Tag Archives: letter-mems-top

Capped by last week’s announcement that Qualcomm Inc. would buy CSR PLC, the automotive semiconductor industry recently has been undergoing a wave of merger and acquisition (M&A) activity that has shaken up the competitive order of the market, according to IHS Technology.

In two major deals announced in August, Germany’s Infineon Technologies AG said it would acquire U.S.-based International Rectifier Corp., while ON Semiconductor Corp. sealed a deal to acquire fellow American firm Aptina Imaging Corp.

With the International Rectifier deal, Infineon bolstered its No. 2 rank in the global automotive semiconductor business and helped it to close the gap on the market leader, Renesas of Japan. Following the acquisition, Infineon trails Renesas by just $288 million, down from nearly $500 before Infineon bought International Rectifier, based on ranking data from 2013.

Meanwhile, the Aptina acquisition expanded ON’s automotive semiconductor revenue by $183 million, allowing ON to move up one position to eighth place in the market, also based on 2013 ranking data.

The purchase of the U.K.’s CSR will allow California-based Qualcomm to enhance its market share. Qualcomm ranked No. 43 in 2013, while CSR came in at 23. The two companies combined would have ranked at No. 19 in 2013.

“While these three M&A deals differ in their specific goals and benefits, all have the same strategic objective: expanding market share in the lucrative business for semiconductors used in automobiles,” said Ahad Buksh, analyst for automotive semiconductors at IHS. “The automotive supply is adding new infotainment, communications and driver-assist functionality at a rapid pace, causing related semiconductor revenue to rise 5 percent to reach $26 billion in 2013. Suppliers are buying up competitors to gain scale in the market, to add key capabilities and to capitalize on established customer relationships.”

Clash of the top 10 titans

The figure below presents the IHS ranking of the world’s top 10 suppliers of automotive semiconductors in 2013, showing the impact from the recent acquisitions.

Auto_Semi_in_Cars

All of these 10 companies increasingly are investing in automotive, having identified the area as a strategic field of expansion. At the same time, most of these companies are divesting from other markets, such as wireless and consumer electronics.

The strong positions held by the top 10 suppliers are the result of decades of investment to meet the specific requirements of leading customers. These requirements include high product quality and strong service support. IHS believes that automotive manufacturers will tend to maintain long-term relationship with these established semiconductor suppliers.

To Infineon and beyond

Infineon’s acquisition of International Rectifier not only will diversify the former’s product portfolio but also will make it a bigger threat to Renesas.

Last year was great for both Infineon and International Rectifier, with automotive-related revenue at the two companies rising by 11.7 percent and 15.6 percent, respectively. In contrast, the declining exchange rate of Japanese yen vs. the U.S. dollar meant that Renesas suffered a 14.2 percent drop in automotive revenue in 2013. What used to be a lead of more than $1.2 billion for Renesas over Infineon in 2012 eroded by 60 percent.

Once the International Rectifier acquisition is complete, Renesas’ lead will shrink further.

International Rectifier’s strong presence in low-power insulated-gate bipolar transistor (IGBT), power modules and power metal–oxide–semiconductor field-effect transistor (MOSFET) will boost Infineon into the top spot in the discrete integrated circuit (IC) category. This particularly reinforces Infineon’s position in the fast growing hybrid and electric vehicle segment. Intelligent power switches, data converters and application-specific integrated circuits (ASIC) from International Rectifier also will complement Infineon’s portfolio and will generate economies of scale. Even though Infineon’s second position in analog ICs won’t change, the acquisition will help it close in on the top player in the segment, STMicroelectronics.

On the acquisition hunt

Aside from bringing ON Semiconductor closer to the $1 billion mark in automotive semiconductors, Aptina’s sensor business is of strategic importance, as it was a weak spot in On’s portfolio. Now, ON Semiconductor can count itself the leading supplier of complementary-metal-oxide semiconductor (CMOS) imaging sensors, which serve as the eyes of advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS) in vehicles. The rapid adoption of ADAS will drive markets for automotive image sensors to attain 10 percent growth per year from 2013 to 2020, making it a good investment for On.

Qualcomm boosts automotive market share with CSR acquisition

Qualcomm’s acquisition of CSR is more about buying—and as a result, enlarging—market share in automotive than about complementing Qualcomm’s product portfolio.

With the purchase, Qualcomm will become the world’s fourth-largest supplier of ASICs for automotive infotainment, with a 10 percent market share. In 2013, the company ranked 11th with a market share of 2.7 percent, unchanged from 2012 and 2011.

