Category Archives: LEDs

By Julia Goldstein, contributing editor
(May 22, 2008) San Jose, CA &#151 The “3D Integration North American Tour” came to San Jose on May 15 after stops in Durham, NC and Dallas, TX. The event, hosted by SUSS MicroTec, Surface Technology Systems (STS) and NEXX Systems outlined the current state of the art in through silicon vias (TSVs) and related technology. An overview by consultant Phil Garrou, Ph.D. of MCNC describing various process steps involved in 3D TSV technology led naturally into detailed presentations on processes and materials.

(May 22, 2008) SINGAPORE &#151 STAT ChipPAC hosted its inaugural Supplier Day, honoring eleven materials and equipment suppliers for outstanding contribution as key suppliers. The awards ceremony, held on May 13 in Singapore, recognized supplier achievements in 3 categories: outstanding overall performance, outstanding service, and special site outstanding service.

Palomar Technologies will present a poster on this topic at the 58th ECTC Conference in Lake Buena Vista, FL on May 27-30, 2008. Titled High Brightness Matrix LED Assembly Challenges and Solutions, the poster presents findings detailing how certain matrix LED packaging technologies can produce brighter LED modules.

Rather than introducing a new product, Zestron America will showcase its process development, optimization and cost reduction program at SMT/Hybrid/Packaging 2008. Member of ZESTRON’s chemical engineering team will be on hand to provide solutions for cleaning needs before, during, and after process implementation.

by Bob Haavind, Editorial Director, Solid State Technology

At Toshiba, information technology (IT) plays multiple roles to support marketing and manufacturing within the complex, fast changing, highly demanding semiconductor marketplace. How many intricate tasks and strategies are interlinked to allow smooth global operation across many markets with fast response to customer needs was detailed by Giichi Inoue, of Toshiba Semiconductor Co.’s IT & Business Transformation Div., in the Fab Lite session at ConFab 2008 in Las Vegas.

As chip vendors ramp up production and lower prices for devices, many more potential applications emerge. Inoue used flash memory as an example, showing how the devices moved from digital cameras to mobile phones and mobile audio, plus the USB stick, and on to the solid-state disk and camcorders. Along the way, new technology generations came along, extending functionality and spreading applications through even more markets.

Toshiba’s IT group’s integrated approach supports an effort like this throughout a product’s life cycle, he explained. At the top is new market creation, requiring a variety of device types to satisfy market demand, with IT helping to speed products to market and also supporting customer service. This marketing phase involves setting up a supply chain, and IT-based pro-active links to customers. This phase might last about a year.

Meanwhile, an engineering chain evolves, with IT helping to speed up process development, ramp to yield, and the volume ramp. Various tools such as DFM, TCAD, APC, and others are applied as varied products are designed and rapidly transferred from development to mass production. This phase, according to Inoue, might last for some two years.

Then the products enter the build chain, with IT supporting mass production to achieve stable production, yield, and production efficiency. Another set of software tools, such as schedulers and automated materials handling systems controllers, provide a manufacturing infrastructure. This third phase might last 10-20 years, depending on the products.

All these phases are vertically integrated within Toshiba’s IT, according to Inoue, running across a common platform. An existing supply chain management model (SCM) was adjusted to the integrated system using a pattern and set of rules. Regular data maintenance thus enables automatic adjustment for fluctuations. Variations are resolved by using allowances for available capacity and lead-times, which helps achieve faster time to market with maximum efficiency, he noted.

By vertically integrating this SCM and production, Toshiba is able to achieve seamless linkage with the product development and mass production stages to respond quickly to market needs, Inoue explained. There is prompt and flexible response to demand/supply fluctuations. The response is appropriate, according to Inoue, for a mixture of multiple generations of products and also to accommodate the switchover from the development to mass production phases in the fabs.

Inoue observed that different cultural features are necessary to serve semiconductor markets, contrasting for example the Japanese and American models. The Japanese tend toward vertical integration, narrow and tight coupling, local and solid supply chains, case-by-case operations, and local community involvement — traits he suggested stem from an agrarian culture.

