Tag Archives: letter-pulse-business

By Pete Singer

Semiconductor manufacturers use a variety of high global warming potential (GWP) gases to process wafers and to rapidly clean chemical vapor deposition (CVD) tool chambers. Processes use high GWP fluorinated compounds including perfluorocarbons (e.g., CF4, C2F6 and C3F8), hydrofluorocarbons (CHF3, CH3F and CH2F2), nitrogen trifluoride (NF3) and sulfur hexafluoride (SF6). Semiconductor manufacturing processes also use fluorinated heat transfer fluids and nitrous oxide (N2O).

Of these, the semiconductor industry naturally tends to focus its attention on CF4 since it is one of the worst offenders, with an atmospheric half-life of 50,000 years. “CF4 the hardest to get rid of and it’s one of the worst global warming gases,” said Kate Wilson, VP Marketing, Subfab Solutions – Semiconductor Division of Edwards. “We tend to use that as an indicator of how much of the other global warming gases, as well, are being emitted by the industry. If we’re dealing with that (CF4) well, we tend to be managing the rest of the gases pretty effectively.”

According to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), estimating fluorinated GHG emissions from semiconductor manufacture is complicated and has required a significant and coordinated effort by the industry and governments. It was historically assumed that the majority of these chemicals were consumed or transformed in the manufacturing process. It is now known that under normal operating conditions, anywhere between 10 to 80 percent of the fluorinated GHGs pass through the manufacturing tool chambers unreacted and are released into the air.

In addition, fluorinated GHG emissions vary depending on a number of factors, including gas used, type/brand of equipment used, company-specific process parameters, number of fluorinated GHG-using steps in a production process, generation of fluorinated GHG by-product chemicals, and whether appropriate abatement equipment has been installed. Companies’ product types, manufacturing processes and emissions also vary widely across semiconductor fabs.

The good news is that many companies in the semiconductor manufacturing industry have successfully identified, evaluated and implemented a variety of technologies that protect the climate and improved production efficiencies. Solutions have been investigated and successfully implemented in the following key technological areas:

  • Process improvements/source reduction
  • Alternative chemicals
  • Capture and beneficial reuse
  • Destruction technologies (known as abatement)

In 2011 the industry set new targets for 2020, which it summarizes as:

  • The implementation of best practices for new semiconductor fabs. The industry expects that the implementation of best practices will result in a normalized emission rate (NER) in 2020 of 0.22 kgCO2e/cm2, which is a 30 percent NER reduction from the 2010 aggregated baseline.
  • The addition of “Rest of World” fabs (fabs located outside the World Semiconductor Council (WSC) regions that are operated by a company from a WSC association) in reporting of emissions and the implementation of best practices for new fabs.
  • NER based measurement in kilograms of carbon equivalents per area of silicon wafers processed (kgCO2e/cm2), which will be the single WSC goal at the global level.

“We’re finding as we get down to the lower levels and different things come up as the highest priority in the fab where we’re moving into more and more lower usage processes, which are requiring abatement now in order to get those levels down to meet the targets of 2020 in the industry,” Wilson explained.

The main area for potential improvement now is etch, especially in older 200mm fabs where etch processes may not have been fitted with PFC abatement devices. This is particularly true for etch processes making extensive use of CF4. “The area where we still have the most gaps is clearly etch,” Wilson said. In CVD processes, most of the benefit was done by material shifts rather than actual abatement, although we clearly do need to abate the other gases in those processes. For the etch side, there are still quite a few customers that really only do the toxic emission abatement rather than the global warming gas emission abatement. But we do see, across almost all of our customer base, people have either fairly recently moved to fully abating all the PFC type gases or will be shortly.”

Wilson said some other gases have been coming up more recently in terms of things like N2O, which people are putting more focus on now as it’s becoming a larger part of the fab footprint of global warming materials.

For PFC abatement, Edwards offers the Atlas range of products, which destroys PFCs by burning them. This is followed by a wet scrub of the byproducts. This works quite well, but Wilson cautions that in can be tricky for some processes, such as chamber cleans with NF3. “If the burn is not correct and you get too hot, there’s actually the potential to create PFC’s. And so, it is quite critical to have well-controlled burn technology to make sure that you don’t actually cause issues where we didn’t have them before.”

Wilson said another area where they have seen some issues with PFCs being created is with processing of carbon-doped materials, such as low-k dielectrics. “When they do the chamber clean, they’re cleaning off predominately silicon dioxide but there’s carbon in there so that can create PFCs and CF4 as well so there’s a requirement to look at abatement in those areas,” she said.

