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As the opening day of SEMICON West (July 12-14) approaches, the electronics manufacturing industry is experiencing disruptive changes, making “business as usual” a thing of the past. To help technical and business professionals navigate this fast-changing landscape, SEMICON West programming has been upgraded extensively ─ increased from 170 hours to 250 hours this year. New brand and deep programming provide insights into the latest megatrends and helps attendees identify new opportunities and refine sound strategic plans.

At this year’s expo, several new forums designed to enhance collaboration within shared communities of interest will debut. Lead by technical experts, top analysts, and leaders from some of the biggest names in electronics, the new forums are generating significant advance interest and buzz, key among them:

  • Advanced Manufacturing Forum: Twelve cutting-edge sessions — from What’s Next in MEMS and Sensors to Power Electronics and 3D Printing — will be presented by Samsung, Applied Materials, Texas Instruments, and more. Attendees will learn about new technologies on the horizon and how they impact semiconductor manufacturing.
  • Flexible Hybrid Electronics Forum: Flexible Hybrid Electronics is driving new processes and packages, providing innovative approaches for health-monitoring, wearables, soft robotics, and other next-generation products. Attendees will get details on thinned device processing, system design, reliability testing and modeling from experts at Qualcomm, PARC, and GE Global Research.
  • World of IoT Forum: Forecasters predict that IoT will soon become a $6 trillion market. The World of IoT Forum brings together leading suppliers, integrators, and solution providers at the forefront of innovations in mobility, network-connected devices, and automotive and healthcare applications, among others. Attendees will learn about the trends impacting the market, including big data and analytics, smart things, and MEMS and sensor manufacturing.

With so many disruptive trends driving the market, it is critical for industry professionals to have a clear view of the road ahead. With its vastly expanded technical and business programming, this year’s expo will deliver the strategic insights needed to survive and thrive. To learn more and to register, visit SEMICON West Forums.

NXP Semiconductors N.V. today announced an expansion to its portfolio of 48V Gallium Nitride (GaN) RF power transistors optimized for Doherty power amplifiers for use in current and next-generation cellular base stations. The four new transistors collectively cover cellular bands from 1805 to 3600 MHz, meeting the needs of wireless carriers for superior performance at higher frequencies.

With the wireless spectrum shortage, wireless carriers are exploring higher frequencies to accommodate the exponential annual increases in traffic. These networks require RF power transistors and amplifiers that deliver higher performance over wider signal bandwidths, as well as higher efficiency and ruggedness, higher output power and smaller footprints.

The four new NXP GaN transistors are specifically designed to meet these challenges. The transistors have high efficiency and gain, and are extremely rugged, with the ability to deliver their rated performance with an impedance mismatch (VSWR) greater than 10:1. These transistors, designed for use in Doherty power amplifiers, are optimized for seamless integration with digital predistortion linearization systems.

The new products introduced today are:

  • A2G22S251-01S: Ultra wideband symmetrical Doherty two device solution covering 1805 to 2170 MHz (365 MHz bandwidth). In a symmetric Doherty, it delivers an average RF output power of 71 W (450 W peak), gain of 16.5 dB, and drain efficiency of 46% in concurrent multiband operation at 8 dB back-off configured. The part is housed in a NI-400S-2S air-cavity ceramic package.
  • A2G26H281-04S: NXP’s first in-package Doherty transistor covering 2496 to 2690 MHz, with average RF output power of 50 W (288 W peak), gain of 15.3 dB, and drain efficiency of 57% configured in a NI-780S-4L air-cavity ceramic package.
  • A2G35S160-01S and A2G35S200-01S: Two-transistor Doherty amplifier solution covering 3400 to 3600 MHz with 53 W average RF output power (331 W peak), gain of 13.8 dB, and drain efficiency of 46%. Each of these transistors is housed in a NI-400S-2S air-cavity ceramic package.

“Cellular customers are actively pursuing GaN technology especially in higher frequency bands. Given its leadership in the cellular base station market, NXP is committed to being a dominant source of top-quality GaN products,” said Paul Hart, executive vice president and general manager of NXP’s RF power business unit. “Our new transistors fully harness the inherent strengths of GaN enabling broad bandwidth, efficient and compact solutions.”

