Issue

Many years ago while having dinner at the home of one of IBM's financial executives, I foolishly mentioned that I had read that accounting was not really a science, like, say, economics, because it was a closed system that had been all worked out and there was nothing more to discover. I was almost sent home without dessert.

New work suggests that using different optical parameters can extend e-beam (EB) lithography down to 0.05μm, and improve its throughput by controlling the electron interactions that usually limit both resolution and throughput.

Recent developments in semiconductor manufacturing show a shift from off-line to in-line or integrated inspection methods, such as integrated film thickness and particle measurements. This shift is a result of constant efforts to improve overall equipment effectiveness of semiconductor equipment.

The migration to tighter geometries and more complex process sequence integration schemes requires having the ability to compensate for upstream deviations from target specifications. Doing so ensures that downstream process sequences operate on work-in-progress that is well within control. Because point-of-use visibility of work-in-progress quality has become of paramount concern in the industry's drive to reduce scrap and improve yield, controlling trench depth has assumed greater importance.

A new approach to MFC calibration links the physical parameters of nitrogen to the physical characteristics of various process gases. This precludes the conventional need for surrogate gases. What results is a physics-based tuning algorithm and enhanced digital control system that enables re-ranging and gas change of digital MFCs. The end result should be better process control through more accurate gas flow. The new method also decreases the number of MFC spare parts required to back up a fab.

Significant research has achieved a near-infrared light-emitting diode using monodispersed silicon nanocrystallites. Engineers synthesized this material by laser ablation and subsequent particle-size classification. The resulting near-infrared emission was sharp and showed a peak above the band-gap region, presumably originating from the spatial quantum confinement effects of carriers.

The year 2001 was a good one for the European semiconductor industry, with three of its firms — STMicroelectronics, Infineon Technologies, and Philips — ranked among the top 10 worldwide, accounting for 10.1% of the total market.

New materials and integration methods must be found for sub-10nm feature sizes on semiconductor devices. Carbon nanotubes have been widely proclaimed as part of a solution because of their extraordinary electrical and mechanical properties. Recent developments in carbon nanotube technology hold promise for some preliminary fabrication methods to realize the first level of nanotube-based microelectronics.

Continued evolution of VLSI technology demands an increasing number of interconnects between ICs and other system elements. For short interconnects, electrical signal lines still maintain the highest capacity and speed. To keep up with increasing speed and density requirements, thin film multichip modules will increasingly have to be used. Proposed here is a 3-D chip-stacking technology that addresses both future requirements and the limitations of previously published methods.

Singapore's semiconductor industry started more than 30 years ago when SGS (now STMicroelectronics), Texas Instruments, and Fairchild set up transistor assembly plants. Other leading industry players followed rapidly, and in just over a decade, the industry entered a new phase with the set up of its first wafer fabrication plant and IC design center by STMicroelectronics.

Besides adjusting to a severe economic downturn, the semiconductor industry has had to accommodate an increase in the pace of change in markets. Device manufacturers and tool suppliers alike have felt the impact and, to minimize the effects, have found it necessary to investigate a new manufacturing investment model.

Teamwork and concurrent engineering techniques played a key role in achieving a qualified production process at Dongbu's Class 1 wafer fab in Eumsung, Korea (Fig. 1). The work was concluded within three and a half months after incorporating Toshiba's advanced 0.25μm mixed-signal CMOS process.