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SEMI today presented its industry leadership award for sustainable manufacturing to Po Wen Yen, CEO of United Microelectronics Corporation (UMC). Yen received theSEMI Sustainable Manufacturing Leadership Award – Inspired by Akira Inoue, at the Leadership Gala Dinner at SEMICON Taiwan 2016, the largest annual electronics manufacturing industry event in Taiwan.

“Yen exemplifies outstanding leadership and commitment to sustainable manufacturing issues. He approaches environmental protection in a holistic way, thinking broadly and then setting up the infrastructure to institutionalize the change while staying involved each step of the way,” said Denny McGuirk, president and CEO of SEMI. “This SEMI award for significant sustainable manufacturing achievement recognizes his status among a distinguished group of electronics industry executives.”

As CEO of UMC, Yen drove UMC to become a global leader in sustainable semiconductor manufacturing, emphasizing to his staff, customers, and suppliers, that “sustainable development is not only UMC’s vision but is also our core philosophy.” Yen also created a corporate structure where all sustainability-related goals and activities are overseen by a committee that he chairs, and then he reports these developments directly to the UMC Board of Directors.  Yen’s commitment has led to significant positive impacts on sustainable manufacturing at UMC. Yen’s specific accomplishments noted by the SEMI Award committee include:

Environmental Protection

  • Global Warming –To reduce energy use at UMC, Yen created and chairs an Energy Saving Committee, which reduced electrical power usage by 29,469 Mwh in 2014, which is the equivalent of removing 15,353 tons of CO2 from the atmosphere, and reduced natural gas usage by 11,979 Mwh, the equivalent to reducing 2,159 tons of CO2 emissions from being released into the atmosphere.
  • Water Resources – UMC maximizes water efficiency and promotes the importance of water resources and conservation. Total water recovery and reuse reached more than 180 percent of water intake for the calendar year 2015.
  • Green Manufacturing – UMC innovated corporate programs to manage hazardous substances and reduce pollution and waste during semiconductor manufacturing. UMC has a robust Hazardous Substance Process Management (HSPM) system in place that is certified by the International Electro-Technical Commission Quality Assessment System.
  • Green Buildings – UMC’s Fab 12A in the Tainan Science Park obtained both Taiwan’s Gold Certification for Green Buildings and LEED Gold Certification.
  • Green Products –To better evaluate the environmental impacts of products, UMC collaborated with the Industrial Technology Research Institute (ITRI) to implement a Life Cycle Assessment for each fab, improving its management processes and reducing resource consumption.


Community Service

  • Social Welfare – UMC encourages a culture of community volunteering with many programs. One example, “Spreading the Seeds of Hope,” has assisted over 6,000 children from disadvantaged families.
  • UMC Fire Brigade – Still the only corporation in Taiwan’s electronics industry to have its own fire department, UMC established its high-tech fire brigade more than 20 years ago. The fire brigade consists of 106 members, including 13 full-time employees and 93 voluntary firefighters.

The Sustainable Manufacturing Leadership Awardis sponsored by SEMI. The award is named after the late Akira Inoue, past president of Tokyo Electron Limited and a strong advocate of sustainable manufacturing in the semiconductor industry. Inoue also served on the SEMI Board of Directors. The award recognizes individuals in industry who have made significant leadership contributions to reduce the environmental and social impacts of semiconductor manufacturing. Past Award recipients include: Mark Durcan (CEO, Micron), TY Chiu (CEO, SMIC), Ajit Manocha (CEO, GLOBALFOUNDRIES), and Morris Chang (CEO, TSMC).

SEMICON Taiwan will be held from September 7 to 9 at Taipei Nangang Exhibition Center, Hall 1. Upbeat about the growth prospects of Taiwan’s semiconductor sector, SEMICON Taiwan 2016 features 600 exhibitors covering over 1,600 booths,and is expected to attract more than 43,000 visitors in three days.