Another piece of good news is that no company in the supply chain is waiting for legislation to be enacted before they act themselves. “Right from consumers to the consumer manufacturers, the car manufacturers, consumer electric manufacturers, our direct customers, the equipment manufacturers plus the major players within semiconductor and flat panel display, it seems that at every level there’s a commitment that this is the right thing to do,” Wilson said. “At every level people are pushing to get the requirements more stringent and it’s almost not about legislation anymore, it’s about everybody actually thinks it’s a good idea and they want to do it.”

Across all process areas in the fab effective abatement technologies reduce the GHG emissions significantly. The reductions per process area are shown in the diagram.

Across all process areas in the fab effective abatement technologies reduce the GHG emissions significantly. The reductions per process area are shown in the diagram.

SEMI announced the recipients of the 2017 SEMI Awards for the Americas today. The awards honor: a team from Micron Technology (Micron) for the development of the hybrid memory cube and their leadership in co-founding the Hybrid Memory Cube Consortium, and Bryan Black from Advanced Micro Devices for integration of the “Fiji” 3D-IC graphics processor product. The awards were presented at SEMICON West 2017 today.

SEMI Awards recognize technology developments that have had a major impact on our industry and the world.  The 2017 award recipients share the distinction of having pioneered processes and integration breakthroughs that enabled the first high-volume production of 3D memory and the integration of 3D memory into the first high-volume production of 3D Systems-in-Package (SiP) products.

Use of the third dimension in 3D memory devices provides density and performance that are beyond the range of traditional 2D scaling.  Although efforts to use the third dimension have been ongoing for decades, the use of through-silicon-vias (TSVs) was critical to creating the technology foundation on which current devices are based. The work of Warren Farnworth and Salman Akram at Micron was essential to enabling the development of the “hybrid memory cube.” By 2011, Micron had developed the technology to the point where its technical potential was clear, but Scott Graham recognized that it would be a “niche product” ─ unless a community of device manufacturers, developers, and adopters followed a common interface specification. Micron made a bold move, teaming up with a major competitor (Samsung), to co-found the Hybrid Memory Cube Consortium. The Consortium now has 100+ members working to innovate and expand the capabilities of the next generation of memory-based solutions. For developing the Hybrid Memory Cube technology and their leadership in the establishment of the Hybrid Memory Cube Consortium, SEMI is proud to present Warren Farnworth, Salman Akram, and Scott Graham of Micron with the 2017 SEMI Award. Tom Eby, VP of Micron’s Compute and Networking Business Unit, accepted the award for Micron.

Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) also recognized the importance of collaboration in 3D SiP devices. A decade ago, AMD realized that advanced graphics processing would require major innovation in multi-die integration and increases in processor-memory bandwidth. To meet this challenge, AMD began a 10-year development process with its memory partner, SK-Hynix, and the system integrator, ASE. Their process drove advances in multi-die memory stacking and software standards as well as addressing the crucial challenges of thermal management and “intelligent reliability” for components operating at the edge of their design envelope. In 2015, AMD introduced the “Fiji” graphics processor which was made possible by an aggressive prototyping sequence that produced over 15 distinct product designs and involved over 20 contributing companies. More importantly, the AMD-led project produced a number of industry firsts:  the use of die-stacked memory in a graphics processor, the use of a high-volume interposer package in a graphics product, the integration of 22 discrete die into a package shipping millions of parts, and collaboration across the supply chain. These innovations would not be possible without the leadership of AMD. SEMI is honored to present Bryan Black, a senior AMD Fellow at AMD Austin, with the 2017 SEMI Award for the integration of the “Fiji” 3D-IC graphics processor.

“Every year SEMI honors key technological contributions and industry leadership through the SEMI Award. This year’s recipients were each instrumental in delivering technologies that will influence product design and system architecture for many years to come. Congratulations to both Bryan from AMD and the Micron team for their significant accomplishments,” said David Anderson, president, SEMI Americas.

“Both of the 2017 Awards recognize the enabling of high-volume manufacturing through collaboration with key vendors in the supply chain at AMD and by establishing a collaboration with competitors as well as the supply chain at Micron. These breakthroughs through collaboration set an example for acceleration of innovation in the future,” said Bill Bottoms, chairman of the SEMI Awards Advisory Committee.

