Category Archives: Online Magazines

Intel Corporation announced that the board of directors has unanimously elected Brian Krzanich as its next chief executive officer (CEO), succeeding Paul Otellini. Krzanich will assume his new role at the company’s annual stockholders’ meeting on May 16. The board of directors also elected Renée James, 48, to be president of Intel. She will also assume her new role on May 16, joining Krzanich in Intel’s executive office.

Krzanich, Intel’s chief operating officer since January 2012, will become the sixth CEO in Intel’s history. As previously announced, Otellini will step down as CEO and from the board of directors on May 16.

“After a thorough and deliberate selection process, the board of directors is delighted that Krzanich will lead Intel as we define and invent the next generation of technology that will shape the future of computing,” said Andy Bryant, chairman of Intel.

“Brian is a strong leader with a passion for technology and deep understanding of the business,” Bryant added. “His track record of execution and strategic leadership, combined with his open-minded approach to problem solving has earned him the respect of employees, customers and partners worldwide. He has the right combination of knowledge, depth and experience to lead the company during this period of rapid technology and industry change.”

Krzanich, 52, has progressed through a series of technical and leadership roles since joining Intel in 1982.

As chief operating officer, Krzanich led an organization of more than 50,000 employees spanning Intel’s Technology and Manufacturing Group, Intel Custom Foundry, NAND Solutions group, Human Resources, Information Technology and Intel’s China strategy.

James, 48, has broad knowledge of the computing industry, spanning hardware, security, software and services, which she developed through leadership positions at Intel and as chairman of Intel’s software subsidiaries — Havok, McAfee and Wind River. She also currently serves on the board of directors of Vodafone Group Plc and VMware Inc. and was chief of staff for former Intel CEO Andy Grove.

MOSIS, a provider of low-cost prototyping and small volume production services for custom ICs, has teamed up with imec, Ireland’s Tyndall National Institute and ePIXfab, the European Silicon Photonics support center providing low-cost prototyping services for photonic ICs. The partnership gives MOSIS’ customers access to imec’s state-of-the-art fully integrated silicon photonics processes and Tyndall’s advanced silicon photonics packaging technology.

Packaged passive silicon photonics chip, showing imec’s silicon photonic chip andTyndall’s fiber array packaging.

Imec’s silicon photonics platform enables cost-effective R&D of silicon photonic ICs for high-performance optical transceivers (25Gb/s and beyond) for telecom, datacom, and optical sensing for life science applications. The offered integrated components include low-loss waveguides, efficient grating couplers, high-speed silicon electro-optic modulators and high-speed germanium waveguide photo-detectors. A comprehensive design kit to access imec technologies will be provided. Moreover, the Tyndall National Institute, being a partner of ePIXfab, offers the ability to provide packaged silicon photonics devices. This includes the design and fabrication of custom photonic packages, fiber coupling (single and arrays) and electrical interconnects. Design rules to support these packaging capabilities will also be provided.

“Imec’s Silicon Photonics platform provides robust performance, and solutions to integrated photonics products. Companies can benefit from imec silicon photonics capability through established standard cells, or explore the functionality of their own designs in MultiProject Wafer runs,” stated Philippe Absil, program director at imec. “With this collaboration, MOSIS will offer its first access to a mature Silicon Photonics infrastructure, with the option for follow-on production,” added Wes Hansford, MOSIS Director.

The first ePIXfab-Europractice run for passive silicon photonics ICs is open for registration from June 2013 with design deadline September 9th 2013. MOSIS’ customers can register for this run and obtain the design kit via MOSIS in June 2013.

Imec’s Si Photonics 200mm wafer platform includes:

  • Tight within-wafer silicon thickness variation 3sigma < 2.5nm
  • 3-level patterning of 220nm top Si layer (193nm optical lithography)
  • poly-Si overlay and patterning (193nm optical lithography)
  • 3-level n-type implants and 3-level p-type implants in Si
  • Ge epitaxial growth on Si and p-type and n-type implants in Ge
  • Local NiSi contacts, Tungsten vias and Cu metal interconnects
  • Al bond pads
  • Validated cell library with fiber couplers, polarization rotators, highly efficient carrier depletion modulators and ultra-compact Ge waveguide photo-detectors with low dark current.
  • Design kit support for IPKISS framework, PhoeniX Software and Mentor Graphics software

Tyndall’s Si Photonics Packaging Technology enables:

  • Passive device packaging, single and multi-fiber arrays to grating couplers
  • Active device packaging, modulators and detectors with electrical ports and fiber arrays
  • Custom packaging requirements (mechanical, thermal stability etc.)