Driven by rising demand for fitness and health monitoring features as well as by improved user interfaces, shipments of sensors used in wearable electronic devices will rise by a factor of seven from 2013 through 2019, according to IHS Technology. 

The worldwide market for sensors in wearables will expand to 466 million units in 2019, up from 67 million in 2013, as presented in the figure below.

2014-10-15_MEMS

Shipments of sensors will climb much more quickly than the market for the wearable devices themselves. Wearable devices will increase to 135 million units in 2019, less than three times the total of 50 million in 2013.

“Wearables are a hotbed for sensors, with market growth driven by the increasing number of these components in each product sold,” said Jérémie Bouchaud, director and senior principal analyst, MEMS & Sensors, at IHS Technology. “The main factor propelling this phenomenon is a transition in market share away from simple products like pedometers and toward more sophisticated multipurpose devices such as smartwatches and smartglasses. Instead of using a single sensor like the simpler devices, the more complex products employ numerous components for health and activity monitoring, as well as for their more advanced user interfaces.”

The average wearable device shipped in 2019 will incorporate 4.1 sensor elements, up from 1.4 in 2013.

Smartphone brands are increasingly aware that wearables are a better platform for some types of sensors than mobile handsets. IHS expects components like humidity sensors and pulse sensors to move from handsets to wearable devices, such as new smartwatches introduced by Samsung, Apple and others. This will further boost shipments of sensors in wearables.

This information is derived from the new IHS report entitled “MEMS & Sensors for Wearables Report – 2014” from the IHS MEMS & Sensors service.

Sensor scan

The types of sensors used in wearables are motion sensors, microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) and sensors for user interfaces, health sensors and environmental sensors.

Motion sensors represent the dominant technology in the wearables segment and comprise the component categories of accelerometers, gyroscopes, magnetometers, pressure sensors and combo motion sensors. MEMS sensors for user interfaces include MEMS microphones, proximity sensors and MEMS displays.

The health sensor area is represented by pulse, pulse-oximeters, hydration and skin temperature sensors. Environmental sensors include humidity, temperature and ultraviolet (UV) components.

Sensing opportunity

Wearables increasingly are employing sensors for fitness monitoring, using motion sensors or health sensors. The wearable devices also are implementing fitness and health monitoring using motion sensors or health sensors like pulse sensors. On the user interface front, wearables use MEMS microphones for voice command and motion sensors for tap command.

“The use of these types of sensors reflects consumer preferences that are propelling the growth of the wearables market,” Bouchaud said. “Users want health and fitness monitoring, and they want wearable devices that act as extensions of their smartphones. However, there’s no real demand from consumers for environmental sensors. Instead, the rising adoption of environmental sensors such as humidity and UV devices is being pushed by both sensor suppliers and wearable original equipment manufacturers (OEM).”

Watching the market

The market for sensors in wearables will undergo a major acceleration next year as shipments of the Apple Watch commence. Overall wearable sensor shipments will double next year; shipments of sensors for smartwatches will surge by nearly 600 percent.

The Apple Watch not only employs an accelerometer, but also a gyroscope, a microphone and a pulse sensor.

“Similar to the iPhone and iPad, IHS expects the Apple Watch will set a de facto standard for sensor specifications in smartwatches,” Bouchaud said. “Most other wearable OEMs will follow Apple’s lead in using these four devices—or will add even more sensors to differentiate.”

Fitness and heart rate monitors and foot pods and pedometers lead the wearable market in terms of sensor shipments in 2013.

However, smartwatches will take the top position starting next year and will maintain dominance through 2019.

STMicroelectronics dominates sensors

STMicroelectronics is by far the top MEMS and sensor supplier for the wearable market. The company consolidated its leadership position in 2013 with a 26 percent share of revenue, up from 20 percent in 2012.

Beside its leadership in the discrete accelerometer market, STMicroelectronics’ success with wearable sensors is because of its strong bundling strategy. The company often sells its sensors as part of a packaged deal along with its other semiconductor offerings, such as 32-bit microcontrollers and wireless chips.

Scientists have been laboring to detect cancer and a host of other diseases in people using promising new biomarkers called “exosomes.” Indeed, Popular Science magazine named exosome-based cancer diagnostics one of the 20 breakthroughs that will shape the world this year. Exosomes could lead to less invasive, earlier detection of cancer, and sharply boost patients’ odds of survival.