The Americans, meanwhile, favor a horizontal division of work, wide and loose coupling, universal and flexible supply chains, fixed-rule-based operations, and diversified society. This, he suggested, stems from a hunting culture.

The Japanese model contains necessary features, Inoue contended, for quickly changing leading-edge markets. The American model has features necessary for a diversified global market.

This insight led Toshiba to structure its operations with an integrated three-level strategy. On the global side, there are global customers and global rules, operations and communications. These global standards are then filtered through what Inoue called the “Multi-X” level, for multi-nationalities (Japan, US, Europe), multi-industries (semiconductor, automobile, etc.), multi-markets (memory, SoC, discrete, etc.) and multi-scale (large enterprises, small and medium sized companies). The filtering process adapts each category to appropriate local variations.

Before this integrated approach, customers were at one end of the supply chain and suppliers at the other end, with the factory viewed as a “black box” in between. Headquarters received weekly and daily SCM reports at the global level, and then did manufacturing planning that fed into local level operations (warehousing, procurement, etc.). Now, with integrated IT support, all the different activities and operations are inter-linked, leading to integrated supply chain management-production. This integrates local manufacturing variations and global supply chain management with “human power” leveraged by “IT power,” according to Inoue.

Inoue went through a number of examples of the types of adjustments that must be made in the case of a system-on-a-chip (SoC), for example. He showed how volume curves might be adjusted based on yield changes, how capacity might have to be added for a demand/supply shortage; and how inventory might have to be controlled after peak demand periods. Each product then goes smoothly through a life-cycle from development and pilot production to eventual replacement or abandonment.

He also showed how factory operations must be interlinked, with factory planning including the capability of proactive adjustment with human intervention. Manufacturing engineering goes through cycles of building models, making forecasts, optimizing, and then continuously improving processes based on data collection and analysis.

The automation system builds up knowledge, according to Inoue, using the principles of a “Monozukuri know-how” library. The handling automation is driven by operation automation, which is managed by judgment automation, and these are all linked to the SCM-Production (scheduling and planning) system. Sets of rules and constraints are applied, aided by the operation know-how library, to decide what should be done next. Operation execution is broken down into preparation, main work, and then post work, all feeding into the manufacturing execution system (MES), which drives the on-line equipment and the AMHS.

Inoue described the business modeling process that is used to turn “Monizukuri know-how” into a work flow/control flow platform and contents. He also showed how system development is built onto a business domain base, providing flexibility for handling business variation by plug-in methods, and thus providing flexibility to fit into business changes.

This approach enabled Toshiba to smoothly transfer its IT-based automation system and “Monozukuri know-how” as a package from Yokkaichi Fab 3 to Yokkaichi Fab 4, and similar transfers will now be possible to 200mm or to new 300mm factories as well, Inoue added. He summed up all this effort toward integration with an IT vision of the whole semiconductor group, interlinking customers through Toshiba’s total operations to its partners and outsourcing suppliers as well as its internal factories, warehouses, and headquarters. B.H.

Hitting the Fast Track


May 19, 2008

“Technology start-ups need to coordinate their research and development, fundraising, and international customer engagement from inception,” explained Simon Bond, director of Silicon Southwest. The FASTtrack program, he said, “aims to make a difference by introducing strategic mentoring at a stage where typically companies most need it and are least able to afford it.”

(May 20, 2008) Carlesbad, CA &#151 LED lighting is expected to replace fluorescent lighting by 2012, according to Daniel Evans, senior scientist at Palomar Technologies. This is largely due to the fact that LED lighting capabilities already match those of both incandescent and fluorescent in many applications. However, Evans says to achieve this will require continuous improvements in LED devices and packaging to extract ever increasing lumens per watt.

May 14, 2008 – Industry projections of a soft 2008 aren’t nearly soft enough, according to AMAT president/CEO Mike Splinter — he projects capex could be down 35% or more this year. “There’s not a good story” being told in any chipmaking sector, he told listeners in a quarterly results conference call, adding that capex levels will be similar to those from 2003.

