for future low-power and high-performance integrated circuits.

This is a schematic view of a back-gated field-effect-transistor fabricated by UCSB researchers using monolayer tungsten diselenide (WSe2) channel material.

Monolayer WSe2 is similar to graphene in that it has a hexagonal atomic structure and derives from its layered bulk form in which adjacent layers are held together by relatively weak Van der Waals forces. However, WSe2 has a key advantage over graphene.

"In addition to its atomically smooth surfaces, it has a considerable band gap of 1.6 eV," explained Kaustav Banerjee, professor of electrical and computer engineering and Director of the Nanoelectronics Research Lab at UCSB. Banerjee’s research team also includes UCSB researchers Wei Liu, Jiahao Kang, Deblina Sarkar, Yasin Khatami and Professor Debdeep Jena of Notre Dame. Their study was published in the May 2013 issue of Nano Letters.

"There is growing worldwide interest in these 2D crystals due to the many possibilities they hold for the next generation of integrated electronics, optoelectronics and sensors," commented Professor Pulickel Ajayan, the Anderson Professor of Engineering at Rice University and a world renowned authority on nanomaterials. "This result is very impressive and an outcome of the detailed understanding of the physical nature of the contacts to these 2D crystals that the Santa Barbara group has developed."

"Understanding the nature of the metal-TMD interfaces was key to our successful transistor design and demonstration," explained Banerjee. Banerjee’s group pioneered a methodology using ab-initio Density Functional Theory (DFT) that established the key criteria needed to evaluate such interfaces leading to the best possible contacts to the monolayer TMDs.

The DFT technique was pioneered by UCSB professor emeritus of physics Dr. Walter Kohn, for which he was awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1998. "At a recent meeting with Professor Kohn, we discussed how this relatively new class of semiconductors is benefitting from one of his landmark contributions," said Banerjee.

Wei Liu, a post-doctoral researcher in Banerjee’s group and co-author of the study, explained, "Guided by the contact evaluation methodology we have developed, our transistors achieved ON currents as high as 210 uA/um, which are the highest reported value of drive current on any monolayer TMD based FET to date." They were also able to achieve mobility of 142 cm2/V.s, which is the highest reported value for any back-gated monolayer TMD FET.

"DFT simulations provide critical insights to the various factors that effectively determine the quality of the interfaces to these 2D materials, which is necessary for achieving low contact resistances." added Jiahao Kang, a PhD student in Banerjee’s group and co-author of the study.

"Nanoelectronics and energy efficient computing technology are key areas of research at UCSB, fields in which our faculty members are renowned for their achievements. With these results, Professor Banerjee’s team continues to make important research contributions to next-generation electronics," commented Rod Alferness, dean of the College of Engineering at UCSB

VirtualWorks Group co-founder and Chairman Edward E. Iacobucci passed away at his home this morning after a 16-month battle with pancreatic cancer. Iacobucci was a renowned technology pioneer and entrepreneur who co-founded Citrix.

Recipient of the 1998 Ernst & Young International Entrepreneur Award, Iacobucci was quoted as saying, “Every human being has his own vision of what’s happening in the future. I was lucky in that what I thought would happen did happen. When we know we can do it and the rest of the world doesn’t – that’s when things get interesting.”

“Ed’s clear vision of the technological future is becoming more of a reality every day,” stated Erik Baklid, VirtualWorks President and CEO. “His courage and entrepreneurial spirit were matched by his inclusive leadership style, warm heart and good humor. Ed will be deeply missed by the many employees, customers, partners and friends whose lives he touched.”

"We are deeply saddened by the loss of Ed Iacobucci and we send our sincerest sympathies, thoughts and prayers to his family,” said Mark Templeton, President and CEO of Citrix Systems. “Ed’s spirit of entrepreneurship, creativity, passion and persistence will always remain at the core of Citrix. We are proud to carry his wondrous torch forward.”

Iacobucci was born on September 26, 1953 in Buenos Aires, Argentina to Dr. Guillermo and Costantina Iacobucci. He is survived by his wife, Nancy Lee (Iacobucci); his three children, Marianna (Eden), William (Iacobucci), and Michelle (Iacobucci); mother, Costantina (Iacobucci); brother, Billy (Iacobucci); and three grandchildren, Sophia, Haven and Estelle.

