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By Dr. Chris Moore & Winthrop Baylies, BayTech-Resor LLC

When you say the word sapphire most people think of a brilliant blue gemstone. The members that have formed the Tablet Working Group think of sapphire as a key enabler of future growth for their respective businesses. This article discusses the rationale for forming SEMI’s Tablet Working Group and the action plan moving forward.

At SEMICON West 2014 a presentation [1] to the HBLED technical committee summarized the information available on the expected impact of sapphire on both the Tablet and Smartphone market. It was decided to form a small working group of material suppliers and other interested parties to investigate this area. The mandate of the Tablet Working Group is to determine the needs for standards as they would apply to the eclectic group of manufacturers and service companies that form SEMI. During this discussion it was decided that the group should include not only the use of sapphire in these devices but glass as well. This article will focus on why sapphire and why this effort is starting now.

To put this in perspective the Tablet Working Group is interested in the rectangular pieces of sapphire or glass used as either the cover material (camera lens cover/TP cover) or basic screen of touch devices for tablets and smartphones. Figure 1 shows multiple sapphire cover components for mobile device from Chitwing – Silian optoelectronics. Figure 1 shows sapphire components without ink and coating and sapphire components with ink and AR/AF coating.

Figure 1: A sapphire cover/screen for a smart phone and camera lens cover (courtesy of Mike Feng (mingming.feng@silianopto.com) Chitwing - Silian) This figure shows sapphire components without ink and coating and sapphire components with ink and AR/AF coating.

Figure 1: A sapphire cover/screen for a smart phone and camera lens cover (courtesy of Mike Feng ([email protected]) Chitwing – Silian) This figure shows sapphire components without ink and coating and sapphire components with ink and AR/AF coating.group_photo_2

The Tablet Working Group’s interest encompasses the whole supply chain from the initial starting materials though the growth of boules (which may be rectangular) or sheets, shaping of the boule/sheet, slicing, dimensioning and polishing of the surfaces, applying the necessary anti-reflection (AR) or oleo phobic  (Anti-fingerprint , AF) coating which creates the screen or cover glass. Figure 2 contains a more detailed illustration of this supply chain.

Figure 2: A basic illustration of the tablet/smart phone sapphire supply chain.

Figure 2: A basic illustration of the tablet/smart phone sapphire supply chain.

The reasons for looking at this area now are clear. As you may (may not) know there has been considerable interest and a number of articles [2,3] published on the large sapphire growth facility purported to be related to Apple in Mesa Arizona. Depending on the analyst it is believed that the original facility (there is talk of an expansion) contains 2500 furnaces. These boules are shipped overseas to be sliced, dimensioned and polished. The analysts expect that this material will be used in the next generation of iPhone. This is definitely a large investment in the future and represents a significant jump in the predicted use of sapphire material over the next few years.

Given the cost of production (which is expected to be higher than for the equivalent glass unit [4]) the question becomes: why use sapphire in a mainline consumer product? The first answer is hardness and mechanical strength. Sapphire has been used for many years in higher-end watch products because it resists scratching and is extremely durable. Videos on the net show sheets of sapphire being rubbed by concrete blocks [5] with no effect. As part of the mechanical strength it is also predicted that sapphire units will be thinner than their glass equivalents enabling even thinner device designs.

The second reason is more obscure and yet in many ways more important than the first and is a result of sapphire’s optical and electrical properties. It has been reported that touch / camera lens cover screens and sensors made from sapphire are more durable and reliable in its function. Since all of the devices discussed here are by their nature touch screen-driven this becomes a significant factor in final device performance.

With this background we can start explaining why the interest by some SEMI members to examine this manufacturing area. SEMI itself is a collaborative of material suppliers, production equipment manufacturers, metrology system makers, automation suppliers, device producers and service support companies. Given the level of investment predicted for sapphire in the Tablet/Smart phone area one can see that all of these areas will be affected. At least one furnace manufacturer has pinned a large portion of their company’s future on the sapphire industry and it is expected that others will follow. Thus the equipment producers are already moving down this path with significant investment in both equipment and process development. As usual at this stage of development in a new market segment there are very few standards that exist for both the material and its testing. More important, since there is no standard guidance, the end user has less information on how to define sapphire product specification. This non-standard fabrication from material to final product would cost more than standard process.