Tessera Technologies, Inc. announced today that it and certain of its subsidiaries filed legal proceedings for patent infringement in both domestic and international jurisdictions against Broadcom and, in some cases, against certain of Broadcom’s customers and distributors.

The proceedings are in the United States International Trade Commission, the U.S. District Court for the District of Delaware, and courts in Germany and the Netherlands, alleging infringement of a total of eight patents.

Tessera first reached out to Broadcom several years ago to explore technical collaboration on semiconductor technology development, and subsequently to discuss licensing Tessera’s intellectual property. Following a series of in-depth licensing discussions, the parties were unable to reach a licensing arrangement.

“Today’s actions were not taken lightly and are made only after years of effort to reach a fair and equitable resolution without litigation,” said Tom Lacey, CEO of Tessera. “At this point, we believe that litigation is necessary to defend our intellectual property rights. As we have said in connection with other legal matters, we remain willing to negotiate a resolution that fairly compensates Tessera and its shareholders for our valuable intellectual property. However, we are also fully prepared to proceed through the entirety of the legal process, and we remain very confident in our ability to achieve a positive outcome.”

Broadcom is not an existing Tessera customer, and as such the proceedings announced today do not impact Tessera’s second quarter revenue or earnings per share guidance or 2016 full-year revenue guidance. The company expects 2016 litigation expense will remain within its current target operating model based on anticipated case activity for the remainder of the year.

Tessera researches and develops semiconductor and imaging technology that is used in billions of electronic devices. Tessera has a portfolio of over 4,000 patent assets protecting its technologies that it licenses to its customers. The company develops computational imaging and photography, as well as semiconductor packaging and interconnects.

Silego Technology, the Configurable Mixed-signal Integrated Circuit (CMIC) pioneer, today announced the appointment of Mike Noonen to lead sales and business development. Mr. Noonen brings over 25 years’ experience to Silego. Most recently Noonen was the interim CEO and Board Director at Ambiq Micro. He was also the Chairman and co-founder of Silicon Catalyst, the semiconductor solution start-up incubator based in Silicon Valley. Silicon Catalyst won the 2015 EE Times/EDN “Start-up of the Year” Ace Award.

Noonen has a great deal of mixed-signal experience and success growing technology businesses. Previously he led sales, marketing and product lines at GlobalFoundries, NXP Semiconductors and National Semiconductor. He also served on the Global Semiconductor Alliance (GSA) Board of Directors. Noonen started his career as an applications engineer teaching mixed-signal IC design.

Commenting on the appointment, Mike Noonen said, “The GSA recently stated that reprogrammable chips were one of the most promising technologies to create value and drive innovation. Silego is the leader in configurable mixed-signal which makes them one of most exciting companies in all of semiconductors. I am thrilled to join the Silego team.”

“Mike is a tremendous addition to the Silego team. He will lead the next phase of our growth and promote the widespread adoption of the Silego CMIC platform as the industry choice for mixed-signal design,” Silego Chairman and CEO Ilbok Lee said.

“Mike’s proven ability to scale IC companies coupled with his strong background in mixed-signal and power management, makes him the ideal addition to the Silego executive team. He brings experienced sales leadership, vast strategic value and we’re thrilled to have him on board,” said Silego President John Teegen.

Mr. Noonen holds a B.S. in Electrical Engineering from Colorado State University and was named the College of Engineering Distinguished Alumni in 2012. He holds multiple patents in the areas of Internet telephony and video communications.

Silego Technology is a fabless semiconductor company creating Configurable Mixed-signal Integrated Circuits, or CMICs, which enable a paradigm shift in the way that hardware engineers design their systems.

The CEA (Atomic Energy Commission) and Intel are boosting their collaboration through a new R & D agreement signed in Paris on Thursday 12 May. This collaboration, extended to several key areas in digital technology, will enable the two sides to develop a shared R&D program and jointly submit research and innovation projects on a European scale, particularly as regards High Performance Computing (HPC), as part of the Horizon 2020 programme.