First, a quick summary of AMAT’s fiscal 2Q08 results:

– Net sales $2.15B, +3% Q-Q, -15% Y-Y
– Net income: ~$303M (EPS $0.22), +15% Q-Q, -26% Y-Y
– New orders: $2.41B, -3% Q-Q, -9% Y-Y

From a high-level view, the company’s display and solar businesses are doing well, while its silicon/semiconductor business is mired in weakness. Results were actually a little better than what analysts had been expecting ($2.12B sales, EPS $0.21).

The quarterly call offered more color and analysis for the quarterly numbers — and it kicked off with fireworks as Splinter projected WFE spending would be down 25%-35% this year, much more severe than the 15%-25% cuts some analysts have been forecasting. He pegged DRAM investments decreasing a whopping 50% in 2008, NAND flash down >15%, and foundries/logic down >20%, with little recovery in 2H08 as had been hoped.

The DRAM sector’s woes are well known, but the biggest disappointment is the NAND flash sector, where a highly anticipated rebound in 2H08 is simply “not going to happen,” Splinter warned. “We see 50,000 wafers being pushed out.” The foundry segment isn’t helping either, with “only one company investing …very incrementally at a pretty low level,” and logic manufacturers are still cautious, Splinter noted. “There’s not a good story in the total,” he said. “We see 10 factories in total that have pushed out or lowered their capacity goals for their factories.”

Splinter projected that 3Q will be “the bottom” of the downcycle (CFO George Davis later clarified this to mean a trough in revenue, though orders are similarly slumping). To pull up from the bottom will require sustained DRAM ASPs to generate profits and fuel future investments. “While average DRAM contract prices increased more than 15% in the last 30 days it’s still well below levels necessary to support meaningful investment,” he said. Supply/demand should be in better balance in 2H08 led by growth in PCs and DDR3 adoption.

Growth also needs to come from a NAND flash capacity buildout, partly to meet anticipated demand for solid-state drives in PCs and enterprise systems. Splinter forecast a ramp of 3M-4M 300mm (4Xnm) wafers/year over the next several years. Meanwhile, the foundry segment is being watched closely for an anticipated 65nm capacity ramp and beginnings of 45nm leading-edge investments.

Reviewing the company’s latest quarterly performance, Splinter noted that AMAT’s solar biz is “facing the challenges of the start-up of multiple factories simultaneously” while pushing R&D to boost cell efficiency and reduce costs. The company’s thin-film SunFab line currently supports four factories in startup mode (two of which “are already depositing silicon on glass”), and soon AMAT will have eight lines in start-up, he said.

On the display side, AMAT is striving to match “an unprecedented ramp,” Splinter said, citing projections of >50% capex for 2008. Display orders in fiscal 1H08 have already topped FY06 totals, and FY08 sales are expected to continue on pace and through 2009 as well.

Splinter also mentioned that there is “strength” in the 200mm sector for the next six months, for aftermarket upgrades and refurbished tools.

George Davis, AMAT CFO, noted that AMAT’s overall backlog “is at the highest level it has been in many years” due to display and solar growth, and is “relatively evenly distributed.”

Looking ahead, AMAT is projecting fiscal 3Q08 orders to be down 15%-25% sequentially, following a -3% decline in 2Q08, due to “very weak” demand and a lull in display business. Sales are expected to dip 10%-18% with “strong pullback” from the memory sector, and an EPS of $0.10-$0.14 — barely half the $0.25 that Wall Street is anticipating. — J.M.

IBN’s lab-on-a-chip uses magnetic nanoparticles to speed and simplify DNA analysis. (Photo: IBN)

May 9, 2008 — The Institute of Bioengineering and Nanotechnology (IBN) in Singapore says it has developed an all-in-one rapid gene diagnosis device that integrates biological sample preparation with polymerase chain reaction (PCR) on a chip. IBN’s method uses magnetic nanoparticles to speed and simplify processing.

