Category Archives: Online Magazines

Imec announced today the launch of its fully integrated silicon photonics platform through a cost-sharing Multi-Project Wafer (MPW) service via ePIXfab. The platform enables cost-effective R&D of silicon photonic ICs for high-performance optical transceivers (25Gb/s and beyond) and optical sensing and 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.

Since 2007, imec and its associated laboratory at Ghent University have been offering a platform for passive silicon photonic components via ePIXfab, for R&D under shared cost conditions. Now, imec extends its silicon photonics offering, using a standard130nm CMOS toolset, with active components such as high-speed optical modulators and integrated germanium photo-detectors.

“Imec’s Silicon Photonics platform provides robust performance and solutions to integrated photonics products in medical diagnostics, telecom and datacom industries. Companies can benefit from our silicon photonics capability through established standard cells, or explore the functionality of their own designs in MPW,” stated Philippe Absil, program director at imec. “This Silicon Photonics MPW offer provides a cost-efficient solution, with state-of-the-art performance, design flexibility and superior CD and thickness control”.

The first run opens for registration with tape-in on 9th of Oct 2013 and first devices will be out in May 2014. Support, registration and design kit access will be organized by Europractice IC service, in collaboration with world-wide MPW partners.

Imec’s Si Photonics 200mm wafer platform offers extensive design flexibility and includes –

  • Tight within-wafer silicon thickness variation 3 < 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, PhoeniX and Mentor Graphics software

Nanoplas, a global supplier of plasma processing equipment to the semiconductor industry, today announced a new dry-etch process offering virtually unlimited etch selectivity for removing dielectric films on microprocessors and memories at high throughput.

Nanoplas’s new Atomic-Layer Downstream Etching (ALDE) processing allows etching rate and selectivity to be controlled independently, which provides virtually unlimited selectivity. Based on the company’s new inductively coupled plasma (ICP) source, ALDE features atomic-layer control at wafer-surface level. 

“Nanoplas’s Atomic-Layer Downstream Etching technology enables a new class of plasma-based etching and stripping processes at the 20nm technology node and beyond,” said Gilles Baujon, Nanoplas CEO. “By allowing virtually unlimited selectivity, ALDE will alleviate many of the challenges engineers face in manufacturing next-generation devices – and enable them to achieve higher yields – because the process window will be larger and will easily integrate with existing pre- and post-ALDE steps. This is a huge benefit and driver for IC manufacturing. Bringing a new generation of devices to production is all about having sufficiently large process windows to generate high yields.”

Nanoplas intends for ALDE to replace current wet and dry techniques for removal of the many critical silicon-nitride spacer films in most advanced transistor-formation technologies.

Nanoplas expects to release a first ALDE application for SiN etching in Q2.

Nanoplas is an equipment supplier to the semiconductor industry specialized in novel plasma process solutions for nanoelectronics. The company’s plasma-processing tools are used by leading microelectronics companies in North America, Europe and Asia. The company is based near Grenoble, in St-Égrève, France.

 

TFT LCD panel suppliers are forecast to ship 2.6 million 4K×2K LCD TV panels (also known as Ultra HD) worldwide in 2013, up more than 40-fold from 63 thousand in 2012, according to the latest NPD DisplaySearch Quarterly Large Area TFT Panel Shipment Report.

TFT LCD panel suppliers play a pivotal role in 4K×2K LCD TV adoption, providing innovative cost-effective technology solutions that will meet the anticipated demand for these devices. Specifically, they are focused on leveraging new technologies, such as high-transmittance cell designs, high-output driver integrated circuits (ICs), and high-efficiency backlight units and integrated up-scaling circuits for 4K×2K panels.

“To date, Innolux Corp. has been the most aggressive panel manufacturer in this market segment, developing a full line-up of 4K×2K panels in the 39" to 85" range,” noted David Hsieh, NPD DisplaySearch Vice President, Greater China Market. “Despite this, 4K×2K panel manufacturers’ shipments are primarily focused on 50", 55"/58”, and 65" sizes, which are expected to have the highest volume shipments, especially in China.”

Panel manufacturers are also looking to accelerate 4K×2K panel adoption by strengthening their relationships with LCD TV brands with more aggressive manufacturing and sales efforts.

“4K×2K LCD TV is the newest TV technology available, and in order for it to be successful, it will be critical for the supply chain to avoid falling behind when making their purchases, even if content is still scarce,” Hsieh added. “Some panel makers are also working with design houses to develop circuits built into the panel, to enable up-scaling of HD to 4K×2K content. This will help to drive the 4K×2K LCD TV market and encourage panel makers, especially those that have already started design-in work with TV brands in 2013.”