The Apple business model for sapphire production is highly vertically oriented. However, it is expected that many of the other suppliers of Tablets and Smart phones will contract out the growth and manufacturing of their cover/screen needs resulting in a significant growth market. Although some analysts predict the eventual displacement of glass from this area in all but the lowest-end tablet and smart phone products, many still look at the economic factors which favor glass. However, it is clear that the economics of sapphire screens will be greatly affected by the scale of production now being envisioned.

Thus we have a potentially large sapphire market which is currently in its early growth stage. SEMI and its Standards groups have effectively participated many times in markets of this type including flat panel displays, photo-voltaic devices, and the emerging work of the HBLED committee.

One of the questions asked is why this work would be under the auspices of the HBLED Technical Committee. The original presentation [1] was discussed as part of the HBLED Substrate Taskforce which is the group responsible for generating the first standards [6] for the sapphire wafers used in the HBLED manufacturing process. Since the group has an interest in sapphire the initial thoughts were that this area could be looked at as developing standards for “substrates” which are now rectangular as opposed to round.

As the presentation was discussed in the technical committee meeting it was clear that the definition of the “substrate” was only part of the potential work to be done. Thus it was decided to form a working group to look at the potential for standards work in the Tablet/Smart phone area. It was also clear that SEMI expertise in materials, automation and metrology standards filled a niche not being addressed by the IEC standards group. At no point did any of the volunteers present want to take on work that was already being done or outside the normal area SEMI would cover. The discussion also highlighted work other than standards which may be of benefit for SEMI but this is beyond the scope of the working group.

The Tablet Working Group will hold its first phone conference in September. Current working group members include material suppliers like Silian ( a pioneer in sapphire) and Corning, metrology suppliers and other interested parties. The first face to face meeting will be at the fall Standards meeting in San Jose. If you have interest in joining the group please contact Michael Tran of SEMI staff or Chris Moore at [email protected]  or Win Baylies at  Win.Baylies @ BayTech-Resor.com.

[1] Tablet Substrates SEMI Standards Presentation https://sites.google.com/a/semi.org/hbled/hb-led-wafer-tf/july-10-2014

[2] Analyst article on Apple/Mesa AZ http://seekingalpha.com/article/2167493-gt-advanceds-sapphire-operations-in-arizona-are-likely-fully-ramped-and-ready-to-deliver-the-goods-to-apple?isDirectRoadblock=false&app=1&uprof=45

[3] Analyst article on Sapphire Composite Cover Screens for Mobile Devices and Point-of-Sale Scanners  http://seekingalpha.com/article/2235313-gt-advanced-technologies-next-frontier-sapphire-composite-cover-screens-for-mobile-devices-and-point-of-sale-scanners?app=1&uprof=45

[4] Analyst article on Glass Demand for Higher-Generation Glass Substrates will Drive Corning’s Display Volume – http://seekingalpha.com/article/2230553-ignore-the-sapphire-threat-corning-is-on-a-roll

[5] Internet video Aero Gear’s Flight Glass SX Sapphire Crystal vs a Concrete …

www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gh17UvUQxwM

[6] SEMI HB-LED standards (www.SEMI.org/standards)

HB-1-0814 Specification for Sapphire Wafers for Use for Manufacturing High-Brightness Light Emitting Diode Devices

HB-2-0613 Specification for 150 mm Open Plastic and Metal Wafer Cassettes Intended for Use for Manufacturing HB-LED Devices

HB-3 -1113 Mechanical Interface for 150 mm HB-LED Load Port

HB-4-0913 Specification of Communication Interfaces for High Brightness LED Manufacturing Equipment (HB-LED ECI)

 

North America-based manufacturers of semiconductor equipment posted $1.35 billion in orders worldwide in August 2014 (three-month average basis) and a book-to-bill ratio of 1.04, according to the August EMDS Book-to-Bill Report published today by SEMI.   A book-to-bill of 1.04 means that $104 worth of orders were received for every $100 of product billed for the month.