For the sixth consecutive year, Taiwan has been the largest consumer of semiconductor equipment due to its large foundry and advanced packaging capacity, totaling $9 billion in 2016 and expecting to grow to $10 billion in 2017, accounting for a quarter of the global market. According to the latest report from IEK, the total production value of Taiwan semiconductor industry is expected to reach $2.4 trillion, performing better than the global market with a growth rate of 7.2 percent.

SEMICON Taiwan 2016 adds new pavilions including Okinawa (Japan), Philippines, Singapore, and World of IoT, in addition to pavilions on Cross-Strait, Kyushu (Japan), German, Holland High Tech and Korea, plus theme pavilions of AOI, CMP, High-Tech Facility, Materials, Precision Machinery, Secondary Market, Smart Manufacturing and Taiwan Localization. The total of nine theme pavilions and the eight country/region pavilions will offer visitors the most up-to-date options of greatest diversity.

The ascending trends of the Internet of Things and the need for smaller and more powerful mobile devices and wearables have created limitless new opportunities for semiconductor industry. In response to these trends, SEMICON Taiwan 2016 features the World of IoT pavilion showing off the latest application products, but also includes 21 forums, inviting speakers from the industry and academia, including TSMC, UMC, ASE, SPIL, Amkor, Lam Research, TEL and more, to share their exclusive perspectives on topics including memory, advanced packaging, semiconductor materials, high-tech facility, IC design, MEMS, 2.5D/3D IC technology, embedded and wafer level technology, and sustainable supply chain management. The three-day program is expected to attract over 4,000 attendances, providing an ideal platform for information exchange.

Covering the hottest topics like smart manufacturing, high-tech facility, and materials, more than 50 presentations will be given on TechXPOT stages, providing not only the latest technology updates but also great opportunities to meet potential partners.  To connect the right people and facilitate collaboration, SEMICON Taiwan organizes a series of networking events, like the Materials, High-Tech Facility, and Smart Manufacturing Get Togethers and the Supplier Search Program, creating business opportunities.

Diverse show activities and services include:

  • Live Broadcasting: HD live streaming provides first-hand highlights of forums and events from each corner on big screen and Facebook.
  • SEMICON Taiwan App: Providing the most updated exhibition information along with personal assistance functions, the SEMICON Taiwan App allows a smarter and more convenient visiting experience.
  • Jing Jing Lucky Draw: One of the most anticipated show activities will give away Ninebot One E+, Kodak Pixpro SP360, HTC Vive, Irobot Roomba, and new-years-eve hotel coupon.

Terry Tsao, SEMI Taiwan president states, “For years, SEMICON Taiwan not only has successfully connected Taiwan with the global markets, but also has bridged healthy communication between the government and the industry. Through increasing diversity, we expect to see SEMICON Taiwan continue to play an important role in facilitating collaboration and integration, helping the Taiwan semiconductor industry remain in a leading position.”

For more information, visit www.semicontaiwan.org/en

Leading sensors and actuators companies will present the latest trends at the upcoming SEMI European MEMS Summit in Stuttgart on 15-16 September 2016.  Following 2015’s highly successful debut in Milano, the SEMI European MEMS Summit this year moves to Stuttgart. Over 250 attendees, including the industry’s global thought leaders, will discuss challenges, opportunities, and solutions.  A full capacity exhibition with representatives from the full value chain will complement the conference.

The event’s keynote presentations will feature:

  • Bosch Sensortec:  “Smart Connected MEMS Sensors – Enabler for the IoT” by Udo Gomez, CTO
  • STMicroelectronics:  “MEMS Sensors and Actuators – Opportunities and Challenges” by Benedetto Vigna, EVP and GM
  • Qorvo: “BAW and the ‘Edge of Tomorrow’ in Wireless Communication: Innovate, Ramp. Repeat” by Robert Aigner, Senior Director
  • AMKOR: “Sensor in Package – Standard Package Platform for Sensor Fusion and IoT” by Adrian Arcedera, VP

In addition to keynotes, the MEMS Summit’s exceptional speaker line-up includes presentations from ams AG, Bosch, Coventor, Fraunhofer IPMS, GLOBALFOUNDRIES, IHS, Invensas, NXP, Roland Berger, STMicroelectronics, Teledyne DALSA, and Yole Developpement.  The event’s main sessions will address Market and Business, Technology, Internet of Things, Automotive, Consumer, and Wearable Electronics. Promising start-ups Innoluce, USound, Polight and Enerbee will pitch their innovative solutions in a brand new session.

