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Luc Van den Hove, president and CEO of imec

Luc Van den Hove, president and CEO of imec

SEMI today announced that Luc Van den hove, president and CEO of imec, has been selected as the 2018 recipient of the SEMI Sales and Marketing Excellence Award, inspired by Bob Graham. He will be honored for outstanding achievement in semiconductor equipment and materials marketing during ceremonies at ISS 2018 on January 17 in Half Moon Bay, California.

Van den hove will receive the 21st SEMI Sales and Marketing Excellence Award for his contributions and leadership in consortia that made the imec model of collaborative research using pooled infrastructure self-sustaining. The model enables companies of all sizes and position in the value chain to participate in collaborative research that advances industry technology.

Inspired by the power of technology to improve lives, Van den hove transformed research from its focus on participation cost to an emphasis on collaboration to produce greater value. Under his leadership, imec brings together brilliant minds from established companies, startups and academia worldwide to work in a creative and stimulating environment with imec serving as their trusted partner. imec’s international research and development drives innovations in nanoelectronics and digital technologies by leveraging its world-class infrastructure and local and global ecosystem of diverse partners to accelerate progress towards a connected, sustainable future. Van den hove joined imec in 1984 and has led the technology innovation hub since 2009.

“Luc Van den hove is recognized both for his innovative marketing leadership and his resolve to deepen industry collaboration for the common good. Today, SEMI and its membership honor Van den hove for his contributions to the success of the semiconductor manufacturing industry,” said Ajit Manocha, president and CEO of SEMI.

The SEMI Sales and Marketing Excellence Award was inspired by the late Bob Graham, the distinguished semiconductor industry leader, who was a member of the founding team of Intel. Graham also helped establish industry-leading companies such as Applied Materials and Novellus Systems. The Award was established to honor individuals for the creation and/or implementation of marketing programs that enhance customer satisfaction and further the growth of the semiconductor equipment and materials industry.

Eligible candidates are nominated by their industry peers and selected after due diligence by an award committee. Previous recipients of this SEMI award include: Toshio Maruyama (2017), Jim Bowen (2016), Terry (Tetsuro) Higashi (2015), Winfried Kaiser (2014), Joung Cho (JC) Kim (2013), G. Dan Hutcheson (2012), Franz Janker (2011), Martin van den Brink (2010), Peter Hanley (2009), Richard Hong (2008), Richard E. Dyck (2007), Aubrey (Bill) C. Tobey (2006), Archie Hwang (2005), Edward Braun (2004), Shigeru (Steve) Nakayama (2003), Jerry Hutcheson and Ed Segal (2002), Jim Healy and Barry Rapozo (2001), and Art Zafiropoulo (2000).

Boston Semi Equipment (BSE), a global semiconductor test handler manufacturer and provider of test automation technical services, announced today that it has received a multisystem order for its Zeus gravity feed systems for handling pressure MEMS devices. The order was placed by a leading manufacturer of tire pressure monitoring system sensors, which selected BSE’s Zeus pressure MEMS solution based on its higher throughput capability.

“This order demonstrates how our innovative MEMS solution is being recognized by the market as a superior alternative for its pressure MEMS testing needs,” said Mike Kerrigan, vice president of sales for BSE. “Our solution dramatically improves throughput by achieving our customers’ desired pressure set points faster and more accurately than others, which in turn makes Zeus’ pressure test handler for MEMS devices a winning investment.”

The Zeus system is a tri-temperature handler that can be configured with up to eight test sites. Cold temperature testing is achieved using LN2 or a BSE-designed, two-stage chiller, the MR2. Zeus offers the features and performance needed by today’s test cells at a more affordable price point.

By Emir Demircan, Senior Manager Advocacy and Public Policy, SEMI Europe

Electronic manufacturing is becoming cool to today’s youth. STEM skills are hot in the global job market – though the number of females pursuing a STEM education continues to lag. Work-based learning is key to mastering new technologies. And the electronics industry needs a global talent pipeline more than ever.