The new CEA-Intel agreement involves several strategic research programmes with the teams of the CEA’s Leti Institute in Grenoble, including the Internet of Things, high-speed wireless communication, security technologies and 3D displays. It also means that the two companies will work together to jointly submit projects to Europe’s biggest innovation and research programme, Horizon 2020.

This agreement, concluded for a minimum of five years, concerns the current development of digital technologies and the Internet of Things (IoT), including:

  • The development of new materials in order to further the miniaturisation and adaptability of electronic components used in mobile phones. The nature of these components and their layout are crucially important to the system’s performance, size and cost.
  • The development of wireless communication systems and faster exchanges,
  • The integration of connected objects and the study of low-consumption communication technologies.

After the signature of the agreement in Paris, the director of the CEA’s Leti Institute, Marie-Noelle Semeria, said, “The CEA and Intel have a long history of shared technological development in high-performance computing. This collaboration marks the recognition of the CEA-Leti as one of Europe’s most innovative players in the IoT and the basic technologies of Cloud computing and Big Data. It also increases the attractiveness of the Grenoble Valley in terms of microelectronics.”

According to vice president of the Data Center Group and general manager of the Enterprise and HPC Platform Group Raj Hazra, said, “This announcement expands upon our long standing high performance computing relationship with CEA to drive leading edge innovation in IoT, wireless, and security in the European community.  We look forward to the important innovations and discoveries to come from this collaboration.”

By Jonathan Davis, global VP, Industry Advocacy, SEMI

The 27th annual SEMI Advanced Semiconductor Manufacturing Conference (ASMC 2016), opened today (May 17) in Saratoga Springs, New York.  A record-setting 340-plus conference attendees joined this year’s event which focuses on key issues and trends in the manufacture of semiconductors.

Don O’Toole, IBM

Opening keynoter Don O’Toole of IBM’s Watson IoT Alliances & Ecosystem Business Development group highlighted the economic implications of the emerging Internet of Things and discussed how cognitive IoT is driving new business models.  He pointed to significant macroeconomic impacts as well as disruption and necessary change at the micro/strategic level within all enterprises.

In his talk on the “Economics of Things” he said that high-tech firms are challenged to continuously transform their business models and partner ecosystems to keep pace with the quickly evolving nature of business technology. Across industries, companies are turning their focus from traditional business equipment to a new generation of devices that will transform not just the electronics industry but many others.

O’Toole said that companies are moving beyond merely selling connected, intelligent products and services to using cognitive IoT to deliver greatly enhanced customer experiences over the life of their products. He described fundamental change or “liquidification” in the markets for physical goods.

Just as the internet created liquid markets with the digitization of music, news, maps, weather and traffic, the Internet of Things will eliminate physical constraints, structure information and create liquid markets in real estate, manufacturing, agriculture, retail and transportation. A radical repricing of credit and risk will improve financing and reduce “moral hazard,” which, in economic terms, is an information asymmetry that influences risk-taking to leverage lack of transparency.

The primary vectors of IoT to produce both opportunity and disruption will be the creation of new asset marketplaces, improved risk management and greater efficiency.  Fuller visibility and predictability will change market analysis and decision making with significant economic impact.  This characteristic will be apparent in widely varied industries including two that O’Toole profiled as examples: agriculture and real estate.

U.S. commercial real estate is a highly inefficient market in which lack of information transparency and predictability constrains utilization.  O’Toole said there is 12 billion square feet of commercial office space, however, only 67 percent is utilized.  IoT solutions that include sensor technology and user analytics potentially shift profit pools (as some actors benefit from the lack of information transparency), but can produce a $128 billion net economic benefit due to price efficiency and the elimination of shadow markets.

Similarly, agriculture faces high degrees of variability.  Despite significant scientific advancements, crop yields can fluctuate 39% between years, lending the moniker of “legalized gambling” to the farming industry. Employing IoT technologies that leverage sensors, monitoring, drones, cloud-based information systems and data analytics will reduce uncertainties, improve decision making and lead to better deployment of capital assets.  O’Toole estimates that this will produce a 6% decline in farm prices and raise GPD 2%. He cited California wine-maker E.J. Gallo’s ability to decrease water use by 20% as an example of the beneficial impact of cognitive IoT technologies.

