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Brewer Science, a developer of lithography enhancement materials for semiconductor manufacturing, announces the installation of a scale-up reactor to increase production of its CNTRENE C100 family of electronics-grade CNT materials by tenfold. Such materials are used in chemical and biological sensors and nanotube-based nonvolatile random access memory device applications, which require extremely low levels of metal ion contaminants with concentration limits in parts per billion. 

“Small-scale reaction equipment can only take manufacturing so far with respect to quality and delivery time. This new scale-up reactor will provide the capability to complete weeks of reactions in three days while producing materials that meet stringent microelectronics specifications,” said Dr. Stephen Gibbons, Director of Technology of Brewer Science’s Carbon Electronics Center.

“With increasing customer usage and the move toward commercial adoption in devices, we needed to implement our third round of scale-up to support market demand,” Jim Lamb, director of business development for the Carbon Electronics Center, said. “Growth of our CNTRENE C100 family of products is driven by their use in nanotube-based nonvolatile random access memory devices, a universal CNT memory structure developed by Nantero, Inc., sold under the name NRAM, which could replace embedded memory, DRAM, SRAM, and flash memory devices. This structure allows flexible placement of memory in the device stack and can be stacked for vertically placed memory cells. NRAM devices provide other key benefits including robustness, 3-nanosecond write speeds, low operating power, radiation-hardened memory cells, and the ability to perform at high operating temperatures.”

Jim Lamb from Brewer Science will be presenting at the upcoming Applied Power Electronics Conference (APEC). He will speak about “Carbon Nanotubes Solutions for Packaging and Wireless Sensors” on Thursday, March 21, at the industry session on Nanotechnology Applications in Power Electronics.

 

Oxford Instruments Plasma Technology has just announced an evolution in batch etch technology with the launch of the PlasmaPro 1000 Astrea etch system, a large batch etch solution for PSS, GaN and AlGaInP that will offer HBLED production manufacturers high throughput. The launch is being made at the LED China exhibition in Shanghai this week, where Dr. Mark Dineen, Oxford Instruments HBLED Product Manager will present the new system to the LED China Conference delegates.

“The PlasmaPro1000 Astrea is our ultimate batch etch tool, building on over fifteen years experience as a major supplier to the HBLED industry,” says Dr. Mark Dineen, Oxford Instruments Plasma Technology’s HBLED Product Manager. “Today’s HBLED manufacturers justifiably demand high yield, high throughput, optimum device quality and low cost of ownership.  Our PlasmaPro1000 Astrea large batch etch system offers solutions for all of these.”

With wafer batch sizes from 55 x 2” to 3 x 8”, the system has been designed specifically for the harsh chemistries required for HBLED materials. The PlasmaPro1000 Astrea delivers low damage, high yield processes ensuring the maximum light output from customers’ chips.  This is a highly configurable system, with process chambers that are available as standalone modules or in cluster configurations, available on a four sided cluster tool capable of supporting up to three process modules.

Designed to ensure high system availability and ease of serviceability, key system features and benefits include:

• >690mm large area source for highly uniform plasma

• 490mm electrode giving unparalleled throughput from batch sizes of 55×2”, 14×4”, 7×6” and 3×8”

• High conductance pumping system

• Dual entry gas inlet for ease of process tuning

• Maximized clamping for wafer cooling

• Z-movement electrode for ultimate uniformity

• Reliable hardware and ease of serviceability for excellent uptime

“This advanced and innovative system has been developed to address the exacting needs of HBLED Production users, who demand not only the very latest technological innovations, but also the superb customer support offered by our company,” Dan Ayres, Managing Director of Oxford Instruments Plasma Technology said.