MEMS devices are proliferating in mobile devices. Yole Développement counts 25+ sensors and actuators in production or in development for mobile applications, including MEMS accelerometers, MEMS gyroscopes, magnetometers, 6-axis e-compasses, 6-axis IMU combos, 9-axis combo solutions, silicon microphones, microspeakers, pressure sensors, humidity/temperature sensors, BAW filters and duplexers, MEMS switches and variable capacitors, silicon MEMS oscillators/resonators, micromirrors for picoprojectors, microdisplays, MEMS auto-focus, IR sensors and micro bolometers, bio-chemical detectors & gas sensors, MEMS touchscreen, MEMS joystick, radiation detectors, MEMS fuel cells, energy harvesting, UV sensors, ultrasonic sensors and more.

The past 12 months have seen big changes. While in the past, cell phone MEMS were limited to three categories (inertial, microphones and filters), we’ve seen strong adoption of new device types targeting environmental sensing. Also, pressure sensors are being heavily adopted in flagship phones and tablets, and humidity sensors are being adopted in the Samsung Galaxy S4. All of these new MEMS killer applications are detailed in Yole Développement’s report.

Changes have even occurred in existing high-volume MEMS areas:

  • Significant architectural changes have been observed in inertial sensors, with current strong adoption of IMU combo sensors. Likewise, a new opportunity has appeared with a camera module’s dedicated OIS gyroscope.
  • A trend has appeared involving integration of a third MEMS microphone to provide HD voice recording (i.e. in the iPhone 5), in addition to the dual microphone architecture described in the last report. This trend is a market booster.
  • Strong adoption of LTE in high-end platforms will boost the duplexer market for the next three years.

The long-term outlook for MEMS companies is brighter than ever, as existing products and products just ramping up will drive solid growth over the next few years. Additionally, a new wave of MEMS products will enable further growth. This report describes why some of these emerging MEMS will ramp up in volume almost overnight, just as pressure and humidity sensors did in the past few months. A nice 19 percent yearly growth is predicted for a market that reached $2.2 billion in 2012, and volume growth will be even more impressive, with 17.5 billion units expected by 2018, up from 4.5 billion in 2012.

Sensor fusion is heating up with its first commercial implementations

As sensor popularity enables new applications, software is key for obtaining the best performance and functionalities. Sensor hubs appeared at the end of 2012, in Windows Phone architectures and also in some Android platforms such as the Samsung Galaxy Note 2 and Galaxy S4, which integrate Atmel hub. This greatly impacts the MEMS value chain, since successful products must offer the right level of software and be qualified with sensor hubs in a timely manner.

Sometime in 2013, evolution is still expected in value partitioning, in particular with sensor fusion integration in the application processor. Also, as the value chain continues moving and novel architectures appear, new killer functionalities will hit the market. In particular, an ecosystem for context awareness or indoor navigation is put in place, with technology demonstrations (such as Movea’s recent demo at CES) and release of the first commercial chipsets enabling new sensor and data fusion concepts (Qualcomm iZat, Gimbal, CSR SiRFusion Platform, etc.). The most recent end- user trends shaping demand for next-generation MEMS devices are carefully analyzed in this report. In fact, one of the strongest impacts on sensor fusion architecture is the growth of connected devices and the use of the cell phone as a hub.

A price war and market share erosion – all in the last year

A large, growing market often comes with a strong price decrease.

“This is true for MEMS in mobile devices, as was observed in 2012,” says Laurent Robin, Activity Leader, Inertial MEMS Devices & Technologies. “Continuous competition between STMicroelectronics and InvenSense, and the arrival of a third player in gyroscope and IMU, had a significant impact on pricing — which decreased 25 percent in just one year!”

In the magnetometer area, the price decrease was even more significant, at 35 percent. Memsic’s aggressive pricing strategy forced market leader AKM to realign. Detailed analysis is available in Yole Développement’s report.

While the big guys still dominate this field and possess most of the business, things are changing. For example, in some cases Yole Développement’s analysts have seen an erosion of market share, for reasons described in this report. In fact, this analysis shows that in one year, Knowles lost 19 percent market share, AKM eight percent and Avago two percent in their respective markets.

Opportunities for challengers are emerging every day, driven by several factors:

  • Technology shift linked to the demand for higher performance in order to enable new-end functionalities and integration levels (this may be happening for magnetometers)
  • New business models, such as integrating MEMS dies, which are sold off-the-shelf (typically by Infineon)
  • Adoption of disruptive concepts for new sensors and actuators

Out of the 20+ players currently doing business in mobile MEMS applications, only three have been able to successfully diversify by enlarging their MEMS product portfolio. It’s a difficult achievement because Yole Développement’s MEMS law remains valid: there is still no standardization for MEMS products and processes. However, all industry players are actively looking to provide new functions and launch new components.