While the economic benefits will accrue to multiple industries, high tech and electronics are to be among the greatest beneficiaries of the application of cognitive IoT functions in manufacturing. New ecosystems of customers and partners will develop.  Design and development will necessisarily change to be more agile, with faster prototyping and shorter product lifecycles.  O’Toole sees new value creation with machine-learned cognitive capabilities and natural language interfaces.

O’Toole expects to see far more information sharing between industries. He said that the permutations of ecosystems and industries that devices have to support are making interoperability the biggest challenge in the Internet of Things.

To win in the cognitive IoT era, O’Toole says companies must focus on experience. He offered the following advice:

·         Move from discrete, fixed engineering to continuous engineering

·         Future-proof designs with software-driven feature updates

·         Consider higher value business models that can shift capital expenses to operating expenses

·         Lead product development teams to use design thinking to better understand end-user personas

·         Build stronger relationships with end users by applying cognitive learning technologies to improve product services and experiences.

Other ASMC opening day sessions include contamination free manufacturing, advanced metrology, defect inspection, factory optimization, as well as 37 poster sessions on critical technological topics from representatives from global IC makers, equipment companies and materials providers.

STMicroelectronics announced advanced high-efficiency power semiconductors for Hybrid and Electric Vehicles (EVs) with a timetable for qualification to the automotive quality standard AEC-Q101.

In EVs and hybrids, where better electrical efficiency means greater mileage, ST’s latest silicon-carbide (SiC) technology enables auto makers to create vehicles that travel further, recharge faster, and fit better into owners’ lives. A leader in silicon carbide, ST is among the first to present new-generation rectifiers and MOSFETs for high-voltage power modules and discrete solutions addressing all the vehicle’s main electrical blocks. These include the traction inverter, on-board battery charger, and auxiliary DC-DC converter.

Today’s power modules typically rely on standard silicon diodes and Insulated Gate Bipolar Transistors (IGBTs). Silicon carbide is a newer, wide-bandgap technology that allows smaller device geometries capable of operating well above the 400V range of today’s electric and hybrid drivetrains. The smaller SiC diode and transistor structures present lower internal resistance and respond more quickly than standard silicon devices, which minimize energy losses and allow associated components to be smaller, saving even more size and weight.

“Major carmakers and automotive Tier-1s are now committing to silicon-carbide technology for future product development to leverage its higher aggregate efficiency compared to standard silicon in a wide range of operating scenarios,” said Mario Aleo, Group Vice President and General Manager, Power Transistor Division, STMicroelectronics. “Our SiC devices have demonstrated superior performance and reached an advanced stage of qualification as we support customers preparing to launch new products in the 2017 timeframe.”

ST has been among the first companies to produce silicon-carbide high-voltage MOSFETs, with its first 1200V SiC MOSFET introduced back in 2014, achieving industry-leading 200degreesC rating for more efficient and simplified designs.

The Company is using the industry’s most advanced processes to fabricate SiC MOSFETs and diodes on 4-inch wafers. In order to drive down the manufacturing costs, improve the quality, and deliver the large volumes demanded by the auto industry, ST is scaling up its production of SiC MOSFETs and diodes to 6-inch wafers, and is on schedule to complete both conversions by the end of 2016.

ST has already qualified its 650V SiC diodes to AEC-Q101, and will complete qualification of the latest 650V SiC MOSFETs and 1200V SiC diodes in early 2017. The qualification of the new-generation 1200V SiC MOSFETs will be completed by the end of 2017.

The STPSC20065WY 650V SiC diode is in full production now in DO-247. The range also includes lower current ratings and smaller form-factor TO-220 package options. The STPSC10H12D 1200V SiC diode is sampling now to lead customers in the TO-220AC package and goes to production this month, with volume production of the automotive-grade version planned for Q4 2016. Multiple current ratings from 6A to 20A and packaging options will also be available.

The SCTW100N65G2AG 650V SiC MOSFET is sampling now to lead customers in the HiP247 package. It will ramp up in volumes in H1 2017. To enable more compact designs, a 650V SiC MOSFET in the surface-mount H2PAK will also be qualified to AEC-Q101 in H1 2017.

