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The Semiconductor Industry Association (SIA), representing U.S. leadership in semiconductor manufacturing, design, and research, today announced worldwide sales of semiconductors reached $37.7 billion for the month of November 2017, an increase of 21.5 percent compared to the November 2016 total of $31.0 billion and 1.6 percent more than the October 2017 total of $37.1 billion. All major regional markets posted both year-to-year and month-to-month sales increases in November, with the Americas market leading the way. All monthly sales numbers are compiled by the World Semiconductor Trade Statistics (WSTS) organization and represent a three-month moving average.

“The global semiconductor industry reached another key milestone in November, notching its highest-ever monthly sales, and appears poised to reach $400 billion in annual sales for the first time,” said SIA President & CEO John Neuffer. “Global market growth continues to be led by sales of memory products, but sales of all other major semiconductor categories also increased both month-to-month and year-to-year in November. All regional markets also experienced growth in November, with the Americas continuing to post the strongest gains.”

Regionally, year-to-year sales increased in the Americas (40.2 percent), Europe (18.8 percent), China (18.5 percent), Asia Pacific/All Other (16.2 percent), and Japan (10.6 percent). Month-to-month sales increased in the Americas (2.6 percent), China (2.1 percent), Europe (1.8 percent), Asia Pacific/All Other (0.5 percent), and Japan (0.3 percent).

To find out how to purchase the WSTS Subscription Package, which includes comprehensive monthly semiconductor sales data and detailed WSTS Forecasts, please visit http://www.semiconductors.org/industry_statistics/wsts_subscription_package/. For detailed data on the global and U.S. semiconductor industry and market, consider purchasing the 2017 SIA Databook: https://www.semiconductors.org/forms/sia_databook/.

Nov 2017

Billions

Month-to-Month Sales                              

Market

Last Month

Current Month

% Change

Americas

8.54

8.77

2.6%

Europe

3.37

3.43

1.8%

Japan

3.20

3.21

0.3%

China

11.65

11.90

2.1%

Asia Pacific/All Other

10.33

10.39

0.5%

Total

37.09

37.69

1.6%

Year-to-Year Sales                         

Market

Last Year

Current Month

% Change

Americas

6.25

8.77

40.2%

Europe

2.88

3.43

18.8%

Japan

2.90

3.21

10.6%

China

10.04

11.90

18.5%

Asia Pacific/All Other

8.94

10.39

16.2%

Total

31.02

37.69

21.5%

Three-Month-Moving Average Sales

Market

Jun/Jul/Aug

Sep/Oct/Nov

% Change

Americas

7.55

8.77

16.1%

Europe

3.22

3.43

6.4%

Japan

3.13

3.21

2.6%

China

11.08

11.90

7.4%

Asia Pacific/All Other

9.98

10.39

4.0%

Total

34.96

37.69

7.8%

The year-end update to the SEMI World Fab Forecast report reveals 2017 spending on fab equipment investments will reach an all-time high of $57 billion. High chip demand, strong pricing for memory, and fierce competition are driving the high-level of fab investments, with many companies investing at previously unseen levels for new fab construction and fab equipment. See figure 1.

Figure 1

Figure 1

The SEMI World Fab Forecast data shows fab equipment spending in 2017 totaling US$57 billion, an increase of 41 percent year-over-year (YoY). In 2018, spending is expected to increase 11 percent to US$63 billion.

While many companies, including Intel, Micron, Toshiba (and Western Digital), and GLOBALFOUNDRIES increased fab investments for 2017 and 2018, the strong increase reflects spending by just two companies and primarily one region.

SEMI data shows a surge of investments in Korea, due primarily to Samsung, which is expected to increase its fab equipment spending by 128 percent in 2017, from US$8 billion to US$18 billion. SK Hynix also increased fab equipment spending, by about 70 percent, to US$5.5 billion, the largest spending level in its history. While the majority of Samsung and SK Hynix spending remains in Korea, some will take place in China and the United States. Both Samsung and SK Hynix are expected to maintain high levels of investments in 2018. See figure 2.

Figure 2

Figure 2

In 2018, China is expected to begin equipping many fabs constructed in 2017. In the past, non-Chinese companies accounted for most fab investments in China. For the first time, in 2018 Chinese-owned device manufacturers will approach parity, spending nearly as much on fab equipment as their non-Chinese counterparts. In 2018, Chinese-owned companies are expected to invest about US$5.8 billion, while non-Chinese will invest US$6.7 billion. Many new companies such as Yangtze Memory Technology, Fujian Jin Hua, Hua Li, and Hefei Chang Xin Memory are investing heavily in the region.

Historic highs in equipment spending in 2017 and 2018 reflect growing demand for advanced devices. This spending follows unprecedented growth in construction spending for new fabs also detailed in the SEMI World Fab Forecast report. Construction spending will reach all-time highs with China construction spending taking the lead at US$6 billion in 2017 and US$6.6 billion in 2018, establishing another record: no region has ever spent more than US$6 billion in a single year for construction.

The global mask alignment systems market is expected to grow at a CAGR of more than 9% during the forecast period, according to Technavio’s latest market research.