IBN, whose mission is to establish a broad knowledge base and conduct innovative research at the interface of bioengineering and nanotechnology, last year introduced a series of Nano-Bio Kits to help secondary school and junior college teachers educate their students on nanotechnology.

The institute points out that conventional methods of PCR, which is used to amplify DNA in a biological sample for clinical and medical diagnostic applications, requires hours to complete. And while chip-based analyzers are not new, IBN notes that most require biological samples to be prepared separately using conventional methods. But this new lab-on-a-chip can perform the entire process in just 17 minutes — and it allows the biological sample to be introduced directly onto the chip.

IBN’s integrated platform harnesses droplets containing magnetic nanoparticles to rapidly complete the entire process. A blood sample can be mixed with a droplet on the chip that contains magnetic nanoparticles. Antibodies on the surface of this droplet will bind with the specific cells to be tested in the blood. Once the blood sample is introduced to the droplet, it is prepared for PCR on the chip.

The nanoparticle-loaded droplet is first moved with a permanent magnet to separate cells from the drop of blood. Next the droplet is moved along the chip to combine with washing solution in order to isolate the cellular materials to be tested. The cell contents in the droplet are then combined with enzymes and reagents for PCR. The sub-µl cellular solution in the droplet is then ready for PCR. It is manipulated through four temperature zones in cycles of eight seconds each. A fluorescence detector monitors the PCR process and indicates if and in what amount a particular gene is present.

In tests of IBN’s chip, 30 cells implanted with the genetic information of a marker protein were successfully isolated from 25 µl of blood. The cells were concentrated 100 times, washed, and the gene of the marker protein was detected using real-time PCR. This entire process was completed in 17 minutes.

The IBN lab-on-a-chip requires no other equipment and promises easy adaptation for new biochemical assay tests for diverse applications, such as medical diagnostics, food quality testing and forensics. The IBN-developed device is inexpensive and designed for single-use or disposable application.

“There is tremendous potential for our lab-on-a-chip to be used extensively in medical diagnostics,” said Senior Research Scientist Dr Juergen Pipper, who led the IBN research team. “Our droplet-based approach includes biological sample preparation as well as PCR. We are able to achieve significant savings in time and costs with our device,” explained Dr Pipper. “The sub-µl scale of the droplet allows swift mass and heat transfer enabling the PCR process to be completed within minutes from the introduction of the actual body fluid sample.”

IBN has filed five patents on the integrated lab-on-a-chip and Dr Pipper’s team’s research has been recently published in the journal Angewandte Chemie.

May 6, 2008 – The top four foundries stayed comfortably ahead of the pack in 2007, with SMIC and Chartered still battling for third place behind TSMC and UMC, according to IC Insights. But making a big push into the top 10 is a big-name IDM with a burgeoning foundry biz of its own.

TSMC is still far and away the top foundry in terms of sales — more than 2.5x the size of closest rival UMC (~$9.8B vs. ~$3.8B), and only 11% less than all the other top 14 foundries combined. Nearly everyone else had a better year in terms of growth, though. SMIC retook the No.3 spot back from Chartered with 6% growth during the year, while Chartered saw sales slip -4.5%. Together, the “top four” firms accounted for roughly two-thirds (68%) of the total foundry market.

IDMs made up 16% of the foundry market, led by TI which saw sales rise 4.3% to overtake IBM (-5.0%) for the fifth spot on the list. But the eye-popping number belongs to Samsung, where foundry sales soared >400% to $385M to crack the top 10. The firm said in 2006 it wanted to emphasize its foundry operation, and is being aided by a technology alliance with IBM and Chartered and a new dedicated 300mm wafer fab for foundry work.

Analyst: Metrology/inspection sector did better in 2007, but still underperformed
May 6, 2008 – The semiconductor metrology/inspection equipment market grew 7.2% in 2007, according to calculations from market research firm The Information Network. Good news: That’s double the ~3% growth it expected at mid-year. Bad news: it’s still well below the 11% growth for the frontend wafer processing side of the equipment sector.