These were key highlights from a SEMI Member Forum in December that brought together industry representatives and students in Dresden to weigh in on job-skills challenges facing the electronics manufacturers and solutions for the industry to consider. Here are the takeaways:

1) Electronics is much more than manufacturing

For many years, working in the manufacturing industry was not an appealing prospect for millennials. This picture is certainly changing. The pivotal role of electronics manufacturing in helping solve grand societal challenges in areas such as the environment, healthcare and urban mobility is reaffirmed by countries around the world. Electronics is the lifeblood of game-changing technologies such as autonomous driving, AI, IoT, and VR/AR, enticing more young employees into careers in research, design, technology development, production, cyber security and international business, and in disciplines ranging from engineering and data analytics to software development and cyber security.

What’s more, the drudgery of many factory jobs is disappearing thanks to automation, digitization and robotization. According to CEDEFOP, the European Centre for the Development of Vocational Training, low-skilled jobs in electro-engineering and machine operations/assembly in the European Union (EU) is projected to decrease 6.98 percent and 2.03 percent, respectively, between 2015 and 2025.

In parallel, the industry will need more high-skilled workers. For instance, within the same period, CEDEFOP forecasts a 12.51 percent increase in jobs for EU researchers and engineers. Soft skills will see high demand too. As the electronics industry continues to globalize and drive the integration of vertical technologies, workers proficient in communicating in an international environment, leading multicultural teams, developing tailor-made solutions and making data-driven decisions will see higher demand.

2) STEM skills will remain under the spotlight

Continuous innovation is the oxygen of the electronics manufacturing industry, powering the development of highly customized solutions by workers with technical expertise in chemistry, materials, design, mechanics, production and many other fields. In addition, capabilities such as smart manufacturing require workers with growing technical sophistication in areas such as software, information and communications technology (ICT) and data analytics, stiffening the challenge the electronics industry faces in finding skilled workers. Little wonder that employers in Europe struggle to build a workforce with the right technical expertise. The findings of the study “Encouraging STEM Studies for the Labour Market” conducted by the European Parliament underscores the difficulty of hiring enough workers with adequate STEM skills:

  • The proportion of STEM students is not rising at the European level and the underrepresentation of women persists.
  • Businesses are expected to produce about 7 million new STEM jobs, an uptick of 8 percent, between 2013 and 2025 in Europe.

3) The women-in-tech gap is becoming more persistent 

The global manufacturing industry suffers from strikingly low female participation in STEM education and careers. According to UNSECO, in Europe and North America, the number of female graduates in STEM is generally low. For instance, women make up just 19 percent of engineers in Germany and the U.S. The European Parliament study confirms that STEM employment remains stubbornly male-dominated, with women filling just 24 percent of science and engineering jobs and 15 percent of science and engineering associate positions in Europe. According to an article by Guardian, a mere 16 percent of computer science undergraduates in the United Kingdom and the U.S. are female. This yawning gender gap is a deep concern for electronics manufacturing companies in Europe, hampering innovation in a sector that relies heavily on diversity and inclusion and shrinks the talent pipeline critical to remaining competitive.

4) Coping with new technologies: work-based learning is the key

The evolution of the electronics industry since the 1980s has been swift. PCs emerged largely as islands of communication, then became networked. Networking bred the proliferation of social platforms and mobile devices and, today, is giving rise to IoT. Education curricula in Europe, however, have not matured at the same pace, opening a gap between the worlds of industry and education and imposing a formidable school-to-work transition for many young graduates. Work-based learning, which helps students develop the knowledge and practical job skills needed by business, is one solution. The industry reports that work-based learning is vital to remaining competitive in the long run. Innovative dual-learning programmes, apprenticeships and industrial master’s and doctorates are shining examples that are already paying off in some parts of Europe. Such work-based learning models can be extended as a common pillar of education in Europe.

5) A global industry needs a global talent pipeline

The electronics value chain workforce needs an international and multicultural talent pipeline, chiefly spanning the U.S., Europe and Asia. However, many European manufacturers, in particular small and medium enterprises (SMEs), report that building an international workforce remains a challenge due to employment and immigration law barriers as well as cultural and linguistic differences. The EU’s Blue Card initiative, designed to facilitate hiring beyond Europe, is a step in the right direction. Nevertheless, with the exception of Germany, EU member states have made little or no use of the EU Blue Card scheme.