EI


May 2, 2013

Endicott Interconnect Technologies, Inc. (EI) announced that its System-In-Package (SiP) technology performed successfully as a key subsystem of Lockheed Martin’s Extended Area Protection and Survivability (EAPS) Program during a test on March 22 at White Sands Missile Range, N.M. EI’s technology acts as the command center of a very small hit-to-kill interceptor designed to defeat rocket, artillery and mortar attacks.  

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The worldwide semiconductor assembly and test services (SATS) market totaled $24.5 billion in 2012, a 2.1 percent increase from 2011, according to final results from Gartner, Inc.

"After experiencing relatively mild 1.8 percent growth in 2011, the SATS market remained in a slow-growth mode for 2012," said Jim Walker, research vice president at Gartner. "Weakness in the PC market, which started in 2011 and carried into 2012, and lower overall consumer demand were contributors to the slow growth. This weak demand for semiconductor devices resulted in inventory buildup for much of the year."

ASE remained No. 1, with revenue of $4.4 billion (see Table). Packaging accounted for 80.5 percent of the company’s total assembly/test/materials (ATM) revenue. As the No. 2 vendor, Amkor Technologies’ 2012 total revenue was down slightly (0.6 percent), at $2.8 billion, due partially to the aggressive strategy in the copper wire-bonding transition by ASE, SPIL and others. Third-place SPIL was able to achieve revenue of $2.2 billion, with 90 percent of the revenue from packaging and 10 percent from test. At No. 4, STATS ChipPAC is the last of the top four broad-based package supplier companies in Gartner’s top five. In the fifth spot, Powertech Technology (PTI) is differentiated from the others in that the majority of its revenue comes from servicing the memory segment of the semiconductor market.

Another factor for the slow growth in the market in 2012 was the overinvestment in both SATS and integrated device manufacturer (IDM) packaging capacity in 2010 and 2011. This oversupply of both advanced and traditional packaging capability by many device makers created a weaker pricing environment for outsourcing services in 2012 and left the industry in an oversupply condition with lower factory utilization.

Nevertheless, even in this slow-growth environment, the SATS market saw the continuation of the rapid transition from gold to copper wire bonding, resulting in lower-cost packaging processes. It was also a year in which flip-chip and wafer-level packaging (WLP) technologies continued to be an increasing part of the revenue contribution for the top companies in the SATS market.

Additional information is provided in the Gartner report "Market Share Analysis: Semiconductor Assembly and Test Services, Worldwide, 2012." 

Atmel Corporation, a developer of microcontroller and touch technology solutions, this week announced the maXTouch T Series, its next-generation family supporting touchscreens up to 23 inches for applications such as handsets, tablets, Ultrabooks, notebooks and all-in-one computers.

The first device in the family, the mXT2952T, is the world’s first ultra-low power single-chip device that supports Windows 8-certified touchscreens up to 15.6 inches and optimized to support touchscreen cover glass as thin as 0.4mm.

The new T Series delivers a revolutionary adaptive-sensing architecture featuring both mutual and self capacitance to optimize performance. The maXTouch T Series automatically selects the best sensing architecture, seamlessly switching to enable higher performance and lower power consumption. Mutual capacitance enables true multi-touch tracking while self capacitance offers benefits including idle power consumption, moisture immunity, glove tracking, and hover capability which detects a finger or an object not in contact with the screen. The new maXTouch T Series enhances noise immunity with an industry-first capacitive touch dual analog and digital filtering architecture to deliver the best signal-to-noise (SNR) ratio and power consumption. The new features in the maXTouch T Series deliver improved responsiveness and a more intuitive user interface with additions such as hover that allow users to pre-select icons, letters, links and other images without physically touching the screen.

