Semiconductors

SEMICONDUCTORS ARTICLES



IMEC makes solar-cells by peeling Si foil layers

07/14/2008  European R&D consortium IMEC says it has come up with a method to produce ~50μm thin crystalline silicon wafers for use in solar cells, that uses available tools and is potentially kerf-loss free.

AMD adds $880M in charges to ATI deal, others

07/12/2008  AMD is warning about a few charges to its latest quarterly results, but they'll be partially offset by the sale of some used chipmaking equipment.

Elpida to fab NOR flash for Intel-ST JV Numonyx

07/12/2008  Numonyx BV, the flash memory joint venture between Intel and STMicroelectronics, have agreed to a foundry deal for Elpida to make its NOR flash memory starting in mid-2009 using 300mm/65nm-45nm process technologies.

Gartner: Caution, uncertainty extend 2008 capex slump, cloud 2009 recovery

07/10/2008  Gartner has lowered its capex forecast yet again amid a bursting memory industry bubble, global economic uncertainties, and "little upside potential currently visible for the near term."

Tiger Optics' Tiger-i analyzer eyes molecular contaminants

07/10/2008  Tiger Optics says its latest analyzer, Tiger-i, targets ambient molecular contaminants (AMCs), in particular HF and HCl, which can contribute to the formation of ammonium chloride and ammonium fluoride microcrystals, the origin of "haze" on wafer surfaces and reticles.

Analyst: Forget foundries' promised price hikes, for now

07/09/2008  Semiconductor foundries' recent vows to step up pricing may be stalled due to softer-than-anticipated demand projections for 3Q, according to one analyst firm.

Siimpel and VistaPoint ship first MEMS-based autofocus camera

07/09/2008  July 9, 2008 -- Siimpel Corporation, a supplier of optical microsystems solutions, and VistaPoint Technologies a business unit of Flextronics and supplier of mobile camera solutions have introduced the first silicon MEMS-based autofocus camera for the handset market.

STMicroelectronics to Manufacture TSV-based Image Sensors on EV Group 300-mm Tools

07/08/2008  EV Group(EVG)announced the order and successful installation of its 300-mm bonding, alignment, and photoresist fully automatic processing tools at ST Microelectronics'(ST) 300-mm through-silicon-via (TSV) pilot line in Crolles, France. The company says the tools will be used in the manufacture of CMOS imaging sensors (CIS) Using TSV technology.

Advanced Probe Card Analysis Improves Yields, Speeds Product Development and Reduces Test Costs

07/08/2008  By Darren James, Rudolph Technologies, Inc.
With the cost of some advanced packages reaching several times the cost of the die they contain, the value contributed by functional testing, which allows manufacturers to avoid the cost of packaging defective die, has grown dramatically. Of course, testing has its own costs in both money and time.

SV introduces two new probe card solutions

07/08/2008  July 8, 2008 -- SV Probe (SV), a wholly owned subsidiary of SGX mainboard-listed Ellipsiz Ltd, has introduced two new probe cards: LogicTouch, a MEMS-based fine pitch vertical probe card, and SureTouch, a one touch full wafer probe solution for NAND Flash Memory.

Countdown to SEMICON West: Exhibitor Preview

07/07/2008  With SEMICON West 2008 just one week away, July 15-17,at the Moscone Center, San Francisco CA, exhibitors are getting the word out to make sure attendees don't miss a thing. While SEMI has a full-line up of conferences, keynotes, and workshops planned, many exhibitors will be leveraging the venue to announce new processes, technologies, products, and more.

VLSI Symposium: Panelists, interviews about the need (or not) for SOI

07/07/2008  SST sat down with technical execs from Intel, IBM, and IMEC at this year's VLSI Symposium to go over their various papers presented, much of which involved work on 32nm and SOI (or why they used bulk CMOS instead). Plus, a lively panel discussion offered historical perspective (10 years on) and future plans for SOI.

Extending/complementing optical litho using S-FIL for memory applications

07/04/2008  New technologies are needed to keep the semiconductor industry on track with Moore's Law. Step and Flash Imprint Lithography (S-FIL) has gained traction in recent years among several leading memory manufacturers.

Memory roundup: DRAM prices up, NAND down, no "Apple effect"

07/01/2008  July 1, 2008 - A quick scan of news and analyst reports this week indicates DRAM pricing is firming up, but NAND flash is falling fast due to sluggish demand, which for the first time in a while is lacking a familiar driver.

Report from the VLSI Symposium: Planar CMOS to 22nm, but no more

07/01/2008  Overall agreement at this year's VLSI Symposium (June 16-19, Waikiki, Hawaii) was that planar CMOS is extendable to 22nm node but unlikely beyond that. By the 16nm node SRAMs will need FinFETs or a trigate-like design, which can be fabricated in bulk wafers rather than SOI wafers, as first reported by Toshiba in 2006 and now many others.

Still beating this drum

07/01/2008  I’m not hearing nearly enough about it in the general news, and maybe it’s because the contamination control industry reaches into so many industries that the pattern seems so clear to me.

Achieving Fine-pitch Ball Placement

07/01/2008  Demands to reduce the dimensions of even the most highly miniaturized semiconductor packages are placing pressure on IC vendors and packaging specialists to develop faster and more productive package-assembly processes.

Achieving comprehensive fab monitoring with optical particle counters

07/01/2008  Contamination monitoring bolsters semiconductor manufacturers’ efforts to keep up with shrinking critical dimensions and cost and energy reductions.

SIA: Chip sales bounce in May

06/30/2008  June 30, 2008 - Worldwide semiconductor sales rose a few percentage points in May -- a historically strong month, as the build-up to prepare for back-to-school and holiday seasons begin -- to $21.83B, up 2.8% from April and 7.5% from May 2007.

Rudolph Receives Order from Micronas

06/30/2008  Rudolph Technologies, Inc. has received a follow-on order from Micronas for both NSX Inspection System and Discover in-line defect analysis and data management software. The purchase will reportedly allow Micronas — supplier of integrated circuits (ICs) and sensor system solutions for consumer and automotive electronics — to provide additional inspection capacity demanded by the 100% inspection requirements customers in the automotive market.




WEBCASTS



Environment, Safety & Health

Date and time TBD

The semiconductor industry is an acknowledged global leader in promoting environmental sustainability in the design, manufacture, and use of its products, as well as the health and safety of its operations and impacts on workers in semiconductor facilities (fabs). We will examine trends and concerns related to emissions, chemical use, energy consumption and worker safety and health.

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Wafer Processing

Date and time TBD

As the industry moves to 10nm and 7nm nodes, advances in wafer processing – etch, deposition, planarization, implant, cleaning, annealing, epitaxy among others – will be required. Manufacturers are looking for new solutions for sustained strain engineering, FinFETs, FDSOI and multi-gate technologies, 3D NAND, and high mobility transistors.

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