The SEMI Award was established in 1979 to recognize outstanding technical achievement and meritorious contribution in the areas of Semiconductor Materials, Wafer Fabrication, Assembly and Packaging, Process Control, Test and Inspection, Robotics and Automation, Quality Enhancement, and Process Integration.

The award is the highest honor conferred by SEMI Americas. It is open to individuals or teams from industry or academia whose specific accomplishments have broad commercial impact and widespread technical significance for the entire semiconductor industry. Nominations are accepted from individuals of North American-based member companies of SEMI. For a list of past award recipients, visit www.semi.org/semiaward.

SEMI honored four industry leaders for their outstanding accomplishments in developing Standards for the electronics and related industries. The SEMI Standards awards were announced at the SEMI International Standards reception held during SEMICON West 2017.

The SEMI International Standards Excellence Award, inspired by Karel Urbanek, is the most prestigious award in the SEMI International Standards Program. The 2017 recipient is Bert Planting (ASML) who has been active in SEMI Standards for more than a decade, without interruption, in numerous international safety standardization projects, including:

  • S10 (Safety Guideline for Risk Assessment and Risk Evaluation Process) since 2005
  • S27 (Safety Guideline for the Contents of Environmental, Safety, and Health (ESH) Evaluation Reports) since 2010
  • S2 (Environmental, Health, and Safety Guideline for Semiconductor Manufacturing Equipment)
  • S25 (Safety Guideline for Hydrogen Peroxide Storage and Handling Systems) since 2012

Planting has co-chaired the North American (NA) chapter of the EHS Technical Committee since 2013, and also currently leads the S10 Revision Task Force and the S2 Interlock Reliability Task Force. As leader of the S10 Revision Task Force, he significantly improved S10’s usefulness and practicality. Under his strong direction, the risk assessment methodology of S10 (and by reference, S2) is now more objective, easier to implement, and better harmonized with major international Standards for safety risk assessment. As co-chair of the European EHS Technical Committee from 2005–2013, he successfully led a major S10 revision as well as development of a new Safety Guideline.

The North American SEMI International Standards Merit Award recognizes major contributions to the SEMI International Standards Program.  Award winners typically take on a very complex problem at the task force level, gain industry support, and drive the project to completion. This year two people received the award:

  • Yanli “Joyce” Chen (UCT) reactivated the Pressure Measurements Task Force during the SEMICON West 2014 Standards Meetings. This task force was chartered to develop a series of standardized performance definitions and test methods related to pressure measurement devices used in the semiconductor industry. Previous attempts to develop a standard test method for pressure transducers in gas delivery systems were not successful, but Chen reenergized the Task Force, putting tremendous effort into test apparatus development, test procedure optimization, data collection, and test results analysis, and conducting an extensive pressure transducer side-by-side evaluation project. This provided a solid base for the development of the new Standard, and SEMI F113, Test Method for Pressure Transducers Used in Gas Delivery Systems was approved and published. Chen has also been instrumental in updating several test methods for mass flow controllers and other components with benefits to the entire semiconductor industry.
  • John Visty (Salus Engineering International) has been the leader of the S2 Chemical Exposure Task Force since 2008; he is also the Task Force leader for the S2 Non-ionization and the S6 (Exhaust Ventilation) Revision. Leading these Task Forces resulted in revisions of SEMI S2, the most recognizable SEMI standard. The industrial hygiene section (regarding chemical exposure) in SEMI S2 was in need of clarification to ensure consistent technical interpretation by equipment suppliers, end-users and third-party evaluators.  Visty drove development through multiple ballot attempts, incorporating feedback from unfavorable ballots to reach industry consensus. In March 2017, revisions to SEMI S2 related to chemical exposure were approved and incorporated into SEMI S2. This clarification benefits the semiconductor industry by providing consistent chemical conformance criteria.

The North American SEMI International Standards Leadership Award recognizes outstanding leadership in guiding the SEMI International Standards Program. Brian Rubow (Cimetrix) has been an important contributor to SEMI Standards for many years and has demonstrated ongoing and increasing leadership.  Rubow became leader of the North American Diagnostic Data Acquisition (DDA) Task Force in 2008, leader of the NA GEM300 Task Force in 2010, co-chair of the NA Chapter of the Information and Control Committee in 2013, and vice-chair of the NA Regional Standards Committee in 2014. He continues to serve in all four of these positions. Among other accomplishments, Rubow drove the development of two important advances to bring semiconductor factory automation into the world of modern networks:

  • SEMI E172, SECS Equipment Data Dictionary (SEDD), which allows factory automation systems to adapt to the individual capabilities of each equipment type
  • SEMI E173, SECS Message Notation (SMN), which allows the content of factory messages to be specified in modern XML notation.