SEMI drives sector-wide initiatives on workforce development

Understanding the urgency, SEMI is accelerating its workforce development activities at global level. Contributing to this initiative, the SEMI talent pipeline Forum in Dresden served as an effective platform for the industry to share its challenges and opportunities with students at various education levels. Led by industry representatives, the sessions enabled the exchange of workforce-development best practices and paved the way for further collaboration among industry, academia and government in Europe. For example, in the Career Café session, students networked with hiring managers. Other workforce development initiatives include:

To help position the skills challenges faced by SEMI members high on the public policy agenda, SEMI in 2017 joined several policy groups including Digital Skills and Jobs Coalition and Expert Group on High-Tech Skills. Last year SEMI also launched Women in Tech, an initiative that convenes industry leaders to help increase female representation in the sector. SEMI also educates its members about key EU resources such as the Blue Card and Digital Opportunity Internship programmes aimed at hiring international talent. In 2018, SEMI will reach out to even more young people through its High Tech U programme to raise awareness of careers in electronics. SEMICON Europa 2018 will host dedicated talent pipeline sessions to help the industry tackle its skills challenges. ISS Europe 2018 sessions on Gaining, Training and Retaining World Class Talent will disseminate best practices to the wider industry. Also this year, SEMI Europe plans to start a new advisory group, “Workforce 4.0,” dedicated to bringing together human resources leaders in the sector to give the electronics manufacturing industry a stronger voice on workforce development.

 

ON Semiconductor (Nasdaq: ON) has announced a strategic collaboration with ConvenientPower Systems (CPS) whereby CPS will design, develop and market in-vehicle wireless charging solutions using ON Semiconductor’s NCV6500 application dedicated, power management controller.

The combined initiative is based around a single architecture that is scalable for multiple devices and coils to 15 W. A novel and patented technique for Foreign Object Detection (FOD) ensures safe operation, while the broad charging field provides a true “drop-and-charge” experience for users.

ON Semiconductor’s NCV6500 power management controller provides the essential building block for inductive charging that is compliant with both Qi and PMA standards. Operating from a single 5 V supply, the NCV6500 includes five differential and single-ended operational amplifiers, as well as two comparators with hysteresis and deglitch.

Based upon full NMOS H-bridge drivers, the NCV6500 has on-chip clock generation, including phase shifting and duty cycle control. The device also incorporates significant and important protection features such as coil voltage sense, bridge current sense, and over voltage and over current protection.

Commenting on the announcement, Majid Kafi, Senior Director and General Manager of System Power Solutions at ON Semiconductor, said: “ON Semiconductor has invested heavily in wireless charging, especially in multi-protocol solutions around the 15 W sweet spot within this market. Through this collaboration with CPS we will merge our significant energy efficiency expertise and strength in ASICs with CPS’s system knowledge to provide a total solution that is very firmly focused on meeting the exacting needs of the automotive sector. More than just an ASIC, our solution will combine best-in-class FOD, authentication and firmware support.”

“Integration of in-vehicle wireless power requires a proven track record of technology innovation and safety performance,” said Camille Tang, President, ConvenientPower Systems. “We are delighted that together with ON Semiconductor’s leadership in chip technology, production and distribution, we accelerate further integration and optimization of automotive wireless charging platform performance.”

Combined coil module (Qi) simulation and preliminary sampling, as well as a comprehensive evaluation board, are expected to be available from January 2018 to further simplify the rapid development of wireless charging applications.

A demonstration of the NCV6500 wireless charging technology will be available at ON Semiconductor’s demo room (Venetian 3302) at the 2018 Consumer Electronics Show, January 9–12 in Las Vegas, NV.

Arrow Electronics, Inc. (NYSE:ARW) announced today the successful completion of its acquisition of eInfochips, one of the world’s largest design and managed services companies.

eInfochips is headquartered in San Jose, Calif., with locations in India and Europe, and has 1,500 IoT solution architects, engineers, and software development resources globally. eInfochips’ breadth of capabilities spans chip design, to product and IoT solution delivery, and across many industries, from retail and consumer, to industrial automation, healthcare, and aerospace.

Arrow Electronics (www.arrow.com) is a global provider of products, services and solutions to industrial and commercial users of electronic components and enterprise computing solutions. Arrow serves as a supply channel partner for more than 125,000 original equipment manufacturers, contract manufacturers and commercial customers through a global network of more than 465 locations in 90 countries.