The U.S. Photovoltaic Manufacturing Consortium (PVMC), an industry-led collaboration headquartered in New York at the SUNY College of Nanoscale Science and Engineering (CNSE), has partnered with the U.S. Department of Energy’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) to improve manufacturing processes for thin film CIGS photovoltaic (PV)  cells and modules, including products, metrology and reliability that will support the U.S. solar industry in the development, manufacturing, and commercialization of next-generation solar PV systems.

“In support of Governor Andrew Cuomo’s innovative green energy strategy that is fueling New York’s emergence as a leader in the cleantech industry, PVMC is delighted to partner with NREL to help drive important advances in our nation’s solar future,” said Dr. Pradeep Haldar, PVMC Chief Operating and Technology Officer and CNSE Vice President of Clean Energy Programs. “Through this initiative, we look forward to enhancing the manufacturability of thin film solar PV technologies, which is critical to enabling increased usage in residential, commercial and utility applications across the country.”

“This unique partnership between NREL and PVMC will leverage national resources, accelerate commercialization of next generation solar products, and boost interactions between U.S. research labs and industry manufacturing initiatives,” said Joe Hudgins, senior VP of business development and strategic alliances, PVMC. “Together we are leading the national effort to help facilitate the transfer and commercialization of future solar products, equipment, and manufacturing lines including thin film, advanced silicon, and future materials.”

NREL is a renewable energy center, specializing in many fields of photovoltaic research, and has established processes, measurement and characterization capabilities, and expertise in all the major PV conversion technologies. PVMC will join NREL to support U.S. solar manufacturing by leveraging decades of knowledge and capabilities in materials and cell processing, advanced testing, metrology and materials analysis, and modeling. These interactions will accelerate PVMC program deliverables and help overcome the gaps and challenges necessary to build a strong U.S. solar industry.

Additionally, the NREL and PVMC collaboration effort will be expanded to other national labs to create a greater impact on the U.S. PV manufacturing industry. These national partnerships replicate the successful SEMATECH and CNSE models that have regained and sustained U.S. technology leadership in the semiconductor industry for several decades.

Spearheaded by CNSE and SEMATECH as part of the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) SunShot Initiative, PVMC is targeting a reduction in the total installed cost of solar energy systems by 75 percent over the next decade. As an active participant in PVMC’s U.S. Thin-Films PV Roadmap, NREL is working with other roadmap members to provide a congruent plan for the national CIGS industry, including module and systems manufacturers, suppliers, and end-users, that will identify common challenges and define the areas of technical developments needed to sustain and advance a competitive U.S. photovoltaic industry.

Several initiatives are currently underway to enhance product and manufacturing development, some of which are likely to become industry standards in the future. Recently, SEMI and PVMC signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to enhance their cooperation in areas of standards and roadmap activities for the solar thin film industry.

Seven O-S-D product categories and device groups reached record-high sales in 2012 compared to 14 new records being set in 2011, according to data shown in the 2013 edition of IC Insights’ O-S-D Report, A Market Analysis and Forecast for Optoelectronics, Sensors/Actuators, and Discretes.  Figure 1 shows that in 2012, two sales records were achieved in optoelectronics, four in sensors/actuators (including total sensor sales), and one in discretes.  Ten new sales records are expected to be set in the O-S-D markets in 2013.  All the products shown in Figure 1 are forecast to grow by moderate percentages in 2013, which will lift them again to new record-high levels.  Total sales of MEMS-based products are expected in rise 9% in 2013 and reach a new annual record of $7.6 billion, surpassing the current peak of $7.1 billion set in 2011.

O-S-D products record sales 2012

With sales in the much larger IC segment falling 4% in 2012, O-S-D’s share of total semiconductor revenues grew to 19% in 2012 versus 18% in 2011 and 14% in 2002.  O-S-D’s marketshare of total semiconductor sales in 2012 was the highest it’s been since 1991.

Key findings and forecasts in the 2013 O-S-D Report include:

CMOS image sensors were the fastest growing O-S-D product category in 2012 with sales rising 22% to a new record-high $7.1 billion, blowing past the previous peak of $5.8 billion set in 2011. Since the 2009 downturn year, CMOS image sensor sales have climbed 85% due to the strong growth of embedded cameras used in smartphones and portable computers (including tablets) and the expansion of digital imaging into more systems applications. CMOS designs are now grabbing large chunks of marketshare from CCD image sensors, which are forecast to see revenues decline by a CAGR of 2.4% between 2012 and 2017.  Sales of CMOS imaging devices are projected to grow by a CAGR of about 12.0% in the forecast period and account for 85% of the total image sensor market versus 15% for CCDs in 2017.  This compares to a 60/40 split in 2009.