Rubow’s technical knowledge of factory connectivity solutions and outstanding leadership skills make a major contribution to the SEMI International Standards program.

For more information about SEMI International Standards, visit www.semi.org/en/Standards.

SEMI today announced that Mike Allison, president of the Semiconductor Division at Edwards, and Daisuke Murata, president and CEO of Murata Machinery, were elected as new directors to the SEMI International Board of Directors in accordance with the association’s by-laws.

Four current board members were re-elected for two-year terms: Bertrand Loy, president and CEO of Entegris; Stephen Schwartz, president and CEO of Brooks Automation; Kyu Dong (KD) Sung, CEO of EO Technics; and Xinchao Wang, chairman of JCET.

Additionally, the SEMI Executive Committee confirmed Tetsuo Tsuneishi, chairman of the Board of Tokyo Electron, Ltd., as chairman of the SEMI Executive Committee. SEMI also confirmed Bertrand Loy, president and CEO of Entegris, as vice-chairman.

The leadership appointments and the elected board members’ tenure become effective at the annual SEMI membership meeting on July 12, during SEMICON West 2017 in San Francisco, Calif.

“The SEMI Board of Directors is comprised of recognized global business leaders who represent SEMI members and the industry, ensuring that SEMI develops and delivers member value in all regions,” said SEMI president and CEO Ajit Manocha.  “We congratulate the re-elected members, welcome Mike Allison and Murata-san to the Board, and are greatly appreciative for all of our board members’ contributions to the industry.”

SEMI’s 19 voting directors and 11 emeritus directors represent companies from Europe, China, Japan, Korea, North America, and Taiwan, reflecting the global scope of the association’s activities. SEMI directors are elected by the general membership as voting members of the board and can serve a total of five two-year terms.

The Linde Group is expanding production of the rare gases used by the semiconductor industry, including xenon, which is in increasing demand for etching 3D semiconductor structures.

This quarter, Linde expects to complete a xenon expansion project at its Alpha, N.J. plant, part of a xenon supply network that spans three continents. Of the three rare gases – neon, krypton, and xenon – xenon is the rarest. Besides extracting xenon from the atmosphere, Linde provides numerous services to conserve and optimize their process use of xenon, said Matt Adams, head of sales and marketing, electronic gases & specialty products. “We have been developing specialized solutions around xenon for 30 years. Recycling xenon can actually make some applications viable that may not have been previously, because there’s not enough product in the world,” he said.

Lithography gas expansions

With increasing demand for neon from DUV (deep UV) multi-patterning lithography and other excimer laser applications, Linde is expanding neon capacity at a newly installed neon production facility in La Porte, Texas.

Linde works with its customers to supply mixtures of neon, fluorine, and other gases for excimer laser patterning applications At SEMICON West, Linde (Bridgewater, N.J.) is discussing its expansion of lithography gas processing capacity at its Medford, Ore. facility.

“By investing in Medford for lithography gas production, it gives us another site and increases our business continuity plan. We work with the OEMs to make sure that we are changing as needed, to make sure that the tools and the fabs are working optimally,” Adams said.

Besides adding purification capacity, Adams said its continuity planning includes strengthening Linde’s supply chain in Europe and managing a portfolio of third-party sources.

With more than 60,000 employees worldwide and around $20 billion in annual revenues, Linde leads the industry in rare gases. “We continue to invest globally in our own sources, and at the same time develop additional supply capacity with our partners,” said Andreas Weisheit, head of Linde Electronics. For example, Linde has more than 35 captive air separation units (ASUs) for rare gas production, and manages a network of external suppliers.

The major lithography equipment and chip manufacturers work with Linde engineers to develop new technologies at Linde’s Centers of Excellence, including a center for laser gases in Alpha, N.J.

Linde spans the gamut of rare gas capabilities, including the design and manufacture of air separation units (ASUs) and rare gas extraction equipment, cryogenic engineering, purification capabilities for neon, krypton and xenon, and high-volume mixing and blending capabilities.

Rare gas production is a multi-stage process, Adams said. For example, a steel company that needs oxygen will have a Linde air separation unit onsite to extract the rare gases. This crude mixture, sometimes referred to as a soup of materials, is further refined — and in some cases undergoes cryogenic distillation — to extract the xenon, krypton and neon.