“Exosomes are minuscule membrane vesicles — or sacs — released from most, if not all, cell types, including cancer cells,” said Yong Zeng, assistant professor of chemistry at the University of Kansas. “First described in the mid-’80s, they were once thought to be ‘cell dust,’ or trash bags containing unwanted cellular contents. However, in the past decade scientists realized that exosomes play important roles in many biological functions through capsuling and delivering molecular messages in the form of nucleic acids and proteins from the donor cells to affect the functions of nearby or distant cells. In other words, this forms a crucial pathway in which cells talk to others.”

While the average piece of paper is about 100,000nm thick, exosomes run just 30 to 150nm in size. Because of this, exosomes are hard to separate out and test, requiring multiple-step ultracentrifugation — a tedious and inefficient process requires long stretches in the lab, according to scientists.

“There aren’t many technologies out there that are suitable for efficient isolation and sensitive molecular profiling of exosomes,” said Zeng.  “First, current exosome isolation protocols are time-consuming and difficult to standardize. Second, conventional downstream analyses on collected exosomes are slow and require large samples, which is a key setback in clinical development of exosomal biomarkers.”

Now, Zeng and colleagues from the University of Kansas Medical Center and KU Cancer Center have just published a breakthrough paper in the Royal Society of Chemistry journal describing their invention of a miniaturized biomedical testing device for exosomes. Dubbed the “lab-on-a-chip,” the device promises faster result times, reduced costs, minimal sample demands and better sensitivity of analysis when compared with the conventional bench-top instruments now used to examine the tiny biomarkers.

“A lab-on-a-chip shrinks the pipettes, test tubes and analysis instruments of a modern chemistry lab onto a microchip-sized wafer,” Zeng said. “Also referred to as ‘microfluidics’ technology, it was inspired by revolutionary semiconductor electronics and has been under intensive development since the 1990s. Essentially, it allows precise manipulation of minuscule fluid volumes down to one trillionth of a liter or less to carry out multiple laboratory functions, such as sample purification, running of chemical and biological reactions, and analytical measurement.”

Zeng and his fellow researchers have developed the lab-on-a-chip for early detection of lung cancer — the number-one cancer killer in the U.S. Today, lung cancer is detected mostly with an invasive biopsy, after tumors are larger than 3 centimeters in diameter and even metastatic, according to the KU researcher.

Using the lab-on-a-chip, lung cancer could be detected much earlier, using only a small drop of a patient’s blood.

“Most lung cancers are first diagnosed based on symptoms, which indicate that the normal lung functions have been already damaged,” Zeng said. “Unlike some cancer types such as breast or colon cancer, no widely accepted screening tool has been available for detecting early-stage lung cancers. Diagnosis of lung cancer requires removing a piece of tissue from the lung for molecular examination. Tumor biopsy is often impossible for early cancer diagnosis as the developing tumor is too small to see by the current imaging tools. In contrast, our blood-based test is minimally invasive, inexpensive, and more sensitive, thus suitable for large population screening to detect early-stage tumors.”

Zeng said the prototype lab-on-a-chip is made of a widely used silicone rubber called polydimethylsiloxane and uses a technique called “on-chip immunoisolation.”

“We used magnetic beads of 3 micrometers in diameter to pull down the exosomes in plasma samples,” Zeng said. “In order to avoid other interfering species present in plasma, the bead surface was chemically modified with an antibody that recognizes and binds with a specific target protein — for example, a protein receptor — present on the exosome membrane. The plasma containing magnetic beads then flows through the microchannels on the diagnostic chip in which the beads can be readily collected using a magnet to extract circulating exosomes from the plasma.”

Beyond lung cancer, Zeng said the lab-on-a-chip could be used to detect a range of potentially deadly forms of cancer.

“Our technique provides a general platform to detecting tumor-derived exosomes for cancer diagnosis,” he said. “In addition to lung cancer, we’ve also tested for ovarian cancer in this work. In theory, it should be applicable to other types of cancer. Our long-term goal is to translate this technology into clinical investigation of the pathological implication of exosomes in tumor development. Such knowledge would help develop better predictive biomarkers and more efficient targeted therapy to improve the clinical outcome.”

Zeng’s collaborators on the investigation were Mei He, Jennifer Crow, Marc Roth and Andrew K. Godwin of the Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine at the University of Kansas Medical Center.

The research by Zeng and his KU colleagues recently merited a $640,000 grant from the National Cancer Institute at the National Institutes of Health, intended to further develop the lab-on-a-chip technology.