The Summit benefits from strong support from within the industry including Platinum Sponsor Bosch Sensortec; Gold Sponsors ASE Group, STMicroelectronics, and SUSS MicroTec; Silver Sponsors Applied Materials, EV Group, LAM Research, and SPTS. Other sponsors include AMKOR Technology, JSR Micro, Materion, Trymax, and VAT.

For more information and registration, please visit www.semi.org/eu/EuropeanMEMSSummit

Cabot Microelectronics Corporation (Nasdaq: CCMP), a supplier of chemical mechanical planarization (CMP) polishing slurries and a growing CMP pad supplier to the semiconductor industry, announced the appointment of Thomas F. Kelly, Vice President, Corporate Development, which is effective as of September 6, 2016. Mr. Kelly rejoins Cabot Microelectronics after serving as the Director of Global Raw Materials Procurement for Celanese Corporation from 2012 through 2016, and prior to that as the Vice President of New Business Development and the Program Management Organization of Chemtura Corporation, where he was employed from 2008 until 2012. He was employed by Cabot Microelectronics from 1999 through 2008, serving in various senior business operations, product management, and supply chain assurance roles.

“I am delighted to welcome Tom Kelly back to Cabot Microelectronics, and am confident his executive expertise from various global companies in the larger engineered materials and chemicals industries will benefit our company greatly in a number of important areas,” said David H. Li, Cabot Microelectronics’ President and Chief Executive Officer. “Tom knows our business, industry, customers and supply chain well, along with having developed important experience in mergers and acquisitions, business development, and corporate strategy from his more recent roles in helping to lead multi-billion dollar global businesses.”

In addition to this, the Company announced that as of September 1, 2016, Daniel J. Pike has resigned from his position as Vice President, Corporate Development, and will continue to serve the Company in a non-executive transition role until March 1, 2017. Mr. Li stated, “I would like to thank Dan for his significant contribution to the founding and growth of Cabot Microelectronics during his many years of service. All of us wish him well in his future endeavors.”

The Semiconductor Industry Association (SIA), representing U.S. leadership in semiconductor manufacturing, design, and research, today announced more than a dozen semiconductor industry icons, leaders, and founders will come together at the annual SIA Award Dinner on Thursday, Nov. 10 in San Jose to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the Robert N. Noyce Award, the industry’s highest honor. Former Noyce Award recipients who will attend the event include Dr. Craig Barrett, Dr. Morris Chang, John Daane, Federico Faggin, Ted Hoff, Dr. John E. Kelly III, Stanley Mazor, Jim Morgan, Jerry Sanders, George Scalise, Mike Splinter, Ray Stata, Rich Templeton, and Pat Weber. The evening’s program will include a conversation with former Noyce recipients about the industry’s storied past and its tremendous promise for the future.

SIA previously announced Martin van den Brink, president and chief technology officer at ASML Holding and renowned pioneer in semiconductor manufacturing technology, will receive the 2016 Noyce Award. SIA presents the Noyce Award annually in recognition of a leader who has made outstanding contributions to the semiconductor industry in technology or public policy.

“Recipients of the Noyce Award represent the finest our industry has to offer, individuals who have shaped the trajectory of semiconductor technology and spurred groundbreaking innovations,” said John Neuffer, president and CEO, Semiconductor Industry Association. “This year we are privileged to present the 2016 Noyce Award to Martin van den Brink, a man whose career accomplishments have fundamentally transformed semiconductor manufacturing, and to do so with many former Noyce winners on hand. We look forward to this unique opportunity to celebrate the semiconductor industry alongside these legends in our industry and true trailblazers of modern technology.”

For information about the SIA Award Dinner, including tickets and sponsorship opportunities, please visit www.semiconductors.org.

