Issue

There are many ways to “add value” to an enterprise. As companies grow, and industries and technologies mature, the focus may shift dramatically.

Strained silicon is one of the key technology boosters identified by the International Technology Roadmap for Semiconductors (ITRS) as being essential to the continuation of classical scaling.

IC manufacturing technology entered the era of nanotechnology in 2000, when circuits were produced with a minimum feature size <100nm.

Solid State Technology invited executives from the compound semiconductor and MEMS industries to discuss how they are benefiting from economies of scale similar to those in traditional IC manufacturing.

A collaborative effort between a memory manufacturer and a semiconductor tool supplier focuses on optimizing inorganic chemicals for polymer removal from DRAM device structures using single-wafer spin processors, instead of hydroxylamine-based stripper in batch wetbenches.

The application of a new coherent gradient sensing interferometer that characterizes single- and double-layer copper damascene processing of 200 and 300mm wafers - using low-k dielectric films - is demonstrated.

To ensure process transparency when replacing mass flow controllers (MFC) or when employing new types of MFCs in a particular process, it is often desired to have the flow rate of the replacement unit match the flow rate of the previously installed MFC.

SiC has become an attractive material for the semiconductor industry for both electronic devices and microelectromechanical systems (MEMS).

Extreme-ultraviolet (EUV) light source development has regularly been characterized as one of the critical issues facing the viability of EUV lithography.