Because neon is the highest-volume rare gas, Linde has multiplesneon purifiers strategically located around the world. “That speaks to our business continuity planning, that we have these at separate locations. We’re able to process this crude neon into semiconductor grade neon. Of course, it’s similar with xenon and krypton,” he said.

Adams said the neon shortage has been addressed and supply and demand has come back into balance. “That can change with new and different applications. We are starting to see some tightening in the xenon market, due to some applications that are coming online that have a high xenon demand. Which is one of the reasons why we’re making the investment in Alpha, New Jersey,” he said.

Linde Electronics will be exhibiting at SEMICON West, booth number 5952 in the North hall in the Moscone Center. Its focus will be on the leadership that Linde Electronics brings to the semiconductor industry through such offerings as electronic specialty gases, on-site solutions, materials recycling and recovery and SPECTRA® nitrogen plants.

For more information, see The Linde Group online at www.linde.com/electronics.

Alpha Plant

Alpha Plant

SEMI added a new high-profile program on China to its 2017 conference lineup for SEMICON West. Today at the Yerba Buena Theater, the China Strategic Innovation & Investment Forum will focus on the extensive business opportunities resulting from the semiconductor industry’s largest regional growth spurt now occurring in China.

While the global semiconductor industry continues to consolidate through large-scale mergers and acquisitions, China is embarking on a new round of expansion with heavy investment from public and private funding. China’s semiconductor industry is growing at an explosive rate, leading the rest of the world with a projected increase of 68 percent in fab equipment spending year-over-year (2017 to 2018), according to the May 2017 SEMI World Fab Forecast. China will be equipping over 50 facilities through 2018, and is forecast to spend more than US$11 billion.

The rise of the semiconductor industry in China need not be viewed as a threat to other global players, says SEMI, but rather as a significant driver of growth and business opportunity for suppliers worldwide. With its low indigenous market share for chips and nascent technical breadth in IC design, manufacturing, packaging, testing, equipment, and materials, China has become an enormous market for suppliers across the supply chain. In fact, ICs still top the list of all Chinese bulk imports in terms of U.S. dollar value.

At the China Strategic Innovation & Investment Forum, semiconductor and investment executives, as well as key China government and trade officials will share their views on the industry’s evolution and offer insights on growth, investment opportunities, M&A, and the latest innovations emerging in China. Attendees will hear from C-Level executives from Ali Cloud, AMEC, Applied Materials Venture Capital Group, Goldman Sachs, Verisilicon, Walden International, SEMI China, and more. An hour-long panel discussion, moderated by Lung Chu, president of SEMI China, will feature speakers and a Q&A session. With access to China experts presenting and multiple networking opportunities, the China forum will offer a collaborative platform where markets, technology, talent, and funding can meet up for mutual benefit.

Yerba Buena

Boston Semi Equipment (BSE), a global semiconductor test handler company, announced today it has received a follow on order for multiple Zeus gravity test handling systems for pressure MEMS. The order comes from a major manufacturer of tire pressure monitoring system sensors, which selected Zeus’ pressure MEMS solution for its high accuracy and throughput.

“The Zeus handler applies the pressure stimulus directly to the device while it is at the handler’s test site,” said Kevin Brennan, vice president of marketing for BSE. “This eliminates the need to hand off the package to a separate pressure unit for testing. The tool also reaches desired pressure set points faster, cycles through pressure levels in shorter times and offers a faster index time than other solutions. Combined, these advantages result in higher throughput for pressure MEMS devices, making Zeus an ideal solution.”

The Zeus 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. The Zeus offers the features and performance needed by today’s test cells at a more affordable price point.

Pixelligent Technologies, a nanocomposite advanced materials manufacturer, announced today that it has been awarded grant funding from the Department of Energy SBIR program and the Department of Defense STTR program, that totals a combined $2.15 million. This funding will be used to accelerate and further develop a diverse range of applications leveraging Pixelligent’s core PixClear® nanocomposite technology.

“The grants from the Dept. of Energy will help to extend our technology leadership in OLED lighting applications. These SBIR Phase I and Phase IIB grants will allow Pixelligent to further extend our OLED light extraction materials to enable next generation flexible OLED lighting applications. The STTR Phase II grant from the Dept. of Defense will support our continued collaboration with the University of Pennsylvania and Argonne National Laboratory to further the development of PixClear — enabled gear oils for improving the lifetime and energy-efficiency of gear boxes and drive trains,” said Gregory Cooper, PhD, CTO & Founder of Pixelligent.