“The sapphire industry is still plagued by overcapacity and rapid price declines,” asserts Yole Développement (Yole) in its latest report Sapphire Applications & Market 2016: LED & Consumer Electronics. Demand for LED is increasing but will not provide enough volumes to sustain the close to one hundred sapphire makers competing in the market. Yole estimates that up to 30 companies have stopped sapphire-related activities over the last 18 months. The most prominent were OCI, DK-Aztek, HQC, Shangcheng etc. Many more have frozen most of their capacity and China counts dozens of “zombie” companies only alive by political will.

sapphire market

This autumn is showing a new interest for sapphire and its numerous applications. Under this context, the “More than Moore” market research and strategy consulting company presents its latest report entitled Sapphire Applications & Market 2016: LED & Consumer Electronics report.
Moreover, in collaboration with CIOE, Yole also announces the Sapphire Forum, 2nd edition: 2nd International Forum on Sapphire Market & Technologies, taking place in Shenzhen, China, on Sept. 6 & 7. More information & Registration.

Is there still a future for sapphire display covers? How much can LED demand sustain the industry? Is China going to completely dominate this industry? Save the date and learn more about the sapphire industry with Yole’s analysts.

“Capacity increased again over the last 12 months, although the pace is abating, thanks to a reduction in the number of new projects and significant attrition,” explains Dr Eric Virey, Senior Market and Technology Analyst, LED & Sapphire at Yole. And he adds: “But continuous excess supply combined with the significant drop in LED wafer demand in Q3 and Q4-2015 led to an acceleration of ASP decrease over the last 12 months. Prices for cores and wafers have dropped 50 to 70% over the last 2 years. Four inch wafers have been hard hit and 2” cores now sell for no profits, as a fall-off of 4” and 6” manufacturing and for the sole purpose of absorbing fixed cost.”

The 2” core market is disappearing as the LED industry transitions to larger diameters and optical wafers are now a captive market. Suppliers need to find new applications for the parts of the boules that are left over after extracting 4” or 6” cores. For now, those are often sold by the kg at low prices for the manufacturing of small optical and mechanical parts.

With strong price pressure and an increasing fraction of the market being captive, revenue of sapphire companies have dropped 20% in 2015 despite a volume increase of 20% across all applications.

Unless strong signals emerge soon to indicate that the display cover opportunity could finally materialize in 2017, many more companies will disappear within the next 12-18 months. While this situation is critical for many players, on the longer term, the market will finally be weeded out of its weakest players. The survivors could emerge stronger and the overall industry healthier. “Despite a slight reshuffle in the ranking, the top 5 companies by revenue in 2015 remained the same as in 2014. But 2 newcomers from China, TDG and JeShine appeared in the top 20,” asserts Eric Virey from Yole.

On the way to industry maturity, new applications such as µLED displays could emerge. While they won’t represent an opportunity of the same scale as display covers, they could offer nice upsides to the companies that can capture them.

In Yole’s sapphire report, a detailed analysis of company revenues per region and product type as well as the update on capacity for crystal growth, finished and PSS wafers with all major changes and information on dozens of existing and emerging players have been detailed. More information is available on i-micronews.com, LED reports section.

SEMI announced today that the deadline for presenters to submit an abstract for the annual SEMI Advanced Semiconductor Manufacturing Conference (ASMC) is October 17.  ASMC, which takes place May 15-18, 2017 in Saratoga Springs, New York, will feature technical presentations of more than 90+ peer-reviewed manuscripts covering critical process technologies and fab productivity. This year’s event features keynotes, a panel discussion, networking events, technical sessions on advanced semiconductor manufacturing, as well as educational tutorials.

ASMC, in its 28th year, continues to fill a critical need in our industry and provides a venue for industry professionals to network, learn and share knowledge on new and best-method semiconductor manufacturing practices and concepts.  Selected speakers have the opportunity to present in front of IC manufacturers, equipment manufacturers, materials suppliers, chief technology officers, operations managers, process engineers, product managers and academia. In addition to publication in the ASMC proceedings, select papers will be invited to participate in a special section of ASMC 2017 to be featured in IEEE Transactions on Semiconductor Manufacturing. Technical abstracts are due October 17, 2016. 

