Category Archives: Online Magazines

Forty-three years after Intel introduced the first DRAM device in 1970, the DRAM market has finally matured to the point where there are only three major suppliers remaining—Samsung, SK Hynix, and Micron, which recently closed on its acquisition of Elpida.  A good sign that the DRAM market has reached maturity is that capital expenditures in 2013 are forecast to be $4.0 billion, only slightly more than the $3.9 billion spent during the great recession year of 2009 according to data released in IC Insights’ Mid-Year Update to The McClean Report 2013.  Meanwhile, the DRAM market is forecast to reach $33.7 billion.  This means DRAM capital spending as a percent of sales is forecast to fall to an all-time low of only 11.9 percent this year. Lower-trending capex investment for new DRAM fabs and process technology upgrades have contributed to rising average selling prices (ASPs) for DRAM so far in 2013.  For the year, the DRAM average selling price is forecast to jump 40 percent and lift total DRAM market growth 28 percent.

DRAM capital spending

The ability of suppliers to spend large sums of money to build a brand new wafer fab or to upgrade existing fabs has become nearly prohibitive for all but the leading DRAM manufacturers.  With the price of a new wafer fab approaching $5 billion, only Samsung, SK Hynix, and the new Micron-Elpida will be able to continue investing in new and/or upgraded facilities this year.

Read more: Micron’s Elipda acquisition: Analysts weigh in

Samsung perennially has had the DRAM industry’s largest capital expenditure budget, which has allowed it to reduce costs and offer advanced products more quickly than its competition.  From 2010-2013, Samsung’s cumulative four-year DRAM capital spending ($10.95 billion) is forecast to far exceed the amount spent by either of its two nearest rivals—SK Hynix, $6.1 billion; and Micron, $5.1 billion—over the same period.  (DRAM capex by the newly formed Micron-Elpida venture amounts to approximately $7.8 billion over the four-year span).

Read more: How Samsung is climbing the charts

Perhaps more telling is how quickly the level of DRAM capex spending falls off after SK Hynix and Micron. After investing heavily to bring 50nm- and 40nm-class processes to their 300mm wafer lines, Taiwan-based suppliers are out of cash. Facing intense pressure from the world’s leading DRAM vendors, second-tier players like Nanya, Powerchip, and Winbond are having to look for niche markets in order to revive their respective IC businesses.

In the five-year span from 2004-2008, DRAM capital expenditures as a percent of sales averaged 42.1 percent.  In contrast, that ratio over the five-year span from 2009-2013 is forecast to average 21.5 percent.  Since only the top DRAM suppliers will be able to continue investing in new facilities, IC Insights forecasts the ratio of DRAM capex to sales to be in the 15-20 percent range through 2017, greatly reducing the potential for huge swings in the market based on too much or too little capacity in the system.

Micron Technology, Inc., a provider of advanced semiconductor solutions, today announced that Ed Doller, vice president and chief memory systems architect, will deliver a keynote presentation titled "Storage Architecture for the Data Center in 2020" at Flash Memory Summit on Wednesday, August 14 at the Santa Clara Convention Center in Santa Clara, California. With over 25 years of semiconductor industry experience with flash memory products, Doller will explain how flash-based architectures will continue to be on the forefront of future computing infrastructure.

As the growth of Big Data rises exponentially, the ability to search and analyze information requires increasing amounts of energy. Today’s model, structure, and methods of storage are not sustainable for future data center needs. The presentation will share how the primary computing challenges in 2020 will not be computational problems, but data search problems, and how the technologies that manage the search and retrieval of that data are going to be critical to future of the data center.

Integrated Silicon Solution, Inc. today announced the sampling of its new family of 72Mb Synchronous SRAMs. The new 72Mb Synchronous SRAM product offerings include Pipelined, Flow-through and No-wait (ZBT equivalent) options. The 72Mb Synchronous SRAM devices are available in x18, x32 and x36 configuration options, support clock frequencies up to 250MHz and power supply and I/O voltages of 3.3V and 2.5V. In addition, ISSI also offers a 1.8V option for this new product family.