FlipChip International (FCI), a developer of flip chip bumping, Wafer Level and embedded die packaging and EZconn Czech a.s. announced a partnership agreement today.  FCI will provide sales and marketing services to promote and leverage EZconn’s packaging technologies and services based in their Trutnov facility in the Czech Republic, thereby extending support for leading edge wafer level bumping and module assembly. EZconn will also support FCI’s advanced packaging roadmap for 2.5D and 3D WLCSP and flip chip solutions for its global customers with this Partnership.

This strategic partnership will provide a platform for the promotion of the EZconn Czech a.s. Wafer Level Micro Assembly Technology and Services including volume production of customer specific micro-modules, optical diodes and transceivers of all kinds.

"We are excited about this partnership which combines EZconn’s advanced wafer level assembly technologies with FCI’s Wafer Level Packaging technologies creating a unique capability for next generation 2.5D and 3D packaging," Bob Forcier, FCI President and CEO said, "The technology crossovers of these two technologies will enable further reductions in the Z axis and X-Y axis mechanical envelopes which is paramount to our mutual customers quest for miniaturization of their products in a variety of global markets."

"We are very pleased to enhance and extend our product portfolio with this partnership with FCI," Petr Tauchman, EZconn Czech a.s. Managing Director, said. "There are synergies in our respective Product and Technology Roadmaps that will provide excellent advanced packaging solutions for our customers."

It’s no secret: the past five years for the IC industry have been full of challenges. From 2007-2013, the IC market grew at an average annual rate of only 2.1%. One of the speakers slated to speak at The ConFab 2013 in Las Vegas has good reason to believe the IC industry is set to emerge from this difficult cycle.

President of IC Insights, Inc.Solid State Technology is pleased to have Bill McClean on their line-up of speakers for The ConFab 2013. McClean is the president of IC Insights, Inc., where he serves at the managing editor of the company’s market and research studies and reports.

“In IC Insights’ opinion, the “bottom” of the current cycle in the worldwide economy and IC industry was reached in 2012 and 2013 will mark the beginning of the next cyclical upturn—one in which the IC industry CAGR will more than triple to 7.4% in the next five-year period,” McClean writes in his abstract. “Overall, semiconductor industry cycles are becoming increasingly tied to the health of the worldwide economy. While poor semiconductor industry growth has occurred during periods of strong worldwide economic growth, primarily due to semiconductor industry overcapacity and the resulting IC price declines, it is rare to have strong semiconductor industry growth without at least a ‘good’ worldwide economy to support it. Thus, over the next five years, annual global semiconductor market growth rates are expected to gain significant momentum and closely mirror the performance of the worldwide economy.”

McClean began his market research career in the integrated circuit industry in 1980 and founded IC Insights in 1997.   During his 33 years of tracking the IC industry, McClean has specialized in market and technology trend forecasting and was responsible for developing the IC industry cycle model.  In addition, he instructs for IC Insights’ seminars and has been a guest speaker at many important annual conferences held worldwide (e.g., SEMI’s ISS and Electronic Materials Conferences, The China Electronics Conference, and The European Microelectronics Summit).  Mr. McClean received his Bachelor of Science degree in Marketing and an Associate degree in Aviation from the University of Illinois.

To register for this event and learn more about our speakers, please visit The ConFab section of our website.

smallest vibration sensor in the quantum world

The spin of a molecule (orange) changes and deforms the nanotube (black) mounted between two electrodes (gold).

(Figure: C. Grupe/KIT)

Carbon nanotubes and magnetic molecules are considered building blocks of future nanoelectronic systems. Their electric and mechanical properties play an important role. Researchers of Karlsruhe Institute of Technology and French colleagues from Grenoble and Strasbourg have now found a way to combine both components on the atomic level and to build a quantum mechanical system with novel properties. It is reported now in the print version of nature nanotechnology journal (DOI: 10.1038/nnano.2012.258).

In their experiment the researchers used a carbon nanotube that was mounted between two metal electrodes, spanned a distance of about 1 µm, and could vibrate mechanically. Then, they applied an organic molecule with a magnetic spin due to an incorporated metal atom. This spin was oriented in an external magnetic field.