SEMI recently completed its annual silicon shipment forecast for the semiconductor industry. This forecast provides an outlook for the demand in silicon units for the period 2014-–2016. The results show polished and epitaxial silicon shipments totaling 9,410 million square inches in 2014; 9,840 million square inches in 2015; and 10,163 million square inches in 2016 (refer to table below). Total wafer shipments this year are expected to finally exceed the market high set in 2010 and are forecast to continue shipping at record levels in 2015 and 2016.

“Silicon shipment levels are robust this year,” said Denny McGuirk, president and CEO of SEMI.  “We expect silicon shipment volume to set a record high this year, followed by two consecutive years of growth.”

2014 Silicon Shipment Forecast

Total Electronic Grade Silicon Slices* – Does not Include Non-Polished

(Millions of Square Inches)

 

Actual

Forecast
 

2012

2013

2014F

2015F

2016F
MSI

8,814

8,834

9,410

9,840

10,163
Annual Growth

0%

0%

7%

5%

3%

*Shipments are for semiconductor applications only and do not include solar applications

Silicon wafers are the fundamental building material for semiconductors, which in turn, are vital components of virtually all electronics goods, including computers, telecommunications products, and consumer electronics. The highly-engineered thin round disks are produced in various diameters (from one inch to 12 inches) and serve as the substrate material on which most semiconductor devices or “chips” are fabricated.

All data cited in this release is inclusive of polished silicon wafers, including virgin test wafers and epitaxial silicon wafers shipped by the wafer manufacturers to the end-users. Data do not include non-polished or reclaimed wafers.

The Silicon Manufacturers Group acts as an independent special interest group within the SEMI structure and is open to SEMI members involved in manufacturing polycrystalline silicon, monocrystalline silicon or silicon wafers (e.g., as cut, polished, epi, etc.). The purpose of the group is to facilitate collective efforts on issues related to the silicon industry including the development of market information and statistics about the silicon industry and the semiconductor market.

SEMICON Europa will feature semiconductor device technology for a wide range of applications, equipment, materials, services and will provide access to critical information relative to device manufacturing, partnership opportunities, next-generation fab requirements  and funding. The event will be held in France (7-9 October in Grenoble) for the first time with an expanded exhibition (25 percent larger). The opportunities and challenges in microelectronics will be discussed in more than 70 sessions with 300 speakers.

Global capital spending on semiconductor equipment is projected to grow  21.1 percent in 2014 and 21.0 percent in 2015. According to the August edition of the SEMI World Fab Forecast, semiconductor equipment spending will increase from $29 billion in 2013 to $42 billion in 2015.

SEMI projects back-to-back years of double-digit growth in Europe and Mid-East semiconductor equipment sales. The SEMI outlook forecasts that the European/Mid-East semiconductor equipment market will grow 11 percent in 2014 (reaching $1.9 billion) and 100 percent in 2015 (reaching $3.8 billion). In terms of percentage of worldwide sales, the Europe/MidEast region’s share is expected to increase from 5.9 percent in 2013 to 9.0 percent in 2015.

The event offers several semiconductor Front-End manufacturing highlights, including the 18th Fab Managers Forum, which is themed “Improving Productivity for Mature Fabs.” Speakers from IMEC, Infineon AG, and Bosch will present on Internet of Things, Automation Level in Fabs, and Smart Connected Sensor Devices. The prospect for future 450mm wafer processing, as well other technical and business challenges in semiconductor and related micro and nano-electronics industries, will be addressed at SEMICON Europa.

In the two-day special program, “450mm Innovations and Synergies for Smaller Diameters,” leaders will present on progress, research, and collaboration on the future of the semiconductor manufacturing. The session includes presentations from Global 450 Consortium, European Commission, ASM Europe BV, and RECIF Technologies.

In addition, a Secondary Equipment Session, themed “Fundamental to European Competitiveness?”, features presentations from  Infineon Technologies AG, STMicroelectronics, and Robert Bosch GmbH.

Other conference programs at SEMICON Europa will explore critical issues in Fab Management, Advanced Packaging, 3DIC, Test and MEMS. In addition, SEMICON Europa this year features a special focus on Electronic Applications (Imaging Conference and Nanoelectronics for Healthcare Conference) and Electronic Components (Low Power Conference and Power Electronics Conference).