"Our Synchronous SRAM is extensively used in communications, automotive, industrial, and military applications. With the introduction of our high-density, high-speed 72Mb Synchronous SRAM product family, we once again demonstrated our focus, especially in the networking and communications area, where 72Mb Synchronous SRAM is used for shallow buffers and low latency read intensive applications," said Anand Bagchi, director of Strategic Marketing for communications at ISSI.

In addition to its new 72Mb Synchronous SRAM family, ISSI also offers a broad portfolio of synchronous and asynchronous SRAM, DRAM including DDR2/DDR3, RLDRAM and mobile DRAM, flash memory, analog and mixed signal products.

ISSI is a fabless semiconductor company that designs and markets high performance integrated circuits for automotive, communications, industrial, medical, and military, and digital markets.

Brooks Instrument, a provider of advanced flow, pressure, vacuum and level solutions, has made a new investment in its technology center in Irvine, California. The facility has been fully equipped with gas lines and test equipment at every workstation and in labs for characterizing gas and liquid flow instrumentation to facilitate research.

The goal of Brooks’ 10,000-square-foot Technology Development Center is to provide strategic focus on understanding, evaluating and developing cutting-edge solutions for its customers. “Innovation has been a key driver for Brooks delivering leading technology to the marketplace and will enable us to continue growing,” said Bill Valentine, chief technology officer for Brooks Instrument.

In an effort to develop best-in-class products and technology breakthroughs, the Technology Development team will collaborate with Brooks engineers in Hatfield, Pa., and in Ede, The Netherlands, to cultivate key next-generation components such as sensors, valves, and signal processing algorithms. The team will also coordinate the integration of research, concepts, and prototypes into new product development projects.

“The Irvine facility will allow us to strengthen our relationships with the research and technical community, many of which are in close proximity in the Silicon Valley, to produce the diagnostic and control devices they require,“ said Valentine.

Samsung announced today that it has begun mass producing the industry’s first three-dimensional (3D) Vertical NAND (V-NAND) flash memory, which breaks through the current scaling limit for existing NAND flash technology. Achieving gains in performance and area ratio, the new 3D V-NAND will be used for a wide range of consumer electronics and enterprise applications, including embedded NAND storage and solid state drives (SSDs).

Samsung 3D vertical NAND flash memory

Samsung’s new V-NAND offers a 128 gigabit (Gb) density in a single chip, utilizing the company’s proprietary vertical cell structure based on 3D Charge Trap Flash (CTF) technology and vertical interconnect process technology to link the 3D cell array. By applying both of these technologies, Samsung’s 3D V-NAND is able to provide over twice the scaling of 20nm-class planar NAND flash.

“The new 3D V-NAND flash technology is the result of our employees’ years of efforts to push beyond conventional ways of thinking and pursue much more innovative approaches in overcoming limitations in the design of memory semiconductor technology,” said Jeong-Hyuk Choi, senior vice president, flash product & technology, Samsung Electronics. “Following the world’s first mass production of 3D Vertical NAND, we will continue to introduce 3D V-NAND products with improved performance and higher density, which will contribute to further growth of the global memory industry.”

For the past 40 years, conventional flash memory has been based on planar structures that make use of floating gates. As manufacturing process technology has proceeded to the 10nm-class and beyond, concern for a scaling limit arose, due to the cell-to-cell interference that causes a trade-off in the reliability of NAND flash products. This also led to added development time and costs.

Samsung’s new V-NAND solves such technical challenges by achieving new levels of innovation in circuits, structure and the manufacturing process through which a vertical stacking of planar cell layers for a new 3D structure has been successfully developed. To do this, Samsung revamped its CTF architecture, which was first developed in 2006. In Samsung’s CTF-based NAND flash architecture, an electric charge is temporarily placed in a holding chamber of the non-conductive layer of flash that is composed of silicon nitride (SiN), instead of using a floating gate to prevent interference between neighboring cells.

By making this CTF layer three-dimensional, the reliability and speed of the NAND memory have improved sharply. The new 3D V-NAND shows not only an increase of a minimum of 2X to a maximum 10X higher reliability, but also twice the write performance over conventional 10nm-class floating gate NAND flash memory.

Also, one of the most important technological achievements of the new Samsung V-NAND is that the company’s proprietary vertical interconnect process technology can stack as many as 24 cell layers vertically, using special etching technology that connects the layers electronically by punching holes from the highest layer to the bottom. With the new vertical structure, Samsung can enable higher density NAND flash memory products by increasing the 3D cell layers without having to continue planar scaling, which has become incredibly difficult to achieve.