The three-month average of worldwide bookings in August 2014 was $1.35 billion. The bookings figure is 5.0 percent lower than the final July 2014 level of $1.42 billion, and is 26.5 percent higher than the August 2013 order level of $1.06 billion.

The three-month average of worldwide billings in August 2014 was $1.29 billion. The billings figure is 2.0 percent lower than the final July 2014 level of $1.32 billion, and is 19.5 percent higher than the August 2013 billings level of $1.08 billion.

“The SEMI Book-to-Bill ratio has been at or above parity for 11 consecutive months, and both current month bookings and billings continue to trend well above 2013 levels,” said Denny McGuirk, president and CEO of SEMI. “Strong equipment spending growth for the year is observed across the fab and test and assembly segments.”

The SEMI book-to-bill is a ratio of three-month moving averages of worldwide bookings and billings for North American-based semiconductor equipment manufacturers. Billings and bookings figures are in millions of U.S. dollars.

Billings
(3-mo. avg)

Bookings
(3-mo. avg)

Book-to-Bill
March 2014

$1,225.5

$1,297.7

1.06
April 2014

$1,403.2

$1,443.0

1.03
May 2014

$1,407.8

$1,407.0

1.00
June 2014

$1,327.5

$1,455.0

1.10
July 2014 (final)

$1,319.1

$1,417.1

1.07
August 2014 (prelim)

$1,293.3

$1,346.2

1.04

Source: SEMI, September 2014

The data contained in this release were compiled by David Powell, Inc., an independent financial services firm, without audit, from data submitted directly by the participants. SEMI and David Powell, Inc. assume no responsibility for the accuracy of the underlying data.

The data are contained in a monthly Book-to-Bill Report published by SEMI. The report tracks billings and bookings worldwide of North American-headquartered manufacturers of equipment used to manufacture semiconductor devices, not billings and bookings of the chips themselves. The Book-to-Bill report is one of three reports included with the SEMI Equipment Market Data Subscription (EMDS).

ProPlus Design Solutions, Inc. announced today it expanded its sales operations to Europe.

Micke Wersall and Johan Gardelius have been named European Sales directors. They will be manage all customer accounts in European countries and have responsibility for growing the European customer base for ProPlus’ Giga-scale SPICE simulator, SPICE modeling tools and DFY solutions.

European expansion comes at a time when the new NanoSpice parallel SPICE simulator, NanoSpice Giga, a unique Giga-scale SPICE simulator, and 9812D 1/f Noise Analyzer, the latest generation wafer-level 1/f noise measurement system, are gaining widespread adoption in the U.S. and Asia. All are receiving growing interest in Europe as well.

“European companies are working on leading-edge semiconductor process technologies and products that can benefit from our advanced modeling, simulation and DFY solutions,” remarks Dr. Zhihong Liu, chairman and chief executive officer of ProPlus Design Solutions Inc. “We are increasing our investment in Europe since so much activity and innovation on advanced technology nodes are going on in this region. Micke Wersall and Johan Gardelius are two recognized sales executives who are excellent additions to our operations.”

According to Micke Wersall: “ProPlus’ DFY solutions are critical components to all design and verification flows and I expect European engineers quickly will come to understand the benefits that our DFY solutions can provide for getting their products to market faster.”

“Yield improvement is a recurring theme I hear with all kinds of project teams,” adds Johan Gardelius. “ProPlus is offering DFY solutions that will appeal to a wide range of applications. I’m very delighted to be part of this growing company.”

Mentor Graphics today announced the appointment of Glenn Perry to the role of vice president of the company’s Embedded Systems Division. The Mentor Graphics Embedded Systems Division enables embedded development for a variety of applications including automotive, industrial, smart energy, medical devices, and consumer electronics.

“We believe there is great potential for us to grow in the embedded market,” said Walden C. Rhines, chairman and CEO, Mentor Graphics.  “To that end we have been making strategic investments, and placing this expanded division under a vice president reflects the increased opportunities we are seeing.”