“In this setup, we demonstrated that the vibrations of the tube are influenced directly when the spin flips parallel or antiparallel to the magnetic field,” explains Mario Ruben, head of the working group at KIT. When the spin changes, the resulting recoil is transferred to the carbon nanotube and the latter starts to vibrate. Vibration changes the atomic distances of the tube and, hence, its conductance that is used as a measure of motion.

The strong interaction between a magnetic spin and mechanical vibration opens up interesting applications apart from determining the states of motion of the carbon nanotube. It is proposed to determine the masses of individual molecules and to measure magnetic forces within the nano-regime. Use as a quantum bit in a quantum computer might also be feasible.

According to the supplementary information published in the same issue of nature nanotechnology such interactions are of high importance in the quantum world, i.e. in the range of discrete energies and tunnel effects, for the future use of nanoscopic effects in macroscopic applications. Combination of spin, vibration, and rotation on the nanoscale in particular may result in entirely new applications and technologies.

In 2012, global PCB industry saw a jump in terms of output value, benefitting in a large part from the rapid growth in the shipment of Apple and Samsung, up 7.0% over 2011 to $62.4 billion, according to Research and Markets’ report Global and Chinese Advanced Rigid PCB Industry Report, 2012-2013. It was not always the truth for the full-blown PCB industry. However, there is no such possibility of a huge jump in 2013, as the report states the expected growth rate will slow down to 2.7%. For most rigid PCB vendors, it was doomed for them to face revenue dive in 2012 unless both Samsung and Apple were included in their client lists, while in 2013 their revenue is likely to drop even if Apple is among the clients.

The big acquisition event in 2012 was Viasystems’ takeover of America-based PCB producer DDI at a cost of $267 million in June. In 2011, DDI’s revenue reached $263 million, and its net income hit USD25 million.

In 2012, two massive fire accidents took place in PCB industry. One happened in April to the Changshu plant under Gold Circuit Electronics, the other was in September, with the sufferer coming to the Guangzhou plant under Viasystems. In Feb.2013, South Korean SIMMTECH was also on fire. PCB industry is vulnerable to fire accidents which break out twice annually at least. This leads to the natural reduction of capacity, balancing out the supply and demand.

In 2012, ZDT under Hon Hai Precision Ind. Co., Ltd. performed better, due to sizeable orders from Apple, the largest client. As a result, the revenue of ZDT witnessed huge jump, especially its revenue from flexible PCB. Hannstar PCB, as the world’s largest notebook PCB vendor, saw a substantial surge in revenue following the fire accident inflicting Gold Circuit Electronics, its largest rival.

SEMCO saw big rise in orders thanks to its parent company Samsung which won considerable orders, and COMPEQ also did a good job due to the growing orders from the big client Apple. However, Nanya PCB dwarfed in this regard, since its failure to get orders from the big client Intel for one quarter long. And it was the same story for LG INNOTEK, the mobile phone shipment of whose big client LG presented a steep drop. As for counterparts in Mainland China, they leveled out in this regard.

Mentor Graphics User Conference 2013 speaker line-up boasts a host of industry bigwigs, including former foundry CTO, Dr. Chenming Hu.  Hu will give the keynote address on April 25 in San Jose, California, addressing the future of FinFET.

“FinFET overcomes the impending show stopper that device physics imposes,” writes Hu, in his abstract. “The ultra-thin-body concept, which FinFET embodies, may lead to more new structures and materials research directions that can give relief for other future show stoppers such as the high cost of scaling by lithography.”

Dr. Chenming Hu is the TSMC Distinguished Professor of UC Berkeley and a board director of SanDisk, Inc. and Friends of Children with Special Needs.  He was formerly the Chief Technology Officer of TSMC. He is known for developing the 3D transistor, FinFET, that can be scaled to sub-10nm. He also developed IC reliability models and the industry-standard SPICE model used by most IC companies to design CMOS products. He has received the IEEE Andrew Grove Award, Solid State Circuits Award, Nishizawa Medal, and UC Berkeley’s highest honor for teaching–the Berkeley Distinguished Teaching Award.