This year SEMI (www.semi.org) is including two new technology areas (3D/TSV/Interposer; Fabless Experience). SEMI is soliciting technical abstracts in these key technology areas:

  • Packaging and Through Silicon Via (3D/TSV)
  • Fabless Experience (FE)
  • Advanced Equipment Processes and Materials (AEPM)
  • Advanced Metrology
  • Advanced Patterning / Design for Manufacturability (AP/DFM)
  • Advanced Process Control (APC)
  • Contamination Free Manufacturing (CFM)
  • Defect Inspection and Reduction (DI)
  • Data Management and Data Mining Tools (DM)
  • Discrete Power Devices (DP)
  • Equipment Reliability and Productivity Enhancements (ER)
  • Enabling Technologies and Innovative Devices (ET/ID)
  • Factory Automation (FA)
  • Green Factory (GF)
  • Industrial Engineering (IE)
  • Lean Manufacturing (LM)
  • MOL and Junction Interfaces (MJ)
  • Smart Manufacturing (SM)
  • Yield Methodologies (YM)

Complete descriptions of each topic and author kit can be accessed at http://www.semi.org/en/node/38316.  If you would like to learn more about the conference and the selection process, please contact Margaret Kindling at [email protected] or call 1.202.393.5552.

Papers co-authored between device manufacturers, equipment or materials suppliers, and/or academic institutions that demonstrate innovative, practical solutions for advancing semiconductor manufacturing are highly encouraged.  To submit an abstract, click here.

Technical abstracts are due October 17, 2016.  To learn more about the SEMI Advanced Semiconductor Manufacturing Conference, visit http://www.semi.org/en/asmc2017.

The global market for gallium nitride (GaN) semiconductor devices is largely consolidated, with the top four companies commanding a share of over 65% of the overall market in 2015, states Transparency Market Research (TMR) in a new report. The dominant company among these four top vendors, Efficient Power Conversion Corporation, accounted for a 19.2% share of the global market in the said year. The other three topmost companies of the global market, which collectively enjoyed a considerably large share in the overall global market in the said year, are NXP Semiconductors N.V., GaN Systems Inc., and Cree Inc.

Looking at the on-going research and development activities undertaken in the market, attempts made to eliminate issues related to reliability of GaN semiconductors is expected to be an important area of focus of key vendors in the near future. Transparency Market Research states that the global GaN semiconductor devices market will expand at a high 17.0% CAGR over the period between 2016 and 2024. With such exponential growth, the market, which had a valuation of $870.9 mn in 2015, is projected to rise to $3,438.4 mn by 2024. Of the key end-use industries utilizing GaN semiconductors, the aerospace and defense sector dominates, accounting for a share of over 42% of the global market in 2015.

Rising set of applications and focus on R&D to boost demand in North America and Europe

North America and Europe are presently the dominant regional markets for GaN semiconductor devices and are expected to retain dominance over the next few years as well. The rising focus of the Europe Space Agency (ESA) on the increased usage of GaN semiconductors across space projects and the use of GaN-based transistors in the military and defense sectors in North America will help the GaN semiconductor devices market gain traction.

In the past few years, GaN technology has witnessed rapid advancements and vast improvement in the ability of GaN semiconductors to work under operating environments featuring high frequency, power density, and temperature with improved linearity and efficiency. These advancements has boosted the usage of GaN semiconductor devices across an increased set of applications and have played an important role in the market’s overall growth lately.

Along with this factor, the increased usage of GaN semiconductor devices in the defense sector has also emerged as a key driver of the global GaN semiconductor devices market. The continuous rise in defense budgets of developing and developed countries as well as the demand for inclusion of the technologically most advanced products in the arsenal of national and international armies will propel the global GaN semiconductor devices market in the near future.