With the increasing popularity of active stylus on touchscreens, the maXTouch T Series natively supports Atmel’s maXStylus, a solution that requires no additional sensor layer to enable thinner stack-ups and lower overall bill of materials (BOM). The award-winning maXStylus offers a Window 8-compatible solution with better touch performance, lower power consumption and lower overall system cost than other capacitive active stylus solutions on the market today.

"Flawless touch performance, longer battery life and thinner screens for mobile devices are key features for today’s touchscreen designs," said Jon Kiachian, Vice President of Touch Marketing, Atmel Corporation. "As a leader in touch technologies, the maXTouch T Series is Windows 8 compatible, Intel Ultrabook-ready, and supports both active stylus and sensor hub. We are a leader in this space, and excited to deliver the mXT2952T, the world’s first single-chip controller for Windows 8-certified touchscreens up to 15.6 inches."

To better support Ultrabook and notebook touch sensors, the mXT2952T has specific circuitry to take advantage of ITO (indium tin oxide) alternative sensor materials such as Atmel’s XSense flexible touch sensor. This allows system designers to build more innovative designs with faster operation, lower power, borderless and even flexible touchscreens.

The maXTouch T Series integrates Atmel’s proprietary maXFusion sensor hub management technology that enables designers to manage both the touch interface and all the sensor intelligence in a single chip. This technology enables lower bill of materials and higher performance.

Many military radio frequency (RF) systems, like radar and communication systems, use a class of power amplifiers (PAs) called monolithic microwave integrated circuits (MIMIC). MMIC PAs using gallium nitride (GaN) transistors hold great promise for enhanced RF performance, but operational characteristics are strongly affected by thermal resistance. Much of this resistance comes at the thermal junction where the substrate material of the circuit connects to the GaN transistor. If the junction and substrate have poor thermal properties, temperature will rise and performance will decrease.

DARPA’s Near Junction Thermal Transport (NJTT) effort recently demonstrated the first-ever GaN-on-diamond high electron mobility transistor (HEMT). In early tests, the GaN-on-diamond transistor displayed substantially lower junction temperatures than comparable commercially available devices. The resulting transistor has dramatically improved thermal properties, which may lead to better performance for RF systems.

"These GaN-on-diamond HEMTs could enable a new generation of RF PAs that are three times smaller than the current state-of-the-art GaN amplifiers," said Avram Bar-Cohen, DARPA program manager. "Smaller amplifiers would lead to RF systems with better size, weight and power characteristics. Alternatively, PAs like these would be able to generate three times as much output power, leading to a stronger signal for communication systems or longer range radar. Almost any RF system could benefit from the combination of higher power, higher efficiency, and reduced size enabled by GaN-on-diamond amplifiers."

In MMIC PAs, the steepest temperature rise occurs in the first few microns below the junction and is directly related to the thermal conductivity of the entire wafer, explained Bar-Cohen. "Providing a high conductivity substrate in intimate contact with the GaN gets us unsurpassed heat tolerance and dissipation capability. We expect this advance will substantially improve the thermally-limited high power RF systems of today."

By using a new epitaxial transfer method, performers at TriQuint Semiconductor were able to remove the GaN from its growth substrate and place it in intimate contact with a synthetically grown and specially prepared diamond substrate. Synthetic diamond has the highest known thermal conductivity of any manmade material, more than 10 times higher than the common semiconductor material, silicon.

NJTT, an effort of DARPA’s Thermal Management Technologies (TMT) program, focuses on reducing the thermal resistance of the near-junction region of compound semiconductor devices. Performers in NJTT, which began in 2011, are exploring epitaxial transfer of GaN from silicon and silicon carbide (SiC) to diamond substrates and direct growth of diamond in thermal vias etched in SiC. The goal of TMT is to explore and optimize new nanostructured materials and other recent advances for use in thermal management systems.

Semiconductor Research Corporation (SRC) recently joined the National Science Foundation (NSF) as a partner in an ongoing NSF project to further develop compact models of emerging nanoelectronic devices such as might be used in next-generation consumer electronics.

The project focuses on nano-engineered electronic device simulation (NEEDS). NEEDS is a node of a larger National Nanotechnology Initiative project called the Network for Computational Nanotechnology (NCN). NCN offers researchers tools to explore nanoscale phenomena through theory, modeling and simulation, while also developing enhancements to science and engineering education.