“We are proud to have been selected for these three grant awards from the Department of Energy and Department of Defense. These are highly competitive programs and theses awards point to the broad applicability of our materials, which can deliver unparalleled efficiency gains in applications ranging from OLED technology to lubricant additives,” said Craig Bandes, President & CEO of Pixelligent.

Through grant awards and private funding, Pixelligent has emerged as one of the only companies that has developed a truly disruptive manufacturing and advanced material technology platform for commercializing the promise of nanotechnology. This was recently recognized by Frost & Sullivan who honored Pixelligent with the 2017 Manufacturer of the Year award for SMB under $1B in revenues.

SUNY Polytechnic Institute (SUNY Poly), in partnership with Empire State Development (ESD), the American Institute for Manufacturing Integrated Photonics (AIM Photonics), and the New York Power Electronics Manufacturing Consortium (NY-PEMC) today announced that a number of the institution’s leading researchers, scientists from a number of SUNY Poly’s corporate partners, and New York State economic development experts will share research and development updates at the globally recognized SEMICON West 2017 conference, which is taking place July 11 through 13 in San Francisco, California.

During this year’s engagement, researchers based at SUNY Poly’s Albany campus will present progress reports for a number of initiatives it is spearheading across New York State, including updates on AIM Photonics and the NY-PEMC, which are ramping up capabilities related to the development of next-generation photonics-based technologies, quantum computing, and silicon carbide-based power electronics, respectively, in addition to spurring economic engagement activities throughout New York State.

“Empire State Development is proud to once again collaborate with our partners at SUNY Poly and Upstate New York’s economic development organizations to showcase New York State’s high-tech research, development and business growth opportunities at SEMICON West,” said Empire State Development President, CEO & Commissioner Howard Zemsky. “Our strategic approach and improved business climate are successfully attracting innovative firms and entrepreneurs, and we’re looking forward to sharing our story with attendees and business leaders from around the world, particularly those who can benefit from the cutting-edge work being done in power electronics and photonics.”

“As a leading member of the AIM Photonics and NY-PEMC initiatives that are driving R&D in key areas, SUNY Poly is proud to work with Empire State Development at SEMICON West 2017 to share current progress with industry leaders who will be attending this year’s conference and exhibition,” said SUNY Poly Interim President Dr. Bahgat Sammakia. “By partnering with world-leading corporations, institutions, and organizations in the high-tech arena to share how further collaboration can help drive innovation and growth in New York State, SUNY Poly is thrilled once again to play a significant role at SEMICON West.”

At this year’s SEMICON West conference, SUNY Poly presenters, including SUNY Poly Vice President for Research and CEO of AIM Photonics Dr. Michael Liehr and SUNY Poly Associate Vice President for Business, Wafer Processing and CMO of AIM Photonics Frank Tolic will provide updates on the SUNY Poly-led AIM Photonics initiative as it begins building and equipping the Rochester-based photonics Test, Assembly, and Packaging (TAP) facility. To date, AIM Photonics has seen increasing interest in membership, with more than 80 signed members and additional interested collaborators from across the United States, including those representing areas ranging from industry and academia to government. More specifically, AIM Photonics and SUNY Poly leaders will provide presentations on topics such as, “The integrated silicon photonics 21st century revolution,” and “Leveraging state-of-the-art fabrication to advance quantum computing technologies,” among others. In addition, presentations will also detail AIM Academy and workforce development efforts meant to ensure that AIM Photonics-related jobs will be filled from a pool of diverse, highly qualified candidates.

“As the national AIM Photonics initiative hits its stride, initializing important research and development work and the high-tech infrastructure to drive New York State’s innovative ecosystem, as well as significant R&D nodes across the United States, we are thrilled to be able to share AIM’s opportunities with the many researchers and business leaders at SEMICON West,” said Dr. Liehr. “During this year’s engagement, AIM Photonics is eager to share updates related to the development of the TAP facility in Rochester, New York, as well as its latest offerings which can enable meaningful, cost-effective collaborations via the leveraging of the initiative’s PDK (Process Design Kit) and MPW (Multi Project Wafer) capabilities.”