High-brightness LED revenues climbed 20% in 2012 to nearly $9.5 billion and are expected to hit the $20.0 billion level in 2017, with annual sales growing by a CAGR of 16% in the next five years. That’s the good news, but of immediate concern is whether new solid-state lighting applications are growing fast enough to consume the large amounts of production capacity being added worldwide in LED wafer fabs—especially in China.  Solid-state lighting’s main growth engine in recent years—backlighting in LCD televisions and computer screens—is slowing, and the multi-billion dollar question is whether the next wave of applications (e.g., LED light bulbs, new interior and exterior lighting systems, digital signs and billboards, automotive headlamps, long-lasting street lights, and other uses) can keep the industry ahead of a potential glut in high-brightness lamp devices.

About 81% of the sensor/actuator market’s sales in 2012 came from semiconductor products built with MEMS technology.  Sensors accounted for 52% of MEMS-based device sales in 2012, while actuators were 48% of the total.   A 10% drop in actuator sales in 2012 lowered total revenues for MEMS-based devices to $7.0 billion from the current peak of $7.1 billion in 2011.  By 2017, MEMS-based sensors and actuators are projected to reach $13.5 billion in sales, which will be a CAGR increase of 14.0% from 2012, and unit shipments are expected to grow by a CAGR of 17.4% in the next five years to 9.7 billion devices.  MEMS manufacturing continues to move into the mainstream IC foundry segment, which will open more capacity to fabless companies and larger suppliers. TSMC, GlobalFoundries, UMC, and SMIC all have increased investments to expand their presence in MEMS production using 200mm wafers.

Among the strongest growth drivers covered in the O-S-D Report are: high-brightness LEDs for solid-state lighting applications; laser transmitters for high-speed optical networks; MEMS-based acceleration/yaw sensors for highly adaptive embedded control in cellphones, tablet computers, and consumer products; CMOS imaging devices for automobiles, machine vision, medical, and new human-recognition interfaces; and a range of power transistors for energy-saving electronics and battery management.

 Now in its eighth annual edition, the 2013 O-S-D Report contains a detailed forecast of sales, unit shipments, and selling prices for more than 30 individual product types and categories through 2017.

 

Solid State Technology is proud to announce that Yoon-Woo Lee will be speaking at The ConFab 2013. The event will be held June 23-26, 2013 at The Encore at The Wynn in Las Vegas. Lee is the Executive Advisor of Samsung Electronics.

Lee’s presentation reviews what is currently happening in the IT industry and suggests strategies of collaboration within the industry. Technology is advancing rapidly in various sectors, basically driven by semiconductors that have strived toward greater performance, lower power, and smaller form through relentless migration, he says in his abstract.

“What is now important,” he writes, “is enriching the end user experience with a view on the entire value chain of the ecosystem. This is especially true as the IT revolution is now spilling over into other cutting edge fields like bio, nano, energy, and the environment. Collaboration is also 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.”

Prior to his current position Lee served as Vice Chairman and CEO from May 2008 to December 2009; Chairman of the Board of Directors from May 2008 to December 2010; and Vice Chairman from December 2010 to December 2011. An engineer and 40-year veteran of Samsung, Lee’s leadership and in-depth technology expertise have helped build Samsung into the world’s largest electronics company. He is widely credited with the success of Samsung’s Semiconductor Business and implementing policies and training programs that have earned Samsung the reputation of being the best company to work for in Korea.

Lee has been with Samsung since 1968. He served as the Managing Director of Giheung’s main semiconductor plant operations in 1987, and was appointed as the President of Samsung’s Semiconductor Business in 1996. Demonstrating his business acumen in a dynamic and fast-paced semiconductor industry, he successfully implemented diversification strategies that allowed the Semiconductor Business to navigate through cyclical market downturns while increasing market share, year after year. In 2004, Lee was promoted to Vice Chairman in charge of Global Collaboration, and also was appointed Head of the Samsung Advanced Institute of Technology. In 2005, he became Chief Technology Officer, responsible for planning mid- to long-term strategies for promoting new business development based on cutting-edge technologies.