The existing $3.5 million award from NSF, now bolstered by joint support from NSF and SRC of $2.5 million, supports a five-year program that is the largest of its kind dedicated to realizing the promise of nanoscience in innovative circuits and systems applications

By enabling the simulation of circuits and systems, compact models connect nanomaterials and devices to potential circuit applications that are simulated with SPICE (Simulation Program with Integrated Circuit Emphasis). NEEDS is charged with creating a complete compact model development environment (NEEDS-SPICE) that supports the creation of high-quality models and provides industrial and academic designers with robust models that run in both commercial and open source SPICE-compatible simulation platforms.

NEEDS will support this platform with a set of best practices and processes and a suite of research and educational resources. During the course of this work, NEEDS will produce an open source platform, open source compact models and open content educational resources, which will be available on nanoHUB.org.

“Moving from devices to systems is the next phase of the National Nanotechnology Initiative, and compact models are the critical link between the two,” said Lynn Preston, NCN program team leader at NSF. “Supported by NSF since its inception in 2002, the nanoHUB has become the flagship science and engineering gateway for nanotechnology. It provides the ideal platform for disseminating the work of the NEEDS Node and for engaging a global community in developing compact models for nanodevices and systems.”

“Predictive compact models are vital for circuit designers to explore their novel ideas to take full advantage of these emerging nano-enabled devices and systems, and an organized effort like the NEEDS initiative is both timely and essential,” said Kwok Ng, Senior Director of Device Sciences at SRC.

Led by Purdue University Engineering Professor Mark Lundstrom, this NSF/SRC partnership expands the NSF base support to the core NEEDS team at Purdue, MIT and the University of California, Berkeley and adds faculty from Stanford University to the team. Additionally, the NEEDS team will interact with SRC Global Research Collaboration industry representatives in the device, circuits/systems and CAD areas.

The NEEDS Node was initiated in September 2012 and the NSF/SRC partnership in support of the expanded Node officially begins work today. NEEDS anticipates delivering initial results in December.

The National Science Foundation (NSF) is an independent federal agency that supports fundamental research and education across all fields of science and engineering. In fiscal year (FY) 2012, its budget was $7.0 billion. NSF funds reach all 50 states through grants to nearly 2,000 colleges, universities and other institutions. Each year, NSF receives about 50,000 competitive requests for funding and makes about 11,500 new funding awards. NSF also awards about $593 million in professional and service contracts yearly.

Scientists from IBM today unveiled the world’s smallest movie, made with one of the tiniest elements in the universe: atoms. Named "A Boy and His Atom," the Guinness World Records -verified movie used thousands of precisely placed atoms to create nearly 250 frames of stop-motion action.

world's smallest movie

"A Boy and His Atom" depicts a character named Atom who befriends a single atom and goes on a playful journey that includes dancing, playing catch and bouncing on a trampoline. Set to a playful musical track, the movie represents a unique way to convey science outside the research community.

Today, it takes roughly one million atoms to store a single bit of data on a computer or electronic device. A bit is the basic unit of information in computing that can have only one of two values, one or zero. Eight bits form a byte. In 2012, IBM Research announced it can now store that same bit of information in just 12 atoms with the creation of the world’s smallest magnetic memory bit. The movie starts with 12 atoms to celebrate the breakthrough by IBM scientists of successfully using 12 atoms to store one bit of data — in our current technology, it takes 1,000,000 atoms to store one bit of data. This breakthrough could transform computing by providing the world with devices that have access to unprecedented levels of data storage, potentially making our computers and devices smaller and more powerful.

But even nanophysicists need to have a little fun. In that spirit, the scientists moved atoms by using their scanning tunneling microscope to make their movie. The ability to move single atoms, one of the smallest particles of any element in the universe, is crucial to IBM’s research in the field of atomic-scale memory.

For now, the 12-atom bit memory lives in a lab. How to make such small bits commercially viable is the big question in the field of nanotechnology. This technology is probably 10 to 30 years in the future, IBM officials say.

The world’s smallest movie set

The scanning tunneling microscope (STM):
One way to look at the STM is as a needle that drags atoms across a surface using magnetism. But behind that needle is a room full of equipment, all there to control the environment to a spectacular degree. The development of the STM by IBM researchers Gerd Binnig and Heinrich Rohrer won the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1986.