Worldwide semiconductor manufacturing equipment spending is projected to total $35.8 billion in 2013, a 5.5 percent decline from 2012 spending of $37.8 billion, according to Gartner, Inc. Gartner said that capital spending will decrease 3.5 percent in 2013, as major producers remain cautious in the face of market weakness.

"Weak semiconductor market conditions, which continued into the first quarter of 2013, generated downward pressure on new equipment purchases," said Bob Johnson, research vice president at Gartner. "However, semiconductor equipment quarterly revenues are beginning to improve and positive movement in the book-to-bill ratio indicates that spending for equipment will pick up later in the year. Looking beyond 2013, we expect that the current economic malaise will have worked its way through the industry and spending will follow a generally increasing pattern in all sectors throughout the rest of the forecast period."

Gartner predicts that 2014 semiconductor capital spending will increase 14.2 percent, followed by 10.1 percent growth in 2015. The next cyclical decline will be a mild drop of 3.5 percent in 2016, followed by a return to growth in 2017.

Table 1

Worldwide Semiconductor Manufacturing Equipment Spending Forecast, 2012-2017 (Millions of Dollars)

 

2012

2013

2014

2015

2016

 

 

 

2017

Semiconductor Capital Spending ($M)

58,742.8

56,704.5

64,745.6

71,305.9

68,790.4

72,399.6

Growth

-11.9%

-3.5%

14.2%

10.1%

-3.5%

5.2%

Capital Equipment ($M)

37,833.2

35,761.6

42,591.0

47,488.8

44,712.0

48,580.9

Growth

-16.1%

-5.5%

19.1%

11.5%

-5.8%

8.7%

Wafer-Level Manufacturing Equipment ($M)

31,445.8

29,900.7

35,293.4

40,400.0

38,867.7

42,179.1

Growth

-17.8%

-4.9%

18.0%

14.5%

-3.8%

8.5%

Wafer Fab Equipment ($M)

29,644.2

27,957.3

32,831.5

37,750.5

36,344.4

39,215.4

Growth

-18.5%

-5.7%

17.4%

15.0%

-3.7%

7.9%

Wafer-Level Packaging and Assembly Equipment ($M)

1,801.6

1,943.4

2,461.9

2,649.5

2,523.3

2,963.7 

Growth

-3.1%

7.9%

26.7%

7.6%

-4.8%

17.5%

Die-Level Packaging and Assembly Equipment ($M)

3,867.3

3,503.7

4,258.9

3,922.5

3,232.1

3,548.2

Growth

-10.5%

-9.4%

21.6%

-7.9%

-17.6%

9.8%

Automated Test Equipment ($M)

2,520.0

2,357.2

3,038.7

3,166.3

2,612.2

2,853.5

Growth

0.4%

-6.5%

28.9%

4.2%

-17.5%

9.2%

Other Spending ($M)

20,909.6

20,943.0

22,143.3

23,815.1

24,401.2

24,067.9

Growth

-3.1%

0.2%

5.7%

7.6%

2.5%

-1.4%

Source: Gartner (June 2013)

Although capital spending for all products will decline in 2013, logic spending will be the strongest segment, declining only 2 percent compared with a 3.5 percent decline for the total market. This is driven by aggressive investment of the few top players, which are ramping up production at the sub-30-nanometer (nm) nodes. Memory will continue to be weak through 2013, with maintenance-level investments for DRAM and a slightly down NAND market until supply and demand balance returns. For 2014, Gartner sees capital expenditure (capex) returning to growth with an increase of 14.2 percent over 2013. The foundry segment will see an increase in spending of about 14.3 percent this year, while both integrated device manufacturers (IDMs), and semiconductor assembly and test services (SATS) providers will show spending declines. Beyond 2013, memory surges in 2014 and 2015 and a cyclical decline in 2016, while logic returns to a steady growth pattern.

The wafer fab equipment (WFE) market is seeing continuous quarter-over-quarter growth in 2013, as major manufacturers come out of a period of high inventories and a generally weak semiconductor market. Early in the year the book-to-bill ratio passed 1:1 for the first time in months, signaling that the need for new equipment is strengthening as demand for leading-edge devices is improving. Looking beyond 2013, Gartner sees growth returning to the WFE market with double-digit growth in 2014 and 2015, before a modest cyclical downturn in 2016.