Semtech Corporation (Nasdaq:SMTC), a supplier of high performance analog and mixed-signal semiconductors and advanced algorithms, today announced Chris Chang has joined the Company as Senior Vice President, Corporate Marketing and Business Development. In this newly-created role, he is leading corporate marketing, driving strategic growth initiatives and overseeing China operations.

Prior to joining Semtech, Mr. Chang was Chief Executive Officer at Alien Technology Corporation, a global leader in RFID technology. As CEO, he successfully executed a turnaround in the company’s financial performance, drove double digit revenue growth and profitability while simultaneously achieving historical sales records by accelerating expansion in the U.S., China, and Europe markets. Mr. Chang has also held key executive positions in sales and finance functions at other prominent high technology corporations including Marvell, AMD, Silicon Graphics, and Eastman Kodak.

“With Chris’ extensive expertise in marketing and business development, he will drive Semtech’s growth as we develop new products and establish new markets,” said Mohan Maheswaran, Semtech’s President and CEO. “Chris shares our values and our focus on innovation, and has shown to be an extraordinary leader throughout his career.”

“Joining Semtech is an honor and I look forward to working with our global team to further grow and expand our markets,” said Chris Chang, Senior Vice President, Corporate Marketing and Business Development at Semtech. “I have always admired Semtech’s outstanding business achievements and superior corporate culture and will use my industry expertise to help contribute to the Company’s continued success and market leadership.”

GLOBALFOUNDRIES and STMicroelectronics (NYSE: STM) today announced that ST has selected GF’s 22nm FD-SOI (22FDX) technology platform to support its next-generation of processor solutions for industrial and consumer applications.

After deploying the industry’s first 28nm FD-SOI technology platform, ST is extending its commitment and roadmap by adopting GF’s production-ready 22FDX process and ecosystem to deliver second-generation FD-SOI solutions for the intelligent systems of tomorrow.

“FD-SOI is ideally suited for cost-sensitive applications requiring significant processing and connectivity capabilities at lower power consumption,” said Joël Hartmann, Executive Vice President, Digital Front-End Manufacturing and Technology, STMicroelectronics. “The cost-effective performance and best-in-class energy efficiency benefits of GF’s 22FDX platform, coupled with ST’s extensive design experience and IP base in FD-SOI, will enable our customers with unparalleled value for power, performance and cost. We are relying on GF’s Dresden site for manufacturing products using this technology.”

“ST has established a strong track record with FD-SOI technology,” said Alain Mutricy, senior vice president of product management at GF. “The addition of GF’s 22FDX platform, coupled with ST’s long history of pioneering new technologies and products, will enable the two companies to deliver differentiated FD-SOI products at the 22nm node.”

As a complementary path to FinFETs, GF’s versatile FDX platform offers the ability to integrate digital, analog, and RF functions onto a single chip, which allows customers to design intelligent and fully-integrated system solutions. The technology is uniquely suited for chips that require performance on demand and energy efficiency at the lowest solution cost, making it ideal for a broad range of applications, from intelligent clients and wireless connectivity to artificial intelligence and smart vehicles.

After several years of close partnership, SEMI and the Fab Owners Association (FOA) have fully integrated. Driving manufacturing efficiencies remains the overriding purpose of the FOA – where the “A” now stands for “Alliance.”  With FOA’s integration with SEMI, the association will leverage SEMI’s global infrastructure and connections to over 2,000 members around the world to extend its platforms for collaborative networking and benchmarking manufacturing operations.

“FOA members operate some of the most innovative and efficient fabrication facilities and are hotbeds for new optimization methodologies in integrated circuit and micro-electromechanical production,” said Ajit Manocha, president and CEO of SEMI. “The integration of FOA with SEMI brings together firsthand understanding of manufacturing challenges so we can help all SEMI members achieve higher operating efficiency.”

With integration complete, FOA is managed as a Special Interest Group (SIG) within SEMI. FOA member companies will become full SEMI members, with FOA continuing to expand its global membership through SEMI’s global network, while maintaining its unique community.

Established in 2004, FOA brings to SEMI a focus on addressing common semiconductor operations and manufacturing issues. The full integration comes after more than a year in which the organizations operated under an Association Management Agreement where SEMI provided FOA association services and deepened its association with FOA. SEMI-FOA will continue to focus on manufacturing efficiency, including the group’s popular benchmark activities, to enable best practices among FOA members.