Perry was formerly the general manager of the division.  Prior to that, he was general manager of the company’s ESL/HDL Design business unit. He joined Mentor Graphics in 1999 as the engineering director for system-level simulation tools, bringing 20 years of experience in the electronics industry, focused in the simulation and analysis of systems and IC design. Prior to Mentor, Perry held engineering and management positions at Analogy (now Synopsys), Harris Semiconductor, Sandia National Laboratories, and the United States Air Force Weapons Laboratory. Perry studied electrical engineering in the USAF and at the University of New Mexico.

“Glenn has recruited and built a team of embedded industry experts,” said Gregory K. Hinckley, president of Mentor Graphics.  “Their expertise and his strong direction have enabled the company to become a leading embedded software supplier, and we look forward to continued growth in this space.”

At SEMICON Europa, attendees and exhibitors will delve into the technologies that shape the future of the microtech, nanotech, medtech and cleantech industries. Representing the entire supply chain from materials to electronic systems and services, 35 major European start-ups will participate in the Innovation Village and present their new technologies at SEMICON Europa.  The largest and most important semiconductor event in Europe, SEMICON Europa  will be held 7-9 October in the Grenoble location for the first time. The new three-day Innovation Village program will be the stage for emerging innovators, industry leaders, strategic investors, and venture capitalists to discuss the needs of the industry’s innovation engine. Attendees will gain insights on technology, capital, partnership, and collaboration strategies necessary for mutual success.

Innovation Village consists of a start-up exhibition (7-9 October), Silicon Innovation Forum (7 October) and Innovation Conference (8 October). As part of the Silicon Innovation Forum, all selected start-ups will have the opportunity to “pitch” to investors and SEMICON Europa visitors. The pitch session will be followed by a start-up panel discussion  “Fundraising for the Future Champions of European Electronics,” led by Jean-Pascal Bost of SATT-GIFT with panelists: Jacques Husser (Sigfox), Eric Baissus (Kalray), Serguei Okhonin (ActLight) and Mike Thompson (Hotblock Onboard).

The Innovation Conference, sponsored by Fidal Innovation, will bring together notable names in European innovation to discuss current practices and relevant funding issues facing semiconductor and high-tech start-ups today. Keynote speakers will include Nicolas Leterrier (Schneider Electric) on Innovation Practices and Dan Armbrust (Silicon Catalyst) on Lean Innovation. Christine Vaca (Gate1) will act as the conference chair.

“For the inaugural SEMICON Europa in Grenoble, our team was intent on developing a program that would highlight the strength of the local and the European ecosystems in innovation and new technology,” explains Anne-Marie Dutron, director of the SEMI Grenoble office. “At Innovation Village, visitors will discover the creativity of 35 European start-up companies, presenting their products, partnership and investment opportunities.”

Participating start-ups were chosen by a selection committee which included ten of the most recognizable venture firms in the industry: Applied Ventures LLC, Robert Bosch Venture GmbH, TEL Venture,3M Ventures, CEA Investissement, Samsung Ventures, Air Liquid Electronics, ASTER Capital), VTT Ventures, and  Capital-E.

Start-ups include ActLight (Switzerland), BlinkSight (France), BluWireless Technology (UK), Calao-Systems (France) and Silicon Line (Germany). For more information about Innovation Village, participating start-ups or about the Innovation Conference, please visit the SEMICON Europa website: www.semiconeuropa.org/Segments/InnovationVillage

All events in Innovation Village, including the three-day start-up exhibition, Silicon Innovation Forum and Innovation Conference will be available at no charge for all SEMICON Europa guests and visitors. The event will be co-hosted by SEMI Grenoble and Gate1. The mission of GATE1 is to support the creation of new technology-driven businesses by capitalizing on the proximity of numerous university laboratories and research centers. GATE1 offers programs for technology maturation, business incubation and business acceleration.