Relatively higher costs of GaN semiconductor devices to hinder market growth

GaN semiconductors are relatively expensive as compared to silicon-based semiconductors owing to the high production costs of gallium nitride as compared to silicon carbide. Further addition in the cost of GaN semiconductors is ensued due to the high cost of fabrication, packaging, and support electronics. Silicon-based semiconductors have witnessed a significant decline in their costs over the past few years, making high cost of GaN semiconductors a foremost challenge that could hinder their large-scale adoption.

The issue can be tackled by producing GaN in bulk. However, there is currently no widespread method that can be used for the purpose owing to the requisition of high operating pressure and temperature and limited scalability of the material.

Fujitsu Semiconductor Limited and Mie Fujitsu Semiconductor Limited today announced that they have reached an agreement with US-based Nantero, Inc. to license that company’s technology for NRAM, non-volatile RAM using carbon nanotubes, and to conduct joint development towards releasing a product based on 55nm process technology.

Three companies are aiming to develop a product using NRAM non-volatile RAM that achieves several 1000 times faster rewrites and many thousands of times more rewrite cycles than embedded flash memory, making it potentially capable of replacing DRAM with non-volatile memory. Fujitsu Semiconductor plans to develop an NRAM-embedded custom LSI product by the end of 2018, with the goal of expanding the product line-up into stand-alone NRAM product after that. Mie Fujitsu Semiconductor, which is a pure-play foundry, plans to offer NRAM-based technology to its foundry customers.

“Non-volatile memory using Nantero’s carbon-nanotube technology is a marked advance beyond conventional technology,” said Masato Matsumiya, System Memory VP, Fujitsu Semiconductor. “Fujitsu Semiconductor has been designing and producing FRAM, a type of non-volatile RAM, since the late 90s, and is one of the few companies to have integrated FRAM design and production capabilities. We will be able to build on our experience and skill in this field to develop and produce NRAM as well. The combination of Nantero’s technology with our design and production capabilities promises to meet the longstanding needs of our customers for non-volatile memory that is higher density, faster, more energy efficiency, and with a higher rewrite cycle.”

FEI (NASDAQ: FEIC) today announced a milestone of the 1,000th Helios DualBeam system shipped since the product family was introduced in 2006. The 1,000th system was manufactured in FEI’s Brno plant and was shipped earlier this month to a semiconductor customer who is utilizing the system for advanced failure analysis on sub-20nm semiconductor devices.

The small DualBeam (SDB) platform combines a focused ion beam (FIB) and scanning electron microscope (SEM) to enable industry-leading three-dimensional (3D) characterization, analysis and image reconstruction, nano-prototyping (fabrication and testing), and high-quality transmission electron microscope (TEM) sample preparation for both research and industrial workflows. Originally developed for semiconductor manufacturing failure analysis, the Helios DualBeam has enabled many new applications and is now also widely used in the materials science, life sciences and oil & gas industries.

FEI CEO, Don Kania, states, “The Helios DualBeam family has been a very successful product. We have sold more Helios systems than any other product segment in our portfolio, and it has been adopted by a wide range of customers, with varying expertise levels, across all of our market segments.”

Throughout its history the Helios family has consistently led the field in performance and technological innovation. The most recent Helios platform is the 4th major revision in a decade — a remarkable record for a major instrumentation system. Each generation has offered substantial improvements over its predecessor and competitors, including higher resolution SEM columns, higher current and lower voltage FIB columns, and new gas chemistries to provide unprecedented levels of imaging quality and operational capability.

John Williams, vice president of marketing, FEI, adds, “We’ve pushed the envelope in the semiconductor industry to keep up with ever shrinking IC geometries. For example, in November of last year FEI’s Helios DualBeam was the first to market with a TEM sample preparation solution capable of making 7nm thick lamella, addressing the needs of our customers who are developing next-generation devices. This level of leadership has, in turn, catapulted the development of the DualBeam and our leadership in other industries. We introduced the DualBeam technology concept in the early 1990’s, and FEI has continued to lead its technological and application development ever since.”

FEI’s Brno manufacturing facility held an event on the 19th of August to celebrate the 1,000th shipment. To learn more about the Helios family, including model comparisons and its 10-year history of technological innovation, please visit: https://fei.com/helios-1000/.