The Global Semiconductor Alliance (GSA) is pleased to announce the appointment of Dr. Leo Li as the chairman of the GSA Board of Directors for 2016 and 2017.  Dr. Li serves as chairman, chief executive officer of Spreadtrum Communications, leading the Company’s mission to achieve industry leadership through continuous innovation and service.

The GSA Board chairman is a coveted position throughout the industry reserved for the most innovative leaders who represent the semiconductor industry’s most active global regions. Dr. Li will be the first chairman to serve from mainland China.  As a global Alliance, this is a key step for GSA to ensure the commitment to all important regions of the ecosystem.  It is vital to GSA that Chinese companies are being serviced and global members have access to all of the opportunities in China.

Dr. Li has served as a regional member of the GSA Board of Directors, representing the Asia-Pacific region since 2012. He has also served as a member of GSA’s Asia-Pacific Leadership Council since 2011.  The Asia-Pacific Leadership Council serves as advisors to the GSA Board on global and regional issues.

“I am honored that the GSA Board of Directors has appointed me as their Chairman,” commented Dr. Li. “The industry is constantly evolving and GSA has been instrumental in solving a variety of challenges and promoting collaboration between its member companies and partners. I am looking forward to serving as the Chairman to help advance GSA’s commitment to support globalization and continue to be the most prominent advocate to expand cooperation and innovation in our dynamic global semiconductor industry.”

Dr. Li has more than 30 years experience in wireless communications industry, joining Spreadtrum Communications in May 2008. From 2005 to 2007, he served as the chief executive officer of Magicomm Technology Inc., a cell phone product development company. From 2002 to 2005, he was senior business development director at Broadcom and was responsible for a line of GSM/GPRS/EDGE/WCDMA baseband business. From 1998 to 2002, Dr. Li was appointed as general manager of Mobile Phone Product and Vice President of Mobilink Telecom, a GSM baseband start-up company that was sold to Broadcom in 2002. Prior to 1998, he held various senior engineering and program management positions at Rockwell Semiconductors and Ericsson. Dr. Li holds 10 patents in wireless communication systems, RF IC system and circuit designs, and RFID applications.

Dr. Li received a BS degree from the University of Science and Technology of China in Hefei, China; a MS degree from the Institute of Electronics, Chinese Academy of Sciences in Beijing, China; a Ph.D. degree in Electrical Engineering from the University of Maryland in College Park, Maryland, USA; and an MBA degree from the National University in La Jolla, California, USA.

“It is a great honor to have Dr. Li serve as the Chairman of the GSA Board of Directors,” said Jodi Shelton, president of the GSA.  “Dr. Li is one of the most influential leaders in the semiconductor industry in China and his involvement will be critical to our future success. GSA will greatly benefit from his global perspective and technical expertise, enabling GSA to expand its collaboration between China and the worldwide semiconductor industry.”

Steve Mollenkopf, the Chairman of the GSA Board of Directors from 2014 to present, will continue to serve as a regional leadership director for the Board.

Advanced Semiconductor Engineering, Inc. and Deca Technologies, a subsidiary of Cypress Semiconductor Corp., announced the signing of an agreement whereby ASE will invest $60 million in Deca and will license Deca’s M-Series Fan-out Wafer-Level Packaging (FOWLP) technologies and processes. As part of the agreement, ASE and Deca will jointly develop the M-Series fan-out manufacturing process and will expand production of chip-scale packages using this technology. The technology is required for the reduced size and power consumption needed for portable Internet of Things (IoT) applications and smartphones. Deca’s version of it uses autoline technology developed by SunPower to decrease cost and manufacturing cycle time.

“At Cypress we have experienced the efficiency of Deca’s M-Series technology with our own chips and brought its benefits to our customers,” said T.J. Rodgers, Chairman of the Board at Deca Technologies and president and CEO of Cypress Semiconductor Corp. “With this investment from ASE, Deca now has strong validation of M-Series as a technology that will bring fan-out wafer-level packaging to mass production. This deal is a significant proof point for Deca and for Cypress’s ongoing strategy of investing in startups as part of our Emerging Technologies Division.”