SEMI, the global industry association for companies that supply manufacturing technology and materials to the world’’s chip makers, today reported that worldwide semiconductor manufacturing equipment billings reached US$ 9.62 billion in the second quarter of 2014. The billings figure is 5 percent lower than the first quarter of 2014 and 28 percent higher than the same quarter a year ago. The data is gathered jointly with the Semiconductor Equipment Association of Japan (SEAJ) from over 100 global equipment companies that provide data on a monthly basis.

Worldwide semiconductor equipment bookings were $9.96 billion in the second quarter of 2014. The figure is 9 percent higher than the same quarter a year ago and 1 percent higher than the bookings figure for the first quarter of 2014.

The quarterly billings data by region in billions of U.S. dollars, quarter-over-quarter growth and year-over-year rates by region are as follows:


Region


2Q2014


1Q2014


2Q2013

2Q14/1Q14
(Qtr-over-Qtr)

2Q14/2Q13
(Year-over-Year)
Taiwan

2.48

2.59

2.73

-5%

-9%
North America

2.32

1.85

1.16

25%

101%
Korea

1.73

2.03

1.22

-15%

42%
China

1.03

1.71

0.84

-40%

23%
Japan

1.00

0.96

0.74

4%

35%
Europe

0.57

0.58

0.36

-3%

58%
ROW

0.50

0.42

0.51

18%

-2%
Total

9.62

10.15

7.54

-5%

28%

Source: SEMI/SEAJ September 2014

Note: Figures may not add due to rounding.

NVIDIA today announced that it has filed complaints against Samsung and Qualcomm at the International Trade Commission and in the U.S. District Court in Delaware, alleging that the companies are both infringing NVIDIA GPU patents covering technology including programmable shading, unified shaders and multithreaded parallel processing.

The identified Samsung products include the Galaxy Note Edge, Galaxy Note 4, Galaxy S5, Galaxy Note 3 and Galaxy S4 mobile phones; and the Galaxy Tab S, Galaxy Note Pro and Galaxy Tab 2 computer tablets. Most of these devices incorporate Qualcomm mobile processors — including the Snapdragon S4, 400, 600, 800, 801 and 805. Others are powered by Samsung Exynos mobile chips, which incorporate ARM’s Mali and Imagination Technologies’ PowerVR GPU cores.

NVIDIA co-founder and CEO Jen-Hsun Huang said: “NVIDIA has invented technologies that are vital to mobile computing. We have the richest portfolio of computer graphics IP in the world, with 7,000 patents granted and pending, produced by the industry’s best graphics engineers and backed by more than $9 billion in R&D.

“Our patented GPU inventions provide significant value to mobile devices. Samsung and Qualcomm have chosen to use these in their products without a license from us. We are asking the courts to determine infringement of NVIDIA’s GPU patents by all graphics architectures used in Samsung’s mobile products and to establish their licensing value.”

A pioneer in computer graphics, NVIDIA invented the GPU. The graphics processing unit enables computers to generate and display images. It brings to life the beautiful graphics that shape how people enjoy their mobile devices and is fundamental to the rise of mobile computing. NVIDIA GPUs are some of the most complex processors ever created, requiring over a thousand engineering-years to create and containing more than 7 billion transistors.

Fujitsu Semiconductor America (FSA) today announced that Shinichi “James” Machida, who led the company from late 2008 until spring of 2011, has been named as the new president and CEO of FSA.

Machida, who has more than 25 years’ experience in semiconductor marketing and overseas sales support, has held a wide range of management positions at Fujitsu Microelectronics Limited (FML) and its affiliates, serving as president of Fujitsu Microelectronics Asia Pte. Ltd. (FMAL) headquartered in Singapore and Fujitsu Microelectronics Pacific Asia Ltd. (FMP) headquartered in Hong Kong from October 2006 until his appointment as Fujitsu Semiconductor America’s President and CEO from June 2008 to April 2011.  From July 1990 through June 1995, he was assigned to Fujitsu Microelectronics, Inc. (FMI), a predecessor of Fujitsu Microelectronics America (FMA) and FSA. During that time, he worked in FMA’s operations group, managing special projects with FMA’s strategic customers.