“As we move into the 65nm and 45nm technology nodes, one would think that more money would be spent on metrology/inspection tools as a ratio of overall equipment buys,” said the firm’s president, Robert Castellano, in a statement. However, he said, the metrology/inspection sector underperformed the overall sector for the second year in a row, skewing away from a 12-year average spread of only 2.4%. In 2006 this sector saw 13% growth, vs. 28% for the total frontend equipment sector.

“2006 was a disaster,” he writes, “but 2007 was still bad.”

Castellano projects the metrology/inspection market will flip with the overall frontend equipment segment in 2008, with sales dropping 11% vs. a 15% drop in total frontend.

Breaking down 2007 marketshares in the metrology/inspection field, Castellano pegs KLA-Tencor still dominating with 50.5% share, followed by Hitachi and Applied Materials (whose combined sales barely total half of KLAC). Best growth among top-10 vendors goes to Nanometrics, which moved from 1.8% share to 2.5%. Heading the other direction, Rudolph Technologies sunk from 3.5% share to 2.1%.

Within the sector, times were particularly tough for macrodefect inspection, which sunk 11.5% — after enjoying growth rates of 63% in 2005 and 26% in 2006.

Castellano told WaferNEWS that this market has been “oversold” the past few years — its 63% surge in 2005 flew in the face of a -1.5% revenue decrease for the overall inspection/metrology market and -9.5% decrease in overall frontend equipment. “Now the tools are in place, and coupled with slower demand for inspection tools, the sector suffered,” he said.

He also cited competition as a factor that can lead to price erosion, pointing to revenue declines at both KLA-Tencor and Rudolph (while Nikon’s sales in this segment rose 30%). And in small market sectors, purchasing decisions by one or two customers can really screw up someone’s market share, he noted. “Rudolph still led the market, but its share dropped from 48% to 40% between 2006 and 2007,” he noted. Since macro tools represent two-thirds of that company’s frontend revenues, “a drop in that sector really affected their total revenues and share.”

May 2, 2008 — InvenSense, Inc., provider of MEMS-based motion sensing systems for mobile consumer applications, says it has secured $19 million dollars in Series C venture capital financing.

Earlier this year, InvenSense announced it had released the “world’s smallest” dual-axis gyroscope — another MEMS/microsystem device.

This latest funding round brings InvenSense’s total funding to date to $38 million. It was led by new investor Sierra Ventures, with participation from previous investors Artiman Ventures, Partech International and Qualcomm Ventures. Several strategic investors also participated in the Series C investment round including Foxconn, Inventec Appliances Corp, both from Taiwan; Skylake Ventures from Korea; DoCoMo Capital, a wholly-owned U.S. subsidiary of NTT DoCoMo Japan, and VentureTech Alliance (whose majority LP is TSMC). Ben Yu, managing director at Sierra Ventures, will join InvenSense’s board of directors.

The latest infusion of investment funding will accelerate the next phase of company growth and evolve both the company business and product strategy. InvenSense will expand sales operations to support new customers and bring a new family of the world’s first integrated motion sensing solutions based on multi-axis MEMS gyroscopes and accelerometers with embedded intelligence. These products address the fast-growing need for motion sensors in portable consumer electronics markets that will fuel a host of innovations in next generation applications such as 3D-games and gesture-enabled mobile phones.

“InvenSense has already demonstrated a clear leadership position in mass production of very advanced MEMS motion sensing solutions with wide acceptance by many major consumer electronics companies,” said Ben Yu, managing director, Sierra Ventures. “We are excited about the enormous market potential for InvenSense’s upcoming, innovative solutions and are convinced that InvenSense will be the dominant provider of a new generation of motion sensors for the burgeoning consumer handheld market.”

“Sierra Ventures was the ideal partner to lead this round for us, and we are pleased with participation by a high quality list of Asian strategic investors. We have now solidified our commitment to Asia and to some of the largest consumer electronic companies in the world,” said Steven Nasiri, chief executive officer and founder of InvenSense.