The capital spending forecast estimates total capital spending from all forms of semiconductor manufacturers, including foundries and back-end assembly and test services companies. This is based on the industry’s requirements for new and upgraded facilities to meet the forecast demand for semiconductor production. Capital spending represents the total amount spent by the industry for equipment and new facilities.

More detailed analysis is available in the report "Forecast: Semiconductor Capital Spending, Worldwide, 2Q13 Update."

This research is produced by Gartner’s Semiconductor Manufacturing program. This research program, which is part of the overall semiconductor research group, provides a comprehensive view of the entire semiconductor industry, from manufacturing to device and application market trends.

 

Total inventory held by semiconductor suppliers declined significantly in the first quarter as excess stockpiles created during the global economic malaise of 2012 were cleared away, done in anticipation of a resurgence in consumer demand for electronic products expected by the second half of 2013.

Semiconductor makers’ inventory in the first quarter declined to $37.6 billion, down 4.6 percent from $38.4 billion in the fourth quarter of 2012, according to a Supply Chain Inventory Brief from information and analytics provider IHS (NYSE: IHS). The figure below presents the IHS estimate of inventory held by semiconductor suppliers in terms of revenue.

The decline in inventory paralleled the contraction in semiconductor revenues, which fell 5.1 percent sequentially, following the normal seasonal demand pattern.

“While overall chip revenue declined in the first quarter, falling inventories among chip suppliers—combined with expanding stockpiles at distributors, contract manufacturers and original equipment manufacturers (OEM)—indicate that consumer demand for electronics rose during the period,” said Sharon Stiefel, analyst for semiconductor market intelligence for IHS. “This contributed to a decline in chip inventories. At the same time, semiconductor companies maintained tight control over their manufacturing capacity, contributing to the decline in inventory.”

Signs of strength from PC and cellphone OEMs

Throughout the electronics supply chain, the largest increases in inventory were posted by cellphone and PC OEMs. Cellphone makers expanded their inventories—including finished smartphones—by 7.2 percent during the quarter. For their part, PC OEMs expanded their stockpiles of items including notebook and desktop computers by 6 percent.

The increase in OEM, contract manufacturing and distributor inventories during the first three months of the year contrasted sharply with the fourth quarter of 2012 when these segments trimmed their stockpiles.

“The rise in inventories among the various segments of the supply chain indicates the electronics industry is preparing for an increase in demand during the second half of 2013,” Stiefel said.

It’s the economy

Overall global economic indicators point to growth during the coming quarters, mainly in the developing nations. This is incentivizing semiconductor companies and their customers to load factories in the second quarter to keep up with the demand for second-half shipments.

Semiconductor inventory levels are expected to rise in the second quarter in response to the positive order rates from electronics equipment manufacturers, whereas stockpiles for consumers of semiconductors likely will remain fairly flat.

TowerJazz today announced it will be the wafer manufacturer for infrared sensing and camera devices. In addition to traditional infrared applications, TowerJazz will facilitate expansion into other consumer markets such as gaming, personal security, and application driven platforms.

The CMOS-based process at TowerJazz’s US location is a viable, commercially sustainable foundry offering to support its commercial as well as its aerospace and defense customers.

“This development is a natural fit for TowerJazz. Our leading edge CMOS for custom imaging products and our expertise in bringing specialty processing and MEMS to volume manufacturing fits extremely well with the proven capabilities of our customer,” said David Howard, executive director and fellow, TowerJazz.

“Combined external and internal investments will expand our existing fabrication as well as facilitize an annex which will be used for certain unique processes. This will be the first and only large-scale pure play foundry capable of producing fully integrated sensors. The application space is expected to grow substantially, enabling a new and additional significant revenue stream to the company,” said Russell Ellwanger, TowerJazz CEO.

TowerJazz manufactures integrated circuits, offering a broad range of customizable process technologies including: SiGe, BiCMOS, Mixed-Signal/CMOS, RFCMOS, CMOS Image Sensor, Power Management (BCD), and MEMS capabilities. TowerJazz also provides a design enablement platform that enables a quick and accurate design cycle. In addition, TowerJazz provides (TOPS) Technology Optimization and development Process Services to IDMs and fabless companies that need to expand capacity. TowerJazz offers multi-fab sourcing with two manufacturing facilities in Israel, one in the U.S., and one in Japan.