Now in its third decade, SEMICON Europa’s new location this year leverages the growing strengths of Grenoble’s technology businesses, academia and institutions  to showcase a diverse array of products, solutions and opportunities spanning the most advanced innovations in the European microelectronics industry.  For more information on exhibition opportunities, visit www.semiconeuropa.org.  For more information on SEMI Europe, visit: www.semi.org/eu.

SEMICON Europa 2014 will be held on 7-9 October in conjunction with the Plastics Electronics Conference and Exhibition (www.plastic-electronics.org) to showcase Europe’s most innovative companies, institutions and people.

By Christian Gregor Dieseldorff, Industry Research & Statistics, SEMI (September 8, 2014)

The general consensus for the semiconductor industry is for this year’s positive trend to continue into 2015 as both revenue growth and unit shipment growth are expected to be in the mid- to high- single digit range. SEMI just published the World Fab Forecast report at the end of August, listing major investments for 216 facilities in 2014 and over 200 projects in 2015.  The report predicts growth of 21% for Front End fab equipment spending in 2014 (including new, used, and in-house), for total spending of US$34.9 billion, with current scenarios ranging from 19% to 24%.

Front end fab equipment spending is projected to grow another 20% in 2015 to $42 billion.  According to the SEMI World Fab Forecast data, this means that 2015 spending could mark a historical record high, surpassing the previous peak years of 2007 ($39 billion) and 2011 ($40 billion).

About 90% of all equipment spending is for 300mm fabs, and, interestingly, the report also shows increased fab equipment spending for 200mm facilities, growing by 10% in 2014.  Equipment spending for wafer sizes less than 200mm is also expected to grow by a healthy 12% in 2015 which includes LEDs and MEMS fabs.

According to the World Fab Forecast, the five regions spending the most in 2014 will be Taiwan ($9.7 billion), Americas ($7.8 billion), Korea ($6.8 billion), China ($4.6 billion), and Japan ($1.9 billion). In 2015, the same regions will lead: Taiwan ($12 billion), Korea ($8 billion), Americas ($7.9 billion), China ($5 billion), and Japan ($4.2 billion). Spending in Europe is expected to nearly double to $3.8 billion.

Seven companies are expected to spend $2 billion or more in 2014, representing almost 80% of all fab equipment spending for Front End facilities. A similar pattern will prevail in 2015.

Worldwide installed capacity falls below 3% mark

World_fab_chart

Figure 1 illustrates fab equipment spending since 2003 and the change of installed capacity (excluding Discretes and LEDs).

As Figure 1 illustrates, before the last economic downturn, most equipment spending was for adding new capacity. The World Fab Forecast report shows that in 2010 and 2011, fab equipment spending growth rates increased dramatically, but installed capacity grew by only 7% in both years. Then in 2012 and 2013, growth for installed capacity sagged even further with only 2% and even less growth. Previously, growth rates less than 2% have been observed only during severe economic downturns (2001 and 2009).

Industry segments, such as foundries, see continuous capacity expansion, though other segments show much lower growth — thus pulling down the total global growth rate for installed capacity to below the 3% mark. Although spending on equipment, some leading-edge product segments experience a loss of fab capacity and, looking closer at this phenomenon, two major trends are observed.

First, coming out of the 2009 downturn, SEMI reports that companies are spending much more on upgrading existing fabs.  From 2005-2008, yearly average spending on upgrading technology was about $6 billion compared to the period of 2011-2015 when the yearly average increased to $14 billion for upgrading existing fabs.  Second, leading-edge fabs experience a loss of capacity when transitioning to leading-edge technology. This is largely observed with nodes below 30/28nm with the increasing complexity and process steps resulting in a -8% to -15% reduction in capacity for fabs.

In addition to foundries, the World Fab Forecast report captures capacities across all industry segments as well as System LSI, Analog, Power, MEMS, LED, Memory and Logic/MPUs. The Logic/MPU sector is also expected to see some positive capacity expansion for 2014 and 2015. Flash capacity is expected to increase by 4% in 2014. Although we see more DRAM capacity coming online, DRAM is now slowly coming out of declining territory with -3% in 2014 and reaching close to zero by end of 2015.

More DRAM capacity?

Over the past three to four years, some major players (such as Samsung, Micron, and SK Hynix) have switched fabs from DRAM to System LSI or Flash.  In addition, other companies stopped DRAM production of some fabs completely, contributing to declining DRAM capacity. Equipment spending levels for DRAM fabs in 2012 and 2013 were near the $4 billion mark annually and are described by some industry observers as being at “maintenance level.”  Increased spending is expected for DRAM in 2014 and 2015, yet although more capacity is being added — the rates are still negative until the end of 2015.  See Figure 2.