After nearly 10 years of research on 3D Vertical NAND, Samsung now has more than 300 patent-pending 3D memory technologies worldwide.

According to IHS iSuppli, the global NAND flash memory market is expected to reach approximately US $30.8 billion in revenues by the end of 2016, from approximately US $23.6 billion in 2013 with a CAGR of 11 percent, in leading growth of the entire memory industr

Cree, Inc. today announced a technology breakthrough for the LED street lighting market. The XSPR LED Residential Street Light delivers better lighting while consuming over 65 percent less energy at an initial cost as low as $99 for common applications. The new Cree XSPR street light is marketed as a replacement for municipalities and cities using outdated high-pressure sodium fixtures up to 100 watts and can deliver payback in less than one year.

“With the low initial price of the XSPR street light and the dramatic energy savings, wholesale replacement of existing street lights becomes a simple choice,” said Al Ruud, Cree vice-chairman, lighting. “Utilities and city managers can now improve the lighting in their neighborhoods, save energy and see payback in less than a year. Why would anyone choose otherwise?”

Extending the technical breakthroughs of the XSP Series LED Street Light portfolio, the 25-watt and 42-watt XSPR street light is designed to replace up to 100-watt high-pressure sodium street lights, reducing energy consumption while improving lighting performance. Cree’s NanoOptic Precision Delivery Grid optic technology achieves better optical control than traditional street lighting fixtures and efficiently delivers white uniform light for safer-feeling communities.

“Street lighting is our city’s largest single energy-related cost, and the XSPR street light appears to dramatically change the economics of LED relative to traditional lighting technologies,” said Dan Howe, assistant city manager, City of Raleigh, N.C. “This breakthrough technology can change the total cost of ownership equation, encouraging municipalities to transition sooner to LED with less risk, and redirect resources to other important community needs.”

STI Certified Electronics announced the appointment of Jim Panfil as Vice President of Business Development. Panfil will report to Alex Woo, President and Chief Executive Officer.

In his role as Vice President of Business Development, Panfil is responsible for developing and executing the STI Certified Electronics strategy for franchised distribution product lines and strategic partnerships in the North American, Europe and Asia markets. He has over 20 years of strategic planning, sales and marketing experience in the semiconductor market and has worked for leading technology firms including assignments in the USA, Europe and Asia.

Panfil worked for Intel for the first 10 years of his career in a variety of sales and marketing assignments and has since defined and launched flash based microcontroller and system on-a-chip solutions at major semiconductor suppliers. Panfil launched Atmel Corporations Flash based microcontroller business. The company is credited with creating and establishing the technology that replaced masked ROM and one time programmable alternatives. Prior to Atmel he was Vice President of Marketing for LSI Logic and created and managed the system on a chip business which created the CPU for the Sony PlayStation video game system. He was also a Product Line Director for Conexant Systems, a supplier of IC’s for imaging and video surveillance applications. Mr. Panfil has a BS from Bradley University and an MBA from University of Utah.

“I am excited to have an executive of Jim’s caliber join the STI Certified Electronics management team,” said Alex Woo, STI Certified Electronics President and CEO. “He brings proven strategic planning expertise honed over a long and successful career in the semiconductor industry and will create and execute a roadmap to add innovative electronic solutions to our line-card.”

Ultratech, Inc., a supplier of lithography, laser-processing and inspection systems used to manufacture semiconductor devices and high-brightness LEDs (HB-LEDs), announced last week that it has moved Ultratech/Cambridge NanoTech to Waltham, Mass. The new facility will expand its operations for next-generation atomic layer deposition (ALD) equipment development and enable leading-edge scientific research. After acquiring the assets of Cambridge NanoTech last December, Ultratech invested in a new facility to enhance ALD development. With this new facility, Ultratech/Cambridge NanoTech now has greatly enhanced its capability to develop innovative process technology for ALD applications.

ALD is an enabling technology which provides coatings and material features with significant advantages compared to other existing techniques for depositing precise nanometer-thin films.  This technology is expected to be in high demand in volume manufacturing environments for integrated optics, micro-electro-mechanical systems (MEMs), implantable devices in the biomedical sector and batteries and fuel cells in the energy market.