Using clouds of ultra-cold atoms and a pair of lasers operating at optical wavelengths, researchers have reached a quantum network milestone: entangling light with an optical atomic coherence composed of interacting atoms in two different states. The development could help pave the way for functional, multi-node quantum networks.

The research, done at the Georgia Institute of Technology, used a new type of optical trap that simultaneously confined both ground-state and highly-excited (Rydberg) atoms of the element rubidium. The large size of the Rydberg atoms – which have a radius of about one micron instead of a usual sub-nanometer size – gives them exaggerated electromagnetic properties and allows them to interact strongly with one another.

A single Rydberg atom can block the formation of additional Rydberg atoms within an ensemble of atoms, allowing scientists to create single photons on demand. Georgia Tech professor Alex Kuzmich and collaborators published a report on the Rydberg single-photon source in the journal Science in April 2012, and in a subsequent Nature Physics article, demonstrated for the first time many-body Rabi oscillations of an atomic ensemble.

In the new research, the state-insensitive trap allowed the researchers to increase the rate at which they could generate photons by a factor of 100 compared to their previous work.

“We want to allow photons to propagate to distant locations so we can develop scalable protocols to entangle more and more nodes,” said Kuzmich, a professor in Georgia Tech’s School of Physics. “If you can have coherence between the ground and Rydberg atoms, they can interact strongly while emitting light in a cooperative fashion. The combination of strong atomic interactions and collective light emissions results in entanglement between atoms and light. We think that this approach is quite promising for quantum networking.”

The research was reported June 19 in the early edition of the journal Nature. The research has been supported by the Atomic Physics Program and the Quantum Memories Multidisciplinary University Research Initiative (MURI) of the Air Force Office of Scientific Research, and by the National Science Foundation.

Generating, distributing and controlling entanglement across quantum networks are the primary goals of quantum information science being pursued at research laboratories around the world. In earlier work, ground states of single atoms or atomic ensembles have been entangled with spontaneously-emitted light, but the production of those photons has been through a probabilistic approach – which generated photons infrequently.

This spontaneous emission process requires a relatively long time to create entanglement and limits the potential quantum network to just two nodes. To expand the potential for multi-mode networks, researchers have explored other approaches, including entanglement between light fields and atoms in quantum superpositions of the ground and highly-excited Rydberg electronic states. This latter approach allows the deterministic generation of photons that produces entanglement at a much higher rate.

However, until now, Rydberg atoms could not be excited to that state while confined to optical traps, so the traps had to be turned off for that step. That allowed the confined atoms to escape, preventing realization of atom-light entanglement.

Based on a suggestion from MURI colleagues at the University of Wisconsin, the Georgia Tech team developed a solution to that problem: a state-insensitive optical trap able to confine both ground-state and Rydberg atoms coherently. In this trap, atoms persist for as much as 80 milliseconds while being excited into the Rydberg state – and the researchers believe that can be extended with additional improvements. However, even the current atomic confinement time would be enough to operate complex protocols that might be part of a quantum network.

“The system we have realized is closer to being a node in a quantum network than what we have been able to do before,” said Kuzmich. “It is certainly a promising improvement.”

Key to the improved system is operation of an optical trap at wavelengths of 1,004 and 1,012 nanometers, so-called “magic” wavelengths tuned to both the Rydberg atoms and the ground state atoms, noted Lin Li, a graduate student in the Kuzmich Laboratory.

“We have experimentally demonstrated that in such a trap, the quantum coherence can be well preserved for a few microseconds and that we can confine atoms for as long as 80 milliseconds,” Li said. “There are ways that we can improve this, but with the help of this state-insensitive trap, we have achieved entanglement between light and the Rydberg excitation.”

The rate of generating entangled photons increased from a few photons per second with the earlier approaches to as many as 5,000 photons per second with the new technique, Kuzmich said. That will allow the researchers to pursue future research goals – such as demonstration of quantum gates – as they optimize their technique.

Experimentally, the research works as follows: (1) an ultra-cold gas of rubidium atoms was confined in a one-dimensional optical lattice using lasers operating at 1,004nm and 1,012nm wavelengths. The atomic ensemble was driven from the collective ground state into a single excited state; (2) By applying a laser field, an entangled state was generated. The retrieved field was mixed with the coherent field using polarizing beam-splitters, followed by measurement at single-photon detectors; (3) The remaining spin wave was mapped into a field by a laser field.

According to Kuzmich, the success demonstrates the value of collaboration through the MURI supported by the Air Force Office of Scientific Research, which in 2012 awarded $8.5 million to a consortium of seven U.S. universities that are working together to determine the best approach for creating quantum memories based on the interaction between light and matter.