“Fujitsu Semiconductor America has developed a long history of world-class research, advanced product development, and strong sales throughout the Americas,” said Machida.  “I am pleased and excited to return to the US and look forward to my new tenure at FSA, and to continuing and strengthening the excellent product development and customer service that have been a hallmark of the company for many years.”

Fujitsu Semiconductor America, Inc. (FSA) is a designer and developer of semiconductor products and solutions for new generations of consumer, communications, automotive and industrial products. Founded in 1979 and headquartered in Sunnyvale, California, Fujitsu Semiconductor America is a wholly owned subsidiary of Fujitsu Semiconductor Limited (FSL), Japan.

The business model and structure of the manufacturing industry has grown well beyond the scope of a single enterprise and location, making radio frequency identification (RFID) solutions indispensable to its functioning. With increasing adoption of lean manufacturing strategies prompting most industry players to focus on and outsource niche operations within global supply chains, RFID solutions will help sustain high levels of performance.

New analysis from Frost & Sullivan, Analysis of the Global RFID in Manufacturing Market, finds that the market earned revenues of $1.29 billion in 2013 and estimates this to nearly quadruple to $4.99 billion in 2020. The study covers passive, active and battery-assisted passive RFID. Over the forecast period, demand for active RFID will increase to fulfill business needs more efficiently.

Use of RFID technologies enhances supply chain visibility and total control of inventory, operations and logistics across diverse manufacturing points. As RFID solutions facilitate real-time tracking of assets in different locations, it increases productivity enabling cost-effective allocation of resources. These benefits, along with reduced labor requirements, information accuracy, improved sales and customer service boost RFID adoption among manufacturing participants looking to realize higher return on investment.

“Opportunities for RFID solution providers exist across all application segments within the manufacturing industry,” said Frost & Sullivan Measurement & Instrumentation Senior Research Analyst Nandini Bhattacharya. “Growth prospects in the automotive and aerospace manufacturing sectors are especially promising owing to supportive industry regulations.”

However, as long as the economic situation remains uncertain, customers – particularly small and medium enterprises – will be reluctant to invest in RFID solutions unless they see a direct correlation between implementation of these technologies and cost-saving advantages. Cost is, therefore, a discerning factor for consumers’ RFID purchasing decisions. Scalability of solutions and technology support will be important criteria influencing uptake.

“Partnerships and acquisitions are rampant and necessary for this market to continue to expand,” noted Bhattacharya. “Without such collaborations, the breadth of knowledge and expertise needed for success is typically too wide even for the largest of companies.”

Analysis of the Global RFID in Manufacturing Market is part of the  Growth Partnership Service program. Frost & Sullivan’s related studies include: Analysis of the Global 2D-Barcode Scanners Market, Analysis of the Global RFID Tags Market, Analysis of the Global RFID and Bar Code Printers Market, and Emerging Opportunities in Global Biometrics Market. All studies included in subscriptions provide detailed market opportunities and industry trends evaluated following extensive interviews with market participants.

S2C, Inc. announced today the opening of a direct sales and support office in Seoul, Korea, appointing Suk-Ha Lee (SH Lee) as country manager.

“We’ve had numerous requests for our systems in Korea – this is clearly an opportunity for us,” said Toshio Nakama, CEO of S2C. “Opening an office in Seoul is a natural decision. A lot of high-end consumer products are developed in Korea, all built upon complex SoCs driven by sophisticated software. Our solutions meet this challenge perfectly.”

Heading the new office is SH Lee – a professional with 24 years of sales and customer support experience in the Korean EDA market. “I couldn’t be more excited about this opportunity,” said Lee. “Customer satisfaction is always first and foremost in my mind. S2C has the right product at the right time – I look forward to supporting our customers with this important technology, insuring their experience is positive and productive.”

Prior to his position at S2C, Mr. Lee was the country manager for Forte Design Systems in Korea. Previous positions include country manager for Synplicity Korea, and Major Accounts Manager for Synopsys Korea. Mr. Lee’s experience includes ESL solutions, FPGA applications, and ASIC design flows.

Headquartered in San Jose, California, S2C provides SoC prototyping solutions.