“FOA members manufacture a wide variety of complex devices, many of which make up the applications we see in some of the most advanced automotive systems, medical devices, Smart Manufacturing and general IoT,” said Dale Miller, member of the FOA Executive Director, and Senior Director, Fab 9 Semiconductor Manufacturing Operations at GLOBALFOUNDRIES. “Given the strong growth in these applications, FOA members must keep the fabs humming at full capacity while always pursuing higher yield and lower cost. To help maintain this momentum, FOA will continue to enable members to collaborate on best practices and benchmarking while focusing on key issues such as cycle-time, yield and tool performance.”

Odyssey Technical Solutions today announced that they have reached agreement with COMET PCT (Plasma Control Technologies) division, located in San Jose, CA. with headquarters in Switzerland, to stock and exclusively distribute the COMET vacuum capacitor line of components for North, Central and South America.

COMET VP of Sales Conor O’Mahony explained “We are always looking to expand our reach in the marketplace, enhance the service and support we provide to our customers, and further speed the delivery of our products. Odyssey is a company that knows the industries and customers using our capacitors. Odyssey has the relationships with end users of our products, an ability to test them, and a system to ship them quickly to the customer. This will be a win/win for us both and for the industries we serve”.

Odyssey will maintain inventory to accommodate historical and projected usage of fixed and variable vacuum capacitors, with a flexible supply chain model for quick turnaround as needs dictate. COMET is known worldwide for the finest quality vacuum capacitor, un-surpassed reliability and the best MTBF in the industry.

President of Odyssey Jim Plourde said “When the opportunity presented itself to distribute the COMET vacuum capacitors, who we have used in our repairs the last 17 years, we knew that it was a natural fit for Odyssey. I know that we will do a great job for COMET and more importantly for the customers, who more than ever need quick turnaround for critical components.”

ON Semiconductor (Nasdaq: ON) has joined the global Charging Interface Initiative e.V. (CharIN) ecosystem with the goals of promoting standards for charging systems in electric vehicles (EV), creating requirements for the evolution of EV charging systems and developing a certification system for manufacturers to implement charging systems into their products.

ON Semiconductor has all the core technologies for vehicle electrification, particularly the company’s extensive automotive qualified power management portfolio including: IGBTs, high voltage gate drivers, super junction rectifiers, high voltage MOSFETs, high voltage DC-DC converters, as well as Wide Band Gap (WBG) devices in Silicon Carbide (SiC) and Gallium Nitride (GaN) for next generation solutions. Beyond silicon development, investments in advanced packaging include: high power modules, single/dual sided cooled and dual sided direct cooled packages. With sensing, communication and analog solutions, ON Semiconductor has nearly all the components for current and future EV charging infrastructure needs.

“At ON Semiconductor, our core business is Power Management, and we support virtually every requirement with products that range from low drop-out regulators, to switched mode power supplies to sophisticated power management ICs (PMICs), positioning the company as an unrivaled supplier of power solutions for the rapidly emerging EV and hybrid electric vehicle market,” said Ali Husain, senior manager, power conversion and motor control solutions at ON Semiconductor. “We are seeing a ramp-up of our IGBT modules and FETs for electric vehicle charger designs. We expect next generation semiconductor materials such as silicon carbide and gallium nitride to drive improving power density and efficiency. We look forward to bringing this expertise to the CharIN ecosystem and collaborating with other industry leaders to create a Combined Charging System and supporting the continued evolution of EV charging infrastructure.”

As automotive manufacturers turn to next generation semiconductor materials to improve power density and efficiency in hybrid and electric vehicles, ON Semiconductor’s 1200V silicon carbide power devices and 650V gallium nitride power devices provide market leading solutions. These solutions provide higher power efficiency and power density while keeping weight to a minimum.

“We are excited to have ON Semiconductor collaboration in our efforts,” said Claas Bracklo, chairman of CharIN e.V. “Their broad portfolio of power, analog and communication silicon products, system design expertise, and relationships with leading companies in both the automotive and industrial markets complement and supplement the already-strong CharIN roster of members and partners.”