Figure 2: Fab equipment spending is compared to the change rate of capacity for DRAM.

Figure 2: Fab equipment spending is compared to the change rate of capacity for DRAM.

As discussed above, SEMI reports that leading-edge DRAM fabs undergo a double-digit capacity loss when upgraded due to an increase in processing steps and complexity. Since the end of last year, Samsung is in the process of adding additional DRAM capacity with two new lines — Line 16 (ramping up this year) and its new Line 17 (the first new DRAM fab ramped since the last economic downturn). In addition SK Hynix is ramping up its M14 DRAM line in 2016. We expect the impact to overall DRAM capacity expansion to occur in 2015 when this fab begins to ramp up. Even if this fab ramps to about half of its potential, the change rate for installed DRAM capacity would still not be positive by end of next year.

Over $6 billion for Fab construction projects

The SEMI World Fab Forecast also provides detailed data about fab construction projects underway. Construction spending is expected to total $6.7 billion in 2014 and over $5 billion in 2015.  Leading regions in spending for 2014 will be Taiwan, Americas, and Korea.  In 2015, the highest spending will be seen in Europe/Mideast, followed by Taiwan and Japan.

Only five companies show strong spending numbers for new fabs or refurbishing existing fabs. Their combined fab construction spending accounts for 88% of all worldwide fab construction spending for Front End facilities.

In 2014, the SEMI report shows 16 new fab construction projects (six alone for 300mm) and 10 fab construction project in 2015 (four for 300mm). Most construction spending in 2014 is for Foundries ($3.1 billion) followed by Memory ($2.5 billion) and Logic. In 2015, Memory will have most spending with ($2.3 billion) closely followed by Foundries ($2.2 billion).

The report lists currently 1150 facilities with 68 future facilities with various probabilities which have started or will start volume production in 2014 or later. See Figure 3.

Figure 3: Count of known facilities (Volume fabs to R&D) in the World Fab Forecast report with various probabilities which are expected to start production in 2014 to 2020.

Figure 3: Count of known facilities (Volume fabs to R&D) in the World Fab Forecast report with various probabilities which are expected to start production in 2014 to 2020.

As it looks right now, SEMI reports that the outlook is positive for 2014 for the chip-making industry compared to the previous few years and the outlook for 2015 also remains healthy.  However, given the current investment trends for spending at the advanced technology nodes and the decline in construction related activity, we continue to expect worldwide capacity expansion to remain in the low-single digits in the next three to five years.

SEMI World Fab Forecast Report

The SEMI World Fab Forecast uses a bottom-up approach methodology, providing high-level summaries and graphs, and in-depth analyses of capital expenditures, capacities, technology and products by fab. Additionally, the database provides forecasts for the next 18 months by quarter. These tools are invaluable for understanding how the semiconductor manufacturing will look in 2014 and 2015, and learning more about capex for construction projects, fab equipping, technology levels, and products.

The SEMI Worldwide Semiconductor Equipment Market Subscription (WWSEMS) data tracks only new equipment for fabs and test and assembly and packaging houses.  The SEMI World Fab Forecast and its related Fab Database reports track any equipment needed to ramp fabs, upgrade technology nodes, and expand or change wafer size, including new equipment, used equipment, or in-house equipment. Also check out the Opto/LED Fab Forecast. Learn more about the SEMI fab databases at: www.semi.org/MarketInfo/FabDatabase and www.youtube.com/user/SEMImktstats

 

BY TOM QUAN, Deputy Director, TSMC

The Prophets of Doom greet every new process node with a chorus of dire warnings about the end of scaling, catastrophic thermal effects, parasitics run amok and . . . you know the rest. The fact that they have been wrong for decades has not diminished their enthusiasm for criticism, and we should expect to hear from them again with the move to 10nm design.

Like any advanced technology transition, 10nm will be challenging, but we need it to happen. Design and process innovation march hand in hand to fuel the remarkable progress of the worldwide electronics industry, clearly demonstrated by the evolution of mobile phones since their introduction (FIGURE 1).

FIGURE 1. The evolution of mobile phones since their introduction.

FIGURE 1. The evolution of mobile phones since their introduction.

Each generation gets harder. There are two different sets of challenges included with a new process node: the process technology issues and the ecosystem issues.