Copper plate:
The scientists used copper 111 as the surface of the animation — the same material they used 10 years ago when they built the first computer that performed digital computation operations.

Carbon monoxide (CO):
The scientists chose carbon monoxide atoms to move around the plate. Carbon monoxide has one carbon atom and one oxygen atom, stacked on top of each other,

Viewers may notice little ripples around the atoms as they watch the movie. Those waves are a disturbance in the electron density in the copper atoms on a copper plate. When a carbon monoxide molecule comes close to the plate, the electrons in the copper atoms are displaced. Because they can’t escape the surface of the copper, they protrude (similar to the way water ripples — but doesn’t break the surface — when you throw a rock into a lake). The scientists used copper because that element, in combination with carbon monoxide, produced the most stable atoms for moving.

Once again demonstrating Apple’s power to ordain winners in the electronics supply chain, the top suppliers last year of microelectromechanical systems microphones were those that provided devices for iPhones and iPads.

Suppliers that had significant sales to Apple occupied the Top 4 MEMS microphone ranks in 2012, according to an IHS iSuppli MEMS and Sensors Special Report from information and analytics provider IHS. These companies were No. 1 Knowles Electronics from Illinois, AAC of China in second place, Massachusetts-based Analog Devices in the third spot, and Goertek of China in fourth. Together the Top 4 players last year commanded combined revenue of $513 million, equivalent to 88 percent of total MEMS microphone industry revenue of $583 million, as shown in the table below.

top MEMS microphone suppliers

 Apple gets on the mic

“Microphones continue to be one of the best success stories in MEMS, with mobile device manufacturers adding increasing numbers of these devices to their phones to support advanced features, such as voice command and noise suppression,” said Jérémie Bouchaud, director and senior principal analyst for MEMS and sensors at IHS. “Multiple microphones now are being adopted in smartphones to cancel ambient sounds—crucial for handsets when carrying out voice command systems, such as Apple’s Siri. Apple has led the way in the adoption of MEMS microphone technology and has steadily added the number of devices used in each of its mobile products, compelling competitors to follow suit.”

While midrange to high-end smartphones mostly used two microphones in 2010 and 2011, three microphones are fast becoming standard ever since Apple introduced a third device on the back of the iPhone 5 for high-definition video recording, Bouchaud noted.

Noise suppression and voice commands also are seeing increased adoption in tablets and Ultrabooks, resulting in the use of multiple microphones as ultrasonic transducers for hand-gesture commands.

Aside from handsets, MEMS microphones are used in other important applications such as headsets, gaming, cameras, televisions and hearing aids.

The top suppliers, in a nutshell

Knowles continued to dominate the MEMS microphone sphere, outflanking all other suppliers with revenue last year of $291 million—practically half of the industry total. But while it has the most comprehensive product portfolio and ships to virtually every original equipment manufacturer, Knowles has seen its MEMS microphone market share tumble by 16 percentage points from 2011 to 2012 because of erosion in its business with Apple. Knowles is still the first supplier for the iPad mini, but has slipped to second place behind AAC in providing MEMS microphones for the iPhone.

Knowles, however, has exerted efforts to remain competitive, reducing the size of its MEMS die and most likely migrating soon to larger wafer sizes from 6 to 8 inches as it engages with new foundry partners.

No. 2 and No. 4 AAC and Goertek share similar profiles, both being Chinese electret condenser microphone (ECM) suppliers that now rely almost exclusively on MEMS die technology from Germany’s Infineon Technologies. AAC is the top source for the iPhone and iPad 3 with revenue last year of $98 million, while Goertek is No. 1 for iPhone headsets with $46 million in revenue. Apple was the biggest client in both cases, supplying more than 40 percent of MEMS microphone revenue in 2012 for each company.

Third-ranked Analog Devices basked in revenue of approximately $78 million, thanks to its role as lone supplier of the third microphone for the iPhone 5 and the iPad. The company focuses on high-performance parts and sells at significantly higher prices than other suppliers, accounting for its third-place finish overall.