The ability to put more functionality on ever-shrinking semiconductors, also known as Moore’s Law, is causing an unintended consequence in the semiconductor packaging industry, where chips using advanced silicon technologies are so small that all of the input and output balls cannot fit on the surface of the chip using conventional wafer-level chip-scale packaging (WLCSP) technology. Deca’s M-Series addresses this challenge with a FOWLP approach, where very small silicon chips are embedded into a larger plastic chip, and the CSP balls are redistributed onto both the native silicon chip and the expanded plastic chip. M-Series enables industry-leading manufacturability for FOWLP using Deca’s proprietary Adaptive Patterning™ technology, which tracks the alignment of each silicon IC in the redistributed plastic package. ASE has found M-Series to be a viable and effective high-volume manufacturing FOWLP solution.

“With the increasing demands to improve performance and reduce package size from the smartphone market and the emerging demand for IoT, the industry has been looking for a FOWLP technology with true manufacturability,” said Chris Seams, CEO of Deca Technologies. “Deca is excited to have ASE select our patented M-Series technology to meet this challenge. By leveraging ASE’s large customer base and world-class manufacturing expertise, we can bring FOWLP processing to high-volume reality.”

Deca’s fan-out wafer level packaging technologies will add to ASE’s advanced packaging portfolio, providing customers with a more diverse selection of offerings that are best suited for their IC designs. “Today’s announcement is a major milestone in ASE’s FOWLP roadmap and demonstrates ASE’s continued pursuit in industry leadership to build a complete manufacturing eco-system with key partners,” said Dr. Tien Wu, COO, ASE Group. “The incorporating of Deca’s M-Series and Adaptive Patterning technologies and manufacturing process will enable ASE to offer customers a proven FOWLP solution that is cost-effective due to the efficiency of large-panel-based processing.”

The proposed investment by ASE is subject to the various regulatory approvals or consents including but not limited to the approvals of the Taiwan government.

Nanoelectronics research center imec has announced that Dr. Gordon E. Moore, creator of the famous Moore’s law theory and co-founder of Intel, is the recipient of its lifetime of innovation award. Imec’s annual award recognizes Dr. Moore’s visionary view, unrivalled innovation, and his profound impact on the global electronics industry.

In 1965, Dr. Moore predicted that the number of components on an integrated circuit (IC) would double every year for the coming 10 years, thereby making ICs and computer processing simultaneously faster, cheaper, and more powerful. In 1975, Dr. Moore revised the forecast rate to approximately every two years. Moore’s law turned out to be incredibly accurate, growing beyond its predictive character to become an industry driver that holds true today, 50 years later. Keeping up with Moore law’s progression has required a tremendous amount of engineering and commitment from the global semiconductor industry. While its meaning has evolved over generations, it has had a profound impact in many areas of technological change and progress.

“It is truly an honor to present imec’s lifetime innovation award to Dr. Moore, on behalf of all our global partners and our researchers,” stated Luc Van den hove, president and CEO of imec. “Dr. Moore’s name is synonymous with progress, and his vision has inspired and given direction to the entire semiconductor industry, which has revolutionized the way we compute, communicate, and interact. As the industry upholds this prediction and brings forth new innovations in chip technology, the future of Moore’s law will impact such things as healthcare, a sustainable climate, and safer transport all for the better.”

Dr. Moore began his career at Johns Hopkins University. He cofounded Fairchild Semiconductor in 1957 and launched Intel in 1968 together with Robert Noyce and Andy Grove. Today, Intel is a world leader in the design and manufacturing of integrated circuits and is the largest semiconductor company. Dr. Moore served as Intel CEO from 1975-1987, and then became its chairman of the board until his retirement in 1997.

“Although Moore’s law was created more than 50 years ago, it remains extremely valid and serves as a guide to what we innovate at imec,” continued Van den hove. “Throughout our organizations’ 32-year existence, we’ve worked at enabling Moore’s law and helping our partners innovate and develop the modern technology that society has embraced and demands. Dr. Moore’s legacy continues to be our mission and we are privileged to honor him.” 

Imec’s Lifetime of Innovation award is awarded to Dr. Moore on May 24, 2016 at its annual ITF Brussels, the flagship of imec’s worldwide ITF events.