A New York Nanotechnology Summit, scheduled to take place Wednesday, July 12, from 8am – Noon at the PARC55 Hotel, will provide SEMICON West participants with an opportunity to network and learn more about New York State’s research and business opportunities in the nanotechnology sector, especially as it relates to semiconductor, integrated photonics, power electronics, packaging, and other nanotechnology-related R&D and commercialization efforts. Representatives from AIM Photonics, NY-PEMC, SUNY Poly, New York Economic Development Agencies, and industry leaders IBM, GE, TEL, Mentor, Infinera, Coventor, Cadence, and Eastman Business Park will offer key technology insights, program updates, and information about future partnership and business opportunities, in addition to details about shovel ready, cost-effective and efficient locations for companies that are looking for growth.

Additionally, at this year’s SEMICON West engagement, NY-PEMC representatives will also provide presentations detailing the initiative’s progress as SUNY Poly, in partnership with General Electric, drive the high volume manufacturing and packaging of power electronic devices and systems that are smaller, faster, and more efficient than current silicon-based computer chips. The presentations will offer details related to the successful first production of silicon carbide-based patterned wafers at the NY-PEMC’s 150mm SiC foundry, which was announced in February. For example, NY-PEMC’s Brian Sapp will present, “The New York Power Electronics Manufacturing Consortium: Enabling the Power Electronics Revolution,” which will offer further insight into SUNY Poly’s Albany NanoTech Complex and its power electronics capabilities, as well as the state-of-the-art power electronics packaging facility at SUNY Poly’s Computer Chip Commercialization Center (Quad-C) fab, which is located in Utica, New York, where partner Danfoss Silicon Power will package modules and power blocks for industrial, automotive, and renewable energy applications.

Complementing the various research-based presentations by AIM Photonics and NY-PEMC-focused researchers and partners, the more than 26,000 expected attendees of the SEMICON West 2017 conference and exhibition will also be able to learn more about those initiatives and SUNY Poly’s top tier resources and capabilities by visiting the New York State Pavilion in Booth #7837, which will feature representatives from SUNY Poly, Empire State Development, NY Loves Nanotech, AIM Photonics, and NY-PEMC, as well as a patterned 150mm SiC wafer produced by the consortium. At the prominently located exhibition booth, program leaders, scientists, and others will provide information about New York State’s high-tech corridor and related economic engagement incentives, as well as opportunities for interested organizations in a number of innovation-based industries. Booth number 7837 will be located in the Moscone Center’s West Hall, Level One, and representatives will be available from Tuesday, July 11 through Wednesday, July 12 from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. and on Thursday, July 13 from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.

SEMICON West is an annual tradeshow for the microelectronics manufacturing industries and their supply chains. There, researchers present their cutting-edge work via keynote addresses, executive panels, and technical and business sessions to attendees from around the world. In addition to the more than 600 expected exhibitors and hundreds of product displays, the event also features applications and topics ranging from micro-electromechanical systems (MEMS) to nanoelectronics and the internet of things (IoT).

By Jamie Liao, SEMI Taiwan

Market demand is driving development of 5G network standards, and commercial applications are expected to be introduced by 2020. As applications for next-generation communications are evolving, mobile devices need to promise better performance and higher resistance to heat, high power, voltage and radiation. For existing technologies, compound semiconductors like SiC and GaN are no doubt the best solutions because they perform better in terms of energy band gaps, saturation velocities, heat conductivity and breakdown field strength. In order to facilitate development of the industry, SEMI Taiwan worked with the National Chung-Shan Institute of Science and Technology (NCSIST) and the Taiwan Institute of Economic Research (TIER) to organize the Compound Semiconductor Seminar ─ Enabling Next Generation of Communications. ASE Group, Airoha Technology Corp., eLaser and WIN Semiconductors Corp. joined with SEMI Taiwan to explore the materials and technology trends of compound semiconductors.

Compound Semiconductor Technologies Continue to Advance

Speaking on upcoming 5G network with the theme “Highly Efficient 5G PA Design,” Dr. Jerry Lin, CTO of Airoha Technology Corp., said that while 5G networks perform better than existing standards in data speed and capacity, power consumption may not increase simultaneously. In order to achieve that, interior design of communications devices also need to evolve. As power amplifier (PA) is normally the most power-consuming component in traditional cellular networks, developers should start with PA if they want to address the challenge.