Ultratech Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Arthur W. Zafiropoulo stated, "By creating a new facility and leveraging the valuable Cambridge NanoTech intellectual property, we have further enhanced our ability to advance the development of next-generation ALD solutions.  In addition, we have retained the same team that Cambridge NanoTech customers have worked with in the past.  The completion of the new facility marks our successful integration of the Cambridge NanoTech assets into Ultratech’s nanotechnology product group.  By investing in the expansion of these operations, we expect to generate increased revenue in new and existing markets.  Ultratech, and our ALD unit, Ultratech/Cambridge NanoTech, will continue to focus on technology solutions that support our global customers’ advanced product and technology roadmaps."

Ultratech/Cambridge NanoTech is located at:

130 Turner Street, Building 2

Waltham, Massachusetts   02453

SEMATECH today announced that Silvaco, Inc., a provider of Technology Computer Aided Design and Electronic Design Automation (EDA) software, has joined SEMATECH to collaboratively develop advanced modeling and simulation tools.

As the microelectronics industry develops emerging and future products, new and improved methods will be necessary to meet the associated manufacturing challenges. Through their collaboration, SEMATECH will use Silvaco’s TCAD and EDA software tools to perform advanced device simulations. Additionally, Silvaco will work with SEMATECH to develop new design, modeling, and simulation methods that will address thermal, mechanical, and reliability issues for next-generation technologies.

“As the industry considers numerous new materials, there is a need to develop new modeling infrastructure for those materials and structures,” said Paul Kirsch, director of SEMATECH’s Front End program. “SEMATECH is pleased to welcome Silvaco as a partner. We will work together to accelerate the investigation and verification of new materials modeling and optimization for silicon, non-silicon and beyond CMOS technologies.”

Silvaco’s TCAD and EDA tools provide research and development capabilities for process and device simulation, circuit simulation and design of analog, mixed-signal and RF integrated circuits. Such methodologies and technologies will be used to address scalability of materials, processes, equipment and subcomponents for next-generation wafers and devices.

“We are excited to join this industry-leading consortium in which Silvaco will provide simulation solutions that address mechanical stress and the reliability challenges for vertical chip integration, as well as meeting the simulation challenges presented by nanometer-scale FinFET devices,” said David Halliday, CEO of Silvaco. “We expect that this partnership will enable Silvaco to provide additional unique solutions to our customers requiring simulation tools for the next generation of wafers and devices.”

Research and Markets has announced the addition of the "The Global Market for Graphene to 2020" report to their offering.

Graphene has moved swiftly from the research laboratory to the marketplace, driven by demand from markets where advanced materials are required. These include the aerospace, automotive, coatings, electronics, energy storage, coatings and paints, communications, sensor, solar, oil, and lubricant sectors.

The exceptional electron and thermal transport, mechanical properties, barrier properties and high specific surface area of graphene and combinations thereof make it a potentially disruptive technology across a raft of industries. The European Union is funding a 10-year, 1.35 billion euro coordination action on graphene. South Korea is spending $350 million on commercialization initiatives and the United Kingdom is investing £50million in a commercialization hub. Applications are coming onto the market for polymer composites and EMI shielding coatings. Graphene-based conducting inks are also finding their way into smart cards and radio-frequency identification tags.

Many of the current and potential applications of carbon nanotubes may be taken by graphene as it displays enhanced properties but with greater ease of production and handling. In this regard, carbon nanotubes may be viewed as a stalking horse for commercial applications of graphene. However, in an interesting development, using carbon nanotubes and graphene in combination shows great promise, allowing for greater consistency and higher concentrations of these materials in the end product.

Most graphene producers currently produce graphene nanoplatelets and graphene oxide. Within the last year graphene producers have increased production capabilities considerably. XG Sciences, Angstron Materials and Vorbeck have increased, or are planning to increase, their production capacities twenty-fold.

Producers are generally small, start-up companies who have witnessed an explosion in demand for their materials from a variety of industries. Companies such as IBM and Samsung are pursuing applications for graphene in electronics and optics, which are likely only to be realized in the medium to long-term. Most near-term demand is for composites and coatings for application in the automotive, plastics, coatings, construction, metals, batteries, aerospace and energy markets.