Process technology challenges include:

  • Lithography: continue to scale to 193nm immersion
  • Device: continue to deliver 25-30% speed gain at the same or reduced power
  • Interconnect: address escalating parasitics
  • Production: ramp volume in time to meet end-customer demand
  • Integration of multiple technologies for future systems

Ecosystem challenges include:

  • Quality: optimize design trade-off to best utilize technology
  • Complexity: tackle rising technology and design complexity
  • Schedule: shortened development runway to meet product market window

Adding to these challenges at 10nm is that things get a whole lot more expensive, threatening to upset the traditional benefits of Moore’s Law. We can overcome the technical hurdles but at what cost? At 10nm and below from a process point of view, we can provide PPA improvements but development costs will be high so we need to find the best solutions. Every penny will count at 7nm and 10nm.

FIGURE 2. A new design ecosystem collaboration model is needed due to increasing complexity and shrinking development runways.

FIGURE 2. A new design ecosystem collaboration model is needed due to increasing complexity and shrinking development runways.

Design used to be fairly straightforward for a given technology. The best local optimum was also the best overall optimum: shortest wire length is best; best gate-density equates to the best area scaling; designing on best technology results in the best cost. But these rules no longer apply. For example, sub-10nm issues test conventional wisdom since globalized effects can no longer be resolved by localized approaches. Everything has to be co-optimized; to keep PPA scaling at 10nm and beyond requires tighter integration between process, design, EDA and IP. Increasing complexity and shrinking development runways call for a new design ecosystem collaboration model (FIGURE 2).

Our research and pathfinding teams have been working on disruptive new transistor architectures and materials beyond HKMG and FinFET to enable further energy efficient CMOS scaling. In the future, gate-all-around or narrow wire transistor could be the ultimate device structure. High mobility Ge and III-V channel materials are promising for 0.5V and below operations.

Scaling in the sub-10nm era is more challenging and costly than ever, presenting real opportunities for out-of-box thinking and approaches within the design ecosystem. There is also great promise in wafer-level integration of multiple technologies, paving the way for future systems beyond SoC.

A strong, comprehensive and collaborative ecosystem is the best way to unleash our collective power to turn the designer’s vision into reality.

United Microelectronics Corporation (UMC) and Fujitsu Semiconductor Limited today announced an agreement for UMC to become a minority shareholder of a newly formed subsidiary of Fujitsu Semiconductor that will include its 300mm wafer manufacturing facility located in Kuwana, Mie, Japan. UMC’s advanced 40nm technology will be also licensed to Fujitsu Semiconductor. The Company will provide high quality foundry services to customers by combining Fujitsu Semiconductor’s low power process and embedded-memory technology with UMC’s foundry expertise and advanced process technology. Under the terms of the agreement, UMC will invest JPY 5 billion as an initial investment by which UMC will subscribe for approximately 9.3% of the Company’s shares.

Po Wen Yen, CEO of UMC, said, “We are continuously exploring ways to expand our operations to increase our customers’ competitiveness while also delivering maximum value to our stakeholders. Partnering with a leading Japanese semiconductor company like Fujitsu Semiconductor for a local joint venture will not only offset the time, risk and cost of building a new fab, but also provide access to another 300mm manufacturing source in addition to UMC’s own 300mm operations in Taiwan and Singapore. With three 300mm operations in different regions throughout Asia, both parties will hold unique positions to be able to serve customers looking to mitigate manufacturing risk, such as Japan’s automotive chip makers, who vigorously seek suppliers that implement robust business continuity plans (BCP). UMC will also be able to leverage this strategic partnership to gain new foundry business within the Japanese market.”

Haruki Okada, President of Fujitsu Semiconductor, said, “Fujitsu has been in search of a partner with whom to jointly operate a new foundry company based on its Mie 300mm wafer fab. I am pleased to announce that Fujitsu Semiconductor and UMC, a leading global semiconductor foundry, have entered into the joint venture agreement. Since Fujitsu Semiconductor and UMC have built up a good relationship while Fujitsu Semiconductor has outsourced its products to UMC for years, I am confident that the joint venture will succeed. The joint venture will provide excellent foundry services to customers, based on a wide variety of CMOS technologies with highly-skilled process developing and porting ability, the 40nm process technology licensed by UMC and high quality manufacturing system certified by automotive customers. I am expecting that the joint venture will be not only one of the best foundry companies in the world, but also a bridge between Taiwan and Japan.”