Mentor Graphics User Conference 2013 is slated to be held April 25, 2013 in San Jose, California at the DoubleTree Hotel by Hilton. This one day event is offered free of charge; however participants are responsible for their own business travel expenses.  Complimentary refreshments including lunch and a networking event will be included.  Registration will begin at 8:00 a.m.  The session will start at 9:00 a.m. and end at approximately 5:00 p.m.

Visit Mentor Graphics User Conference 2013’s website for more information on speakers and accomodations.

Cisco Systems is preparing for a major shift in the industry, as the Internet of Things starts to become a reality. At an annual press event in San Jose, California this week, Cisco officials claimed that the much-anticipated IoT industry could be a $14 trillion opportunity, and they are ready to embrace the change.

Rob Lloyd, president of sales and development at Cisco, told the press that he believes as many as 50 billion devices will be connected to the Internet by 2020, from which, he believes, the $14 trillion business opportunity will stem. The trend will create business opportunities initially in manufacturing, but extend into government, energy and health care, he said, as sensors will become part of traffic systems, hospitals, refineries and other civil and business infrastructures. These opportunities will extend far beyond today’s budgets for computer and communication systems.

An ambitious plan for Cisco, though some might recall that Cisco’s CEO has announced this plan before. Last year, John Chambers, Cisco’s chairman and chief executive, told the press that he expects the company will experience a shift in customers, handling government and large businesses’ projects such as designing and managing systems for clean water or efficient traffic.

“The first 10 years (of the commercial Internet) were really about transactions, and the last 10 were about interactions,” Padmasree Warrior, Cisco’s chief technology and strategy officer, told the press this week. “The next 10 is about processes being more efficient.”

However, the IoT space is already presenting plenty of challenges. Cisco is working with utilities worldwide in the hopes that 10 million smart meters will be deployed by the end of the year, supporting IoT protocol. Cisco has already deployed about $180 billion worth of network equipment into the world, Warrior said, and will build hardware and software that interacts efficiently with the legacy gear, so new kinds of intelligent systems can be quickly deployed.

What do you know about the Internet of Things? Do you think it’s all hype or a real opportunity? Let us know what you think in the comment section below. Comments posted on Solid State Technology articles will not automatically be posted to your social media account unless you select to share.

 

OneChip Photonics this week revealed strategic, outsourcing plans to expand into new markets, with announcements of newly-established relationships with semiconductor foundry GCS and wafer supplier IQE. Both announcements related to OneChip’s bigger, strategic plan to expand its services into the high-volume DCI market.

OneChip first announced that it is working with Global Communication Semiconductors (GCS), an ISO-certified pure-play compound wafer foundry. Under their fabless model, OneChip, based in Ottawa, Canada, has been working with GCS to process its OneChip-designed 4-inch InP-based wafers.  GCS will be providing an array of InP wafer processing services to OneChip, which OneChip will use to produce its photonic integrated circuits for the data center interconnect (DCI) and passive optical network (PON) markets.

“GCS is the most advanced, pure-play foundry of its kind, which offers indium phosphide and high-volume RF electronics processing technologies,” said Valery Tolstikhin, founder and CTO of OneChip Photonics. “Working with GCS gives us the commercial, high-volume processing capability we need to meet the strict cost requirements of the DCI and PON markets.”

OneChip believes that GCS’s foundry services, with its opto and heterojunction bipolar transistor (HBT) processes in indium phosphide, is an ideal match for their fabless model, which is built around its regrowth-free PIC platform. Because GCS’s opto and HBT and OneChip’s PIC technologies share the same process, the same fabrication process will be used to integrate both electronic and photonic pieces on one substrate.

