Proof: R&D Investment Pays Off

Posted on October 15, 2013 by

Thomson Reuters announced its 2013 Top 100 Global Innovators the week of Oct 7., 2013, a list of the who’s who in innovation based on a series of proprietary patent metrics using its Derwent World Patents Index database.

The 2013 honorees comprise many of the likely suspects: AT&T, Apple, Google, Ford, L’Oreal and Microsoft, as well as some that aren’t so likely: Alcatel Lucent, Blackberry and Ericsson.

Annually, Thomson Reuters analysts look at all companies around the world that file patents and perform a deep dive analysis of those with 100 or more unique inventions over the last three-year period. They measure each patent holder according to the number of its unique inventions, its success of applications to grants, the global nature of its patent portfolio and its influence on future innovation.

The company also performs financial analysis on the Top 100, to see how they fare year over year, as well as compared to the S&P 500 stock index. Read More

Stanford scientists publish theory, formula to improve ‘plastic’ semiconductors

Posted on October 3, 2013 by

Photo Credit: Stanford UniversityAnyone who’s stuffed a smart phone in their back pocket would appreciate the convenience of electronic devices that could bend. Flexible electronics could spawn new products: clothing wired to cool or heat, reading tablets that could fold like newspaper, and so on.

Alas, electronic components such as chips, displays and wires are generally made from metals and inorganic semiconductors — materials with physical properties that make them fairly stiff and brittle.

In the quest for flexibility many researchers have been experimenting with semiconductors made from plastics or, more accurately polymers, which bend and stretch readily enough.

“But at the molecular level polymers look like a bowl of spaghetti,” says Stanford chemical engineering professor Andrew Spakowitz, adding: “Those non-uniform structures have important implications for the conductive properties of polymeric semiconductors.” Read More

Taiwan Chip Industry Powers the Tech World, but Struggles for Status

Posted on October 1, 2013 by

Photo Credit: The New York TimesTien Wu, chief operating officer of Advanced Semiconductor Engineering, has a problem: the brightest young people in Taiwan do not want to work in the island’s signature business, chip making.

“All the college freshmen are asking, ‘Why should I join the industry? I’d rather work for Facebook, Apple or Google,’ ” Mr. Wu said in an interview.

Taiwan, an island of 23 million people, is the world’s biggest chip maker. The industry generated about $63 billion in sales here last year — more than one-fifth of the global total, according to the Taiwan Semiconductor Industry Association. Made-in-Taiwan chips are major components in many of the world’s PCs, smartphones, cameras and other gadgets. Read More

Is a turnaround finally coming for the chip sector?

Posted on September 23, 2013 by

Photo Credit: CNBCDeclining PC sales in recent years have spurred a long-drawn semiconductor slump, but analysts are now turning positive on the industry amid a pickup in other segments.

“We’re seeing strong end-markets in automotive, strong end-markets in things like robotics and industrial automation and we’re seeing particularly strong markets in communications. There’s the 4G buildout in China, for example,” said Clay Carter, head of international equities at Perennial Investment Partners, which has around $18 billion under management. Read More

ARM Acquires Advanced Display Technology from Cadence

Posted on September 3, 2013 by

ARM, the leading semiconductor IP supplier, and Cadence Design Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ: CDNS), a leader in global electronic design innovation, today announced that the companies have signed a definitive agreement for the sale and transfer of Cadence PANTA display controller cores to ARM. The agreement enhances the companies’ long-standing ecosystem collaboration and strengthens their technical alignment.

Cadence’s PANTA family of high-resolution display processor and scaling coprocessor IP cores was co-developed in conjunction with ARM and is targeted at advanced multimedia applications for high-end mobile devices with ultra-low power consumption. Read More

Toshiba Starts Second Phase Construction of No. 5 Semiconductor Fabrication Facility

Posted on August 23, 2013 by

Toshiba Corporation today held a groundbreaking ceremony in readiness for the start of construction of Phase 2 of Fab 5, the company’s state-of-the-art fabrication facility (fab) at its Yokkaichi Operations memory production facility in Mie Prefecture.

Toshiba will expand Fab 5 to secure manufacturing space for NAND flash memories fabricated with next generation process technology and for 3D memories. Construction will be completed in summer next year, and decisions on equipment investments and production levels will reflect market trends. Read More

Digital Etch Recess Achieves Highest Current for e-mode GaN MISHFET on Silicon

Posted on August 21, 2013 by

Photo Credit; SemiconductorToday.comGermany-based researchers claim a record on-current for an enhancement-mode (e-mode) gallium nitride (GaN) metal insulator semiconductor heterostructure field-effect transistor (MISHFET) on silicon (Si) substrate [Herwig Hahn et al, Jpn. J. Appl. Phys., vol52, p090204, 2013].

Nitride semiconductor transistors are being developed for high-power and high-frequency applications. Producing such devices on silicon would reduce material costs and introduce economies of scale from the larger substrates available (up to 300mm). Read More

Helium Shortage Threatens Semiconductor Industry

Posted on August 14, 2013 by

Amid the din of headline-grabbing debates in Washington, DC, one looming threat has floated largely out of the public eye: the impending shortage of helium, a critical gas that is used for far more than just party balloons.

Without prompt congressional action, this helium shortage will harm many industrial and scientific users and undermine critical manufacturing, healthcare, and research operations across the country. Instead of the Fiscal Cliff, call it the Helium Cliff.

Helium is an essential component in the advanced manufacturing process for a number of products, including semiconductors — the chips that control all modern electronics. It also has critical applications for scientific research and numerous other products and technologies, including medical devices like MRI machines, chemicals, aerospace, and fiber optics. Read More

Apple’s Shift in Chip Manufacturing Strategy Boosts Semiconductor Foundry Business

Posted on August 8, 2013 by

Photo Credit: CDRinfIn an illustration of the massive power it wields in the electronics supply chain, Apple’s migration of the production of key semiconductors from Samsung to pure-play foundries will single-handedly boost the growth of the chip contract manufacturing market this year.

By the end of the year, pure-play semiconductor foundry market revenue is forecast to rise 21 percent compared to 2012, according to an IHS report. In contrast, takings for the overall semiconductor industry will expand by a more staid 5 percent.

The pure-play foundry industry is already on track to achieve such growth this year, with revenue amounting to $8.2 billion in the first quarter, up 4 percent from $7.9 billion in the fourth quarter last year. In comparison, the overall semiconductor market was down by 5 percent during the same period.

The foundry segment is also believed to have outperformed the rest of the industry in the second quarter when final figures are released, and then go on to perform strongly for the second half. Read More

BluGlass awarded $3m Australian Government clean tech innovation grant

Posted on July 25, 2013 by

As part of its Clean Technology Innovation Program, the Australian Federal Government has awarded BluGlass Ltd of Silverwater, Australia $2,999,255 in funding for its project ‘Versatile prototype deposition machine for higher efficiency, energy saving, lower cost LEDs on various substrates including silicon’.

Spun off from the III-nitride department of Macquarie University of Sydney, Australia in 2005, BluGlass developed a low-temperature process using remote-plasma chemical vapor deposition (RPCVD) to grow materials including gallium nitride (GaN) and indium gallium nitride (InGaN) on glass substrates, potentially offering cost, throughput and efficiency advantages for the production of LEDs.

The support for the firm’s continued development of its RPCVD technology represents “an enormous commitment from the Commonwealth Government and demonstrates their continued belief in our ability to bring our breakthrough technology to market,” says CEO Giles Bourne. Read More