UMC will license its 40LP (Low Power) process technology to Fujitsu Semiconductor as an expanded process offering for the Company and contribute capital to expand the Company’s 40nm manufacturing capacity. The products currently manufactured by Fujitsu Semiconductor at Mie Fab will be manufactured and delivered by the Company to customers including Fujitsu Semiconductor.

Through this partnership, the new Japan-based joint venture will aim to expand its business globally as a pure-play foundry company by strengthening its production and development capability as well as cost competitiveness.

MEMSIC, Inc., a MEMS sensing solution provider, announced today the availability of its MXC400xXC, the world’s first monolithic 3D accelerometer, and also the first 3D accelerometer to utilize WLP technology. The technology breakthrough in combining the 3D IC sensor with full WLP translates directly to a 60% reduction in cost and a 50% reduction in size, enabling a new generation of mobile consumer devices including phones, tablets, toys and wearable devices.

The key to this breakthrough is MEMSIC’s proprietary and patented thermal accelerometer technology, in which the MEMS sensor structure is etched directly into standard CMOS wafers, enabling the world’s only CMOS monolithic solution. This technique uses thermal convection of heated gas molecules inside a sealed cavity to sense acceleration or inclination, and has been used for many years in MEMSIC’s products for automotive stability control and rollover detection, digital cameras, projectors and many other applications. MEMSIC’s designers have now taken the technology to a new level by combining 3D sensing with full WLP while keeping the same small size and low cost.

The MXC400xXC offers a number of benefits to system designers of space- and cost-sensitive consumer devices. In addition to offering the world’s lowest cost, the device provides 12-bit resolution on all three axes, programmable FSR of ±2g/±4g/ ±8g, an 8-bit temperature output, plus orientation/shake detection. With a package size of 1.2 x 1.7 mm, board space is reduced by 50% over industry-standard 2×2 mm solutions. And like all MEMSIC thermal accelerometers, the MXC400xXC has no moving parts, making the sensor structure extremely robust to shock and vibration (withstands shock in excess of 200,000g with no change in sensor performance). This is critically important to wearable and many consumer applications.

Dr. Yang Zhao, MEMSIC CEO and Founder, commented “While we have been supplying thermal accelerometers for more than a decade, the MXC400xXC is a real breakthrough in sensor design, signal processing architecture and MEMS WLP. This is the industry’s first and only monolithic 3D accelerometer with full WLP technology, enabling us to achieve a new level of size and cost, which are critical for mobile consumer devices.”

The global pressure sensors market was valued at $6.53 billion USD in 2013, growing at a CAGR of 6.2% from 2014 to 2020 to account for $9.36 billion USD in 2020, according to a new market report published by Transparency Market Research “Pressure Sensors Market – Global Industry Analysis, Size, Share, Growth, Trends and Forecast, 2014 – 2020.”

The pressure sensors market is primarily driven by growing demand from the automotive sector. With the increase in production of motor vehicles across the globe, the demand for automotive pressure sensors has grown substantially. In addition, government regulations mandating the use of pressure sensors in automobiles have contributed to the growth in demand for pressure sensors worldwide. With the adoption of technologies, such as Microelectromechanical systems (MEMS), the demand for pressure sensor has augmented to a large extent. The development of smart city infrastructures in the Middle East and Asia Pacific region is also influencing the overall growth of pressure sensors market.

Piezoresistive pressure sensors held the largest market revenue share accounting to $1.82 billion in 2014 and are expected to remain so during the forecast period. Demand for piezoresistive pressure sensors is attributed to their wide range of applications in automotive and medical sectors. Growing automobile production and rapid industrialization in the emerging economies of Asia-Pacific is also expected to drive the growth in pressure sensors market over the forecast period from 2014 to 2020.

The automotive segment led the pressure sensors market in 2014 accounting for $1.69 billion. The dominance of this segment is due to the rise in production of motor vehicles across the globe which has increased by 3.7% in 2013 as compared to the previous year. Consumer electronics is analyzed to be the fastest growing application segment for pressure sensors and is expected to attain a significant growth in the recent future. Consumer electronics segment is expected to grow at a CAGR of 6.9% over the forecast period from 2014 to 2020.

Geographically, Asia Pacific led the pressure sensors market in 2014 and the region is expected to continue its dominance over the forecast period. The region’s dominance is due to increasing production of motor vehicles in countries such as Japan, South Korea, China, and India. Moreover, rapid level of industrialization in this region is also contributing to the growth of pressure sensors market. North America and Europe followed Asia Pacific in the global pressure sensors market and collectively accounted for more than half of the global market revenue share.