Lee serves in numerous industry leadership positions including Vice Chairman of Seoul Chamber Commerce & Industry, Vice Chairman of Korea-Japan Economic Association, and Vice Chairman of Korea Business Council for Sustainable Development. In 2005, he was honored by the Korea Management Institute as CEO of the Year. Mr. Lee graduated from Seoul National University with a bachelor’s degree in Electrical Engineering.

For more information on or to register for The ConFab 2013, visit The ConFab section of our website.

The Flexible Electronics and Display Center (FEDC) at Arizona State University and PARC, a Xerox company, today announced that they successfully manufactured the world’s largest flexible X-ray detector prototype using advanced thin film transistors (TFTs). Measuring 7.9 diagonal inches, the device was jointly developed at the FEDC and PARC in conjunction with the Army Research Lab (ARL) and the Defense Threat Reduction Agency (DTRA). This device will be used to advance the development of flexible X-ray detectors for use in thin, lightweight, conformable and highly rugged devices.

The TFT and PIN diode processing was done on the 470mm by 370mm Gen II line at the FEDC. This device showcases the Center’s successful scale up to GEN II, and the ability to produce sensors and displays using TFTs in standard process flows with the Center’s proprietary bond/de-bond technology.

The system design and integration was done at PARC. The flexible x-ray sensor was coupled to a flexible electrophoretic display and electronics to provide a self-contained, direct-view unit (including battery, user-interface and software). This system shows PARC’s capability to build user-defined prototype systems incorporating novel device physics, materials and technology. PARC has extensive experience in building large-area electronic systems, display and backplane prototypes and organic and printed electronics.

Formerly known as The Flexible Display Center at Arizona State University, the FEDC is a government – industry – academia partnership that’s advancing full-color flexible display technology and fostering development of a manufacturing environment to support the rapidly growing market for flexible electronic devices. FEDC partners include many of the world’s leading providers of advanced display technology, materials and process equipment. The FEDC is unique among the U.S. Army’s University centers, having been formed through a 10-year cooperative agreement with Arizona State University in 2004.

Intel semiconductor market inventory declineAfter reaching a worrisome high in the third quarter of 2012, global semiconductor inventories held by chip suppliers fell at a surprisingly fast rate in the fourth quarter, led by dramatic reductions for market leader Intel Corp.

Days of Inventory (DOI) for semiconductor suppliers in the fourth quarter declined by 5 percent compared to the third quarter—higher than the 1.5% initially forecast, according to an IHS iSuppli Supply Chain Inventory Market Brief from information and analytics provider IHS. Meanwhile, inventory value in dollar terms fell almost 5%—larger than the originally projected 3%.

“Semiconductor companies reduced their inventories at a faster-than-expected rate in the fourth quarter as they moved to adjust to weakening demand,” said Sharon Stiefel, analyst for semiconductor market intelligence at IHS. “Many chip suppliers demonstrated great agility in their reactions to the drop in demand. No. 1 semiconductor supplier Intel Corp. was the most aggressive, cutting its stockpiles by more than half a billion dollars—the largest decrease on a dollar basis of any chipmaker.”

Cutting inventories down to size

Among semiconductor suppliers that reduced their inventory levels between the third and fourth quarters last year, the percentage of decrease ranged from 5% to 25%, resulting in chip stockpile value of $60 million to nearly $600 million being shaved off in the companies affected, as shown in the attached table. And while inventory climbed in some companies during the same period, the spread was smaller, with the value of the increase worth slightly north of $40 million to approximately $250 million.

In the table and numbers cited in this release, memory suppliers are excluded from DOI and inventory value calculations because they report results much later than any other group in the semiconductor supply chain.

The rest of the companies covered effectively straddle the breadth of the semiconductor chain, including those engaged in the wireless, automotive, data processing and industrial segments.

Intel leads inventory liquidation

The largest decrease in inventory value during the fourth quarter belonged to Intel, down $585 million from the third quarter, representing an 11% reduction. The company made aggressive moves to cut stockpiles. It also reduced production as it migrated to a new process technology: 14-nanometer lithography.

AMD and STMicroelectronics also experienced large inventory declines of $182 million and $131 million, respectively, or 25% and 9%. In the case of AMD, inventory shrank for its microprocessors as a result of an amended wafer supply agreement with GlobalFoundries for reduced stockpiles. For its part, STMicroelectronics cut utilization rates after exiting its money-losing joint venture with Ericsson.

Two other chip suppliers had notable inventory drawdowns: Texas Instruments, down $91 million or 5%, due to weak end-market demand for its chips; and ON Semiconductor, down $63 million or 10%, as it burned bridge inventory and coped with reduced revenue.