Dr. Lin added that in addition to optimizing circuit design, developers should also consider connectivity, modem chips, PA structure and PA devices. So which process will prevail in the area of 5G PA? Is it CMOS? Or GaAs/GaN? Dr. Lin presented a table and pointed out that GaAs/GaN has more advantage in “breakdown voltage,” “power handling,” “through wafer via” and “substrate loss,” while CMOS is doing better in self-testing, complex bias circuit design, signal processing, integration, configuration flexibility and low power voltage. Therefore, Dr. Lin believed that GaAa/GaN will continue to exist as performance is the main concern for the design of base stations used in 5G, 6G or even millimeter-wave networks. Meanwhile, CMOS will have a bigger chance with price-sensitive IoT equipments because it is energy efficient and cheap. As for hand-held devices, sub-6GHz equipments may still adopt hybrid structures like GaAs/GaN or CMOS+GaAs. CMOS is likely to dominate in the millimeter-wave market.

Dr. Kun Chuan Lin, General Manager of eLaser’s branch in the Hsinchu Science and Industrial Park, shared insight on the development of GaN epitaxial wafer process with a speech entitled “GaN on Si Epitaxy Technology Innovation.” He said that when electronics product design requires better heat resistance, breakdown voltage, electron saturation velocity and current density, semiconductor devices made with the GaN process can deliver high-power output in high-frequency environment. Therefore, the technology will have great potential in next-generation applications like automotive electronics, power management systems, industrial lighting, portable electronics devices, communications equipment, and consumer electronics products.

Dr. Lin said when GaN epi-wafer was adopted in LED devices, one 150mm wafer would contain tens of thousands, or even hundreds of thousands LED units so the yield loss caused by thousands of particles would be minor. But in the case of large-sized GaN power devices made of epi-wafers, each 150mm wafer has only 1,000 to thousands of chips and the number of particles pretty much decides the yield of power devices on epi-wafers. In comparison, the epitaxy technology of GaN-on-Si is more important because of its low particle counts, and innovative technologies will be needed in this area of epi-wafer manufacturing.

Next-generation Communications Frameworks Emerge: From Modules to Packaging and Testing

Dr. W.K. Wang, Technical Director of WIN Semiconductors Corp., discussed GaAs solutions for millimeter-wave front-end modules with a speech entitled “Advanced GaAs Solution for mmw FEM.” According to Dr. Wang, the GaAs pHEMT process has been long adopted in the area of wireless communications, such as peer-to-peer RF transmission and very small aperture terminal (VSAT.) Now, Win Semiconductors’ pHEMT and PIN diode technology platforms are already capable of providing solutions to performance and circuit requirements. He said GaAs technologies have been rapidly evolving in recent years so wafer package and multi-function devices can now be integrated into GaAs wafer fabrication. In addition, the technology to integrate pHEMT and PIN diode into PINHEMT will also enjoy great potential in the area of millimeter-wave front-end modules.

Dr. Wang also pointed out that 0.1um pHEMT can now be used to run E-band and D-band amplifiers, while Ka-Band Doherty amplifiers and low-noise amplifiers have been made possible through 0.15um pHEMT. As KA-band switches can be demonstrated in a GaAs PIN diode process, it proves that GaAs pHEMT/PIN is a suitable verification solution in millimeter-wave communications.

In a speech entitled “Next Wave RF & Photonics Packaging Solution,” Dr. Vincent Lin, Technical Director of ASE Group shared his insight on the challenge that Moore’s Law has slowed down. He said while volumes of data from existing mobile devices and cloud computing services are increasing, all chip technologies in the semiconductor industry have advanced in a slower manner. Therefore, cross-system integration will be the solution to bandwidth issues.

Dr. Lin said that mobile devices’ RF modules and silicon photonics in data centers are the key devices in cloud computing platforms now. Both of them need various materials, including compound semiconductors, silicon, passive devices, special crystals or multi-material high-speed connecting chips — with impedance matching and low insertion loss being the two key indicators to performance. Dr. Lin also demonstrated a new packaging platform of RF modules and silicon photonics modules that can serve as the best solution for the local industry.

In addition to these keynote speeches on latest trends and technologies in the market, the seminar also offered an opportunity for participants to interact and expand connections. Terry Tsao, president of SEMI Taiwan, said to promote development of Taiwan’s compound semiconductor industry, SEMI will continue to organize events where people in the industry can exchange opinions. SEMICON Taiwan 2017 will establish a Compound Semiconductor Pavilion for the first time, where international forums and get together to be held for industry insiders to share insight on future trends and technologies to help promote exchanges, collaboration and opportunities in the market.