Infineon’s strategy

Also in a notable development, Infineon has hit upon a successful formula for operating in the market. The German manufacturer focuses only on silicon, developing and then selling MEMS microphone dies as well as application-specific integrated circuits to traditional ECM companies, which then package the chips into MEMS microphones that are sold afterward under their individual brands. Infineon’s customers include AAC and Goertek, as well as two other Top 12 MEMS microphone suppliers—sixth-ranked Hosiden of Japan; and No. 7 BSE of South Korea.

STMicroelectronics on the rise

Rounding out the Top 5 and becoming a serious challenger last year to the incumbents was French-Italian manufacturer STMicroelectronics, which sold 60 million MEMS microphone units in 2012, up from zero in 2010.

Unlike AAC and Goertek that buy their MEMS dies from Infineon, STM sources from Omron Electronics in Japan and also relies on its own application-specific integrated circuit, producing innovatively assembled MEMS microphones that enable a high signal-to-noise ratio. Nokia is STM’s top customer, but STM also supplies product to HTC, Amazon’s Kindle tablet as well as laptops from HP, Dell, Lenovo and Asus.

The other ranking suppliers in the Top 12 provided MEMS microphones for a range of other electronic devices made by companies besides Apple. Hosiden supplied to Nintendo handheld game players and Sony handsets; BSE provided for Samsung and LG smartphones; Germany’s Bosch played mostly in the laptop segment for HP and Dell; and Scotland-based Wolfson Microelectronics broke through at the end of last year by supplying to the Microsoft Surface tablet.

New kids on the MEMS block

The newcomers to watch included a clutch of Chinese companies. Among them were startups NeoMEMS and MEMSensing, as well as ECM manufacturers Gettop, XingGang and Kingstate. Other new entrants of note besides the Chinese included TDK-EPC from Germany, Solid State Systems from Taiwan, and Tokyo-based New Japan Radio.

Panasonic of Japan shipped MEMS microphones in 2007 for a limited time like fellow Japanese maker Yamaha, but then exited the market due to high costs. While the company had planned to return in 2011 with new product offerings, IHS believes that Panasonic has given up altogether on the MEMS microphone market.

Amkor Technology, Inc. today announced that Stephen D. Kelley has been appointed to serve as president and chief executive officer and as a director of the company, effective May 8, 2013. Kelley succeeds Ken Joyce, who previously announced his intention to retire. Kelley’s appointment follows a comprehensive, six month search process conducted by the Board of Directors with the professional assistance of a global executive recruiting firm.

 “We have been investing significant resources in the key packaging and test technologies that support the rapidly growing market for smartphones and tablets, and today we are well-positioned to take advantage of significant growth opportunities in mobile communications and our other end markets,” said James J. Kim, Amkor’s executive chairman of the board of directors. “Steve Kelley has a wealth of experience helping major global semiconductor companies grow revenues and increase profitability. With his strong record of success, deep customer knowledge and great drive, Steve is the ideal CEO to lead Amkor.”

Most recently, Kelley served as chief executive officer of Scio Diamond Technology Corporation, an industrial diamond technology company, and as a senior advisor to Advanced Technology Investment Company, the Abu Dhabi-sponsored investment company that owns GLOBALFOUNDRIES, a full service semiconductor foundry. Kelley, 50, has more than 25 years of experience in the global semiconductor industry, including as executive vice president and chief operating officer of Cree, Inc. from 2008 to 2011, as vice president/general manager of display, standard logic, linear and military businesses at Texas Instruments, Inc. from 2003 to 2008, in various positions with Philips Semiconductors from 1993 to 2003 including senior vice president and general manager, and in various positions with National Semiconductor Corporation and Motorola Semiconductor. Kelley holds a B.S. in chemical engineering from Massachusetts Institute of Technology and a J.D. from Santa Clara University.

“I’m very excited to join the Amkor team,” said Kelley. “Throughout its history, Amkor has been a pioneer and technology leader, and I look forward to the opportunity to build on that success.”

Kim also commented on the retirement of Joyce.

“Ken has had a remarkable career, including over 15 years of service to Amkor,” he said. “Today, Amkor is well-positioned for success with industry-leading technology in our key end markets, and the entire Board of Directors joins me in thanking Ken for helping to lead us here. We are fortunate that Ken has agreed to be available to work with Steve over the coming months to ensure a smooth transition.”

Amkor is a leading provider of semiconductor packaging and test services to semiconductor companies and electronics OEMs.