Among inventory gainers, most faulted low seasonality and an uncertain global economy for a rise in chip stockpiles. Companies in this group included MediaTek, up $58 million or 14%; NXP Semiconductors, up $44 million or 7%; and Infineon Technologies, up $43 million or 6%.

Qualcomm bucks the trend

The one exception among gainers that could boast of a strong performance that was linked to an increase in chip inventory levels was Qualcomm, up $247 million or 24%. Given the strong market acceptance of its wireless chips in products like the Apple iPhone and iPad, Qualcomm is ramping up production and inventories in order to meet demand.

Semiconductor suppliers will be positioning their inventories in the first quarter this year to prepare for anticipated demand. Inventories are expected to rise in response to slightly positive global economic indicators as well as favorable semiconductor and end-equipment forecasts—unless major swings occur once more from the larger suppliers that could then end up skewing the industry.

Cree, Inc. announces the release of its second generation SiC MOSFET, enabling systems to have higher efficiency and smaller size at cost parity with silicon-based solutions. These new 1200V MOSFETs deliver power density and switching efficiency at half the cost per amp of Cree’s previous generation MOSFETs. At this price-performance point, they enable lower system costs for OEMs and provide additional savings to the end-user through increased efficiency and lower installation costs due to the lower size and weight of SiC-based systems.

“We have evaluated Cree’s second generation SiC MOSFET in our advanced solar circuits,” stated Prof. Dr. Bruno Burger, renowned industry expert at the Fraunhofer-Institute in Freiburg, Germany.  “They have state-of-the-art efficiency and enable system operation at higher switching frequencies that result in smaller passive components, especially smaller inductors. This substantially improves the cost-performance tradeoff in solar inverters in favor of smaller, lighter and more efficient systems.”

The superior performance of these new SiC MOSFETs enables the reduction of required current rating by 50-70% in some high power applications.  When properly optimized, customers can now get the performance benefits of SiC with the same or lower systems cost as with previous silicon solutions.  For solar inverters and uninterruptible power supply (UPS) systems, the efficiency improvement is accompanied by size and weight reductions.  In motor drive applications, the power density can be more than doubled while increasing efficiency and providing up to twice the maximum torque of similarly rated silicon solutions.  The product offering range has been extended to include a much larger 25 mOhm die aimed at the higher power module market for power levels above 30 kW. The 80 mOhm device is intended as a lower cost, higher performance upgrade to the first generation MOSFET.

“With our new MOSFET platform, we already have design wins in multiple segments,” explained Cengiz Balkas, vice president and general manager, Cree Power and RF.  “Due to the rapid acceptance of this second generation of SiC MOSFETs, we are shipping pre-production volumes to several customers ahead of schedule and we are ramping volume production in-line with customer demand.”

Die are available with ratings of 25 mOhms, intended as a 50 amp building block for high power modules, and 80 mOhm.  The 80 mOhm MOSFET in a TO-247 package is intended as a higher performance, lower cost replacement for Cree’s first-generation CMF20120D. Packaged parts are available immediately from DigiKey, Mouser and Farnell. 

EV Group, a supplier of wafer bonding and lithography equipment for the MEMS, nanotechnology and semiconductor markets, today announced that it has installed a fully automated 300mm system from EVG’s Gemini product family of integrated wafer bonding clusters to a leading Chinese semiconductor foundry. This customer will use the system for 3D IC integration and advanced packaging—two high-volume applications for which EVG’s wafer bonding solutions are frequently used.

"This order from one of the largest Chinese foundries further cements EV Group’s position as the market and technology leader in wafer bonding for leading-edge applications," stated Hermann Waltl, executive sales and customer support director at EV Group. "China is an important market for us, and this order is further testament to our continued success in penetrating leading high-volume microelectronics manufacturers in China—from advanced substrate suppliers to light emitting diode (LED) and semiconductor device makers."

EVG won this order following a competitive bid with other leading process equipment suppliers.  Reasons cited by the customer for choosing EVG included high alignment accuracy, comprehensive process development and support, successful demo results in EVG cleanrooms, unmatched expertise in wafer bonding and other high-volume process solutions, and a technology roadmap that is strongly aligned with that of the customer. 

The EVG Gemini is a fully automated and integrated platform for wafer conditioning, wafer-to-wafer alignment and wafer bonding.  This highly modular design provides customers with a highly flexible solution that can integrate all of EVG’s technology solutions in one platform with minimized footprint.  Configurations can include the option of EVG’s clean modules, low temperature plasma activation modules, SmartView align modules with integrated bond capability, as well as dedicated bond modules.