“Our InP-based Opto and RFIC process technologies have great synergies with OneChip’s PIC technology,” Brian Ann, CEO of GCS, said. “We believe OneChip is a company that can create a truly volume business for photonics in the DCI market, with the unique ability to combine PICs and electronics to create the first optoelectronic circuits in InP.”

This market requires 100Gbps+ solutions with higher interface density and longer reach than those within the reach of currently deployed systems in 0.85um and multi-mode fibers. The DCI market also requires lower cost and power consumption than the solutions offered by the traditional telecom component vendors, which leads to the second of OneChip’s announcements.

OneChip announced plans to partner with IQE, using their epitaxial growth services to produce its InP PICs for the DCI and PON markets. IQE is an independent provider of III-V semiconductor epitaxy services, to grow the epitaxial (epi) structure, which OneChip will use to produce its PICs. IQE uses advanced crystal growth technology (epitaxy) to manufacture and supply bespoke semiconductor wafers “epi-wafers” to the major chip manufacturing companies, who then use these wafers to make the chips, which form the key components of virtually all high-technology systems.

“The iron-doped, semi-insulating 4-inch InP substrates, and the metal organic chemical vapour deposition (MOCVD) growth technique, required for OneChip’s epi-wafers, are the same as those used by IQE for its high-volume epitaxy products, so we have strong economies of scale in working together.,” said Tolstikhin. “IQE is recognized as a leading independent, pure-play epi-wafer foundry, which not only provides world-class services, but also perfectly fits into our fabless PIC manufacturing model.”

OneChip’s regrowth-free multi-guide vertical integration, or MGVI, platform eliminates the need for multiple epitaxial growth steps. This will enable OneChip to decouple epitaxial growth and wafer processing, while outsourcing both functions to GCS and IQE.

“OneChip has developed some exciting new integrated photonics products for the high-volume, but cost-sensitive, optical communications markets,” said Drew Nelson, president and CEO of IQE. “We are delighted to apply our unique high-volume manufacturing expertise in producing InP-based epi-wafers for OneChip’s innovative PIC technology. OneChip’s use of the fabless manufacturing approach further endorses IQE’s outsourcing business model in the field of photonic devices, and we look forward to helping OneChip continue to scale its business as it extends its unique PIC technology to new markets.”

What do you think of OneChip Photonics’ outsourcing plans? Use one of your social media accounts to login and share your thoughts in the comment section below. Comments on Solid State Technology articles will not automatically be posted to your social media accounts unless you select to share.

Solid State Technology is thrilled to announce that Dan Hutcheson, CEO of VLSI Research, will be addressing the state of the semiconductor industry at The ConFab 2013. Hutcheson is a well-known visionary, helping companies make business out of technology for over thirty years and is best known for his many predictions of strategic industry infrastructure shifts.

“After two down years, the semiconductor industry is finally returning to returning to a growth mode. This should come as no surprise, because the bottom actually came early in 2012,” said Hutcheson, in his abstract. “But it was the downward slope of 2011 that held the yearly growth figures down, as the industry climbed out of the downturn in 2012. So far, 2013 is looking stronger than 2012 and VLSI research expects this to continue.”

Hutcheson’s presentation will examine the reasons why – with the most up-to-date data, drivers, and trends – covering the silicon supply chain from electronics through ICs and deep into manufacturing.

Hutcheson is a senior member of the IEEE and a recipient of SEMI’s Bob Graham Award for outstanding contributions in marketing. He has authored numerous publications including two invited articles for Scientific American. His pro bono work has included serving as an advisor on innovation to the White House Council of Economic Advisors in the Clinton Administration, teaching invited courses on Manufacturing Economics and The Economics of the Internet at Stanford University, and serving on the Board of Advisors to the Extension School at UC Berkeley.

To learn more or to register for The ConFab 2013, visit The ConFab section of our website.