Whats ahead in 1997

12/01/1996

What`s ahead in 1997

If you compared our 1996 coverage to, say, 1986, the broad topic areas would be pretty much the same. Terms like lithography, gas handling, and metrology tend to show up year after year. Still, our content is as dynamic as the industry we serve.

Our goal is to be the single source that you, our readers, turn to for help with your jobs. From the manufacturing engineer overseeing the productivity of a single tool, to the process engineer developing the leading edge, to the fab manager responsible for a billion dollar investment, we help people make wafers faster, at lower cost, and with higher yields. To that end, we distill technical meetings, archival journals, and information from our contacts in the industry, offering the most important technical and business information in one convenient package.

In 1997, we`ll celebrate 40 years of service to the semiconductor industry with a special retrospective issue in May. (Companies interested in contributing archival material should contact us as soon as possible.) We`ll also be producing a quarterly supplement focusing on business issues and technical developments in the Asia/Pacific region. With Japan, Korea, and other producing nations, this very dynamic area has long been a center of semiconductor activity. We`re pleased to be able to expand our coverage.

In 1997, we`ll devote more space to fab management issues. Fab construction costs have passed the billion dollar mark, and will only continue to climb. Fab managers need to make all the human and mechanical pieces of this very expensive machine work together, without irritating their neighbors, the local communities. Our coverage will help managers balance resources - financial, human, and raw materials - against yield, cycle time, and other revenue concerns.

On the technical side, the transition to 300-mm wafers raises many handling, cleanliness, process uniformity, and other questions. We`re developing a series of columns from industry experts on the 300-mm standards debates, in addition to our ongoing coverage of 300-mm workshops and related meetings.

The transition to a larger wafer size is all the more worrisome because it will coincide with a design rule change - to 0.18-micron devices made with 248- or 193-nm illumination. We`re developing an exclusive series of articles from speakers at the recent IEEE Lithography Workshop, presenting the latest thinking on 193-nm lithography and beyond.

Of course, to make smaller features, you also need to etch smaller lines and deposit thinner films onto surfaces with fewer particles. You need better dielectrics and metals with less resistance, too. Behind prosaic headings like "etch, deposition" or "materials," you`ll find in-depth coverage of all these areas.

New technology generations also require new process technologies. Chemical mechanical planarization, for instance, gains new prominence in 1997, appropriate to its position at the leading edge of volume manufacturing. Still, CMP faces manufacturability issues related to slurry control and disposal and uniformity control; new metal structures will require new procedures as well. Solid State Technology is sponsoring a seminar on CMP issues in 1997, and the industry`s efforts will be reported in our pages.

Exciting technological developments are happening in many other areas, too. Rapid thermal processing and low power electronics spring to mind, as do micromachining and in-situ process control. I don`t know where the next breakthrough will come, so I don`t know what articles you`ll see a year from now. But I do know you`ll find the comprehensive information you need now, and analytical insight to help you prepare for the future`s surprises.

In the spirit of the holiday season, please take a moment to look at the editorial masthead on page7. These are the people who labor behind the scenes to make sure Solid State Technology continues to meet your standards. I`d like to welcome Linda Batkins, Lee Hansen, Grace Jeromski, Maggie Lee, and Alfred Vollmer, who joined us in 1996, and thank all the editors for their outstanding efforts.

Best wishes for the coming year.