Through the MURI, a team of universities is considering three different approaches for creating entangled quantum memories that could facilitate long-distance transmission of secure information. Among the collaborators in the five-year program are Mark Saffman and Thad Walker at the University of Wisconsin, Mikhail Lukin of Harvard, and Luming Duan of the University of Michigan, who at the beginning of this century made pioneering proposals which formed the basis of the approach that Kuzmich, Li and colleague Yaroslav Dudin used to create the entanglement between light and the Rydberg excitatio

DRAM market grows up


June 19, 2013

It’s said that adversity breeds character—and that certainly seems to be the case for the global market for DRAM (dynamic random access memory). This market has achieved some maturity in the face of daunting challenges, allowing the industry to achieve a balance between supply and demand this year.

After DRAM wafer output peaked in 2008 at 16.4 million 300-millimeter-equivalent wafers, production is expected to decline by 24 percent to 13.0 million this year, according to an IHS DRAM Dynamics Market Brief from information and analytics provider IHS.

The projected cut will be the second straight year of deliberate downsizing following an 8 percent drop-off last year. This year’s output is expected to be slashed by 5 percent compared to 2012, as shown in the figure below.

Curtailing DRAM capacity is a positive move for the industry, resulting in a gradual normalization between supply and demand for DRAM. The industry is now believed to be perhaps slightly undersized relative to demand moving forward because of the intentional slash in output, and DRAM pricing can continue to remain firm if production remains slightly behind demand.

DRAM revenue in the first quarter rose to its highest level in nearly two years, thanks to a jump in commodity prices spurred by demand from the server PC and mobile PC segments. Pricing for the bellwether 4-gigabyte DDR3 module rose to $23 in March, up from $16 in December, an unusually large increase.

“The DRAM industry has struggled with major challenges in recent years, including chronic oversupply and slowing demand from its main market, the PC business,” said Mike Howard, senior principal analyst for DRAM and memory at IHS. “This has led to continued weak pricing, financial losses and market revenue declines. However, the DRAM industry has entered a more mature state, enacting structural changes that will allow it to grow even in challenging market conditions.”

DRAM market enters the post-PC era

In one major change, the DRAM market is adjusting to the fact that demand is diversifying away from PCs alone to servers and mobile devices.

Nearly 65 percent of all DRAM bit shipments went to a desktop or laptop 10 years ago, but that figure is less than 50 percent today and will fall further to south of 40 percent by the end of next year.

Meanwhile, servers and mobile gadgets like smartphones and tablets command an increasing share of DRAM bit shipments.

The overall result is that the travails of one segment—like the embattled PC space—won’t be able to disrupt the entire market, lacking the size and critical mass to do so. The server and mobile segments also help by using more specialized products that require a more involved design-in process, thereby reducing the commodity nature of the DRAM that the segments consume.

DRAM downsizing

In another change that has benefited the hypercompetitive industry, a number of DRAM suppliers in the past few years have either reduced their presence or have altogether exited the market.

The Taiwanese are no longer the powerhouse suppliers they used to be, while notable DRAM makers Qimonda of Germany and Elpida Memory of Japan have gone bankrupt and have been bought out by other players. By the end of this year, only three DRAM manufacturers will remain—Samsung and SK Hynix of South Korea, and U.S.-based Micron Technology. With fewer entities to influence the market, a more conservative approach toward capacity expansion is expected, and more stable growth can follow.

Process deceleration

A final factor helping the global DRAM business is the slower pace of advancement in DRAM manufacturing processes. Each new generation of DRAM manufacturing technology is now taking longer to arrive.

The engineering challenges associated with shrinking DRAM size smaller than 30nm— and eventually below 20nm—are considerable.

The slowing cadence in manufacturing process evolution is resulting in slower bit growth, which is keeping supply in better balance with demand.

The challenge of constant undersupply

While the current state of intermittent undersupply is favorable to the industry, a state of persistent undersupply could backfire and prove harmful. Large, obstinate supply shortfalls will result in broader adoption of competing technologies as devices seek alternatives besides DRAM, and possible regulatory intervention could occur over perceived anticompetitive concerns.

Clearly then, it is in the best interest of the industry to manage supply so that it more closely matches demand—and thereby control its own future. Next year, manufacturers will need to seriously look at options for expanding manufacturing capacity to accommodate demand. But properly managed, DRAM prospects can remain healthy, IHS believes.