In this market research report, Technavio covers the market outlook and growth prospects of the global mask alignment systems market for 2017-2021. The market is further categorized based on application (microelectromechanical system (MEMS) devices, compound semiconductors, and LED devices) and end-user (foundry, memory, and integrated device manufacturer (IDM)).

APAC: largest mask alignment systems market

APAC has the presence of several prominent semiconductor foundries such as Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC), Samsung, and SMIC. This has created demand for mask alignment systems in the region. The major revenue contributors to the mask alignment systems market in APAC are Taiwan, South Korea, and Japan. These countries contribute significantly to the market revenue as they are home to many leading semiconductor device manufacturers.

“In the APAC region, the presence of dominant players in the global consumer electronics and mobile devices markets such as Samsung, Sony, LG Electronics, Toshiba, and Panasonic is supporting the demand for semiconductor devices that include lithography equipment such as mask alignment systems. Furthermore, the major chip vendors in the region are investing in infrastructure development such as the construction of new fabs to increase the throughput,” says Rohan Joy Thomas, a lead semiconductor equipment research expert from Technavio.

Mask alignment systems market in EMEA

In EMEA, the demand for mask alignment systems comes mainly from companies such as Infineon Technologies, NXP Semiconductors, and STMicroelectronics. Germany and the UK are the major revenue contributors to the mask alignment systems market in EMEA due to the presence of several prominent automobile manufacturers such as AUDI, BMW, Daimler (Mercedes-Benz), and Volkswagen.

“The increased focus on safety, passenger comfort, and engine efficiency require more number of ICs and the fabrication of these ICs will need more semiconductor equipment, including mask alignment systems. This will fuel the growth of the mask alignment systems market in EMEA during the forecast period,” says Rohan.

Mask alignment systems market in the Americas

The Americas has a comparatively lower share than the other two regions. But, the Americas can expect some changes in its market share during the forecast period. Several prominent semiconductor vendors are headquartered in this region, even though their manufacturing facilities are in APAC (due to the cost-effectiveness of production in APAC). The governing authorities of the Americas are promising special packages in the form of subsidies and incentives to encourage manufacturers to bring back their production facilities to the Americas. The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act is an example of such initiatives.

The presence of prominent semiconductor manufacturers such as Global Foundries and Intel will create demand for lithography systems such as mask alignment systems during the forecast period. In addition, the region boasts of a few major car manufacturers that are looking to integrate semiconductor devices and components into their products. This will also create demand for semiconductor production equipment such as mask alignment systems from the region during the forecast period

The top vendors in the global mask alignment systems market as highlighted in this market research analysis are:

  • EV Group
  • Neutronix
  • SUSS Microtek

 

Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. announced today that it has begun mass producing the industry’s first 2nd-generation of 10-nanometer class (1y-nm), 8-gigabit (Gb) DDR4. For use in a wide range of next-generation computing systems, the new 8Gb DDR4 features the highest performance and energy efficiency for an 8Gb DRAM chip, as well as the smallest dimensions.

Samsung_1y-nm_8Gb_DDR4_Chp+Mod

“By developing innovative technologies in DRAM circuit design and process, we have broken through what has been a major barrier for DRAM scalability,” said Gyoyoung Jin, president of Memory Business at Samsung Electronics. “Through a rapid ramp-up of the 2nd-generation 10nm-class DRAM, we will expand our overall 10nm-class DRAM production more aggressively, in order to accommodate strong market demand and continue to strengthen our business competitiveness.”

Samsung’s 2nd-generation 10nm-class 8Gb DDR4 features an approximate 30 percent productivity gain over the company’s 1st-generation 10nm-class 8Gb DDR4. In addition, the new 8Gb DDR4’s performance levels and energy efficiency have been improved about 10 and 15 percent respectively, thanks to the use of an advanced, proprietary circuit design technology. The new 8Gb DDR4 can operate at 3,600 megabits per second (Mbps) per pin, compared to 3,200 Mbps of the company’s 1x-nm 8Gb DDR4.

To enable these achievements, Samsung has applied new technologies, without the use of an EUV process. The innovation here includes use of a high-sensitivity cell data sensing system and a progressive “air spacer” scheme.

In the cells of Samsung’s 2nd-generation 10nm-class DRAM, a newly devised data sensing system enables a more accurate determination of the data stored in each cell, which leads to a significant increase in the level of circuit integration and manufacturing productivity.

The new 10nm-class DRAM also makes use of a unique air spacer that has been placed around its bit lines to dramatically decrease parasitic capacitance**. Use of the air spacer enables not only a higher level of scaling, but also rapid cell operation.

With these advancements, Samsung is now accelerating its plans for much faster introductions of next-generation DRAM chips and systems, including DDR5, HBM3, LPDDR5 and GDDR6, for use in enterprise servers, mobile devices, supercomputers, HPC systems and high-speed graphics cards.

Samsung has finished validating its 2nd-generation 10nm-class DDR4 modules with CPU manufacturers, and next plans to work closely with its global IT customers in the development of more efficient next-generation computing systems.

In addition, the world’s leading DRAM producer expects to not only rapidly increase the production volume of the 2nd-generation 10nm-class DRAM lineups, but also to manufacture more of its mainstream 1st-generation 10nm-class DRAM, which together will meet the growing demands for DRAM in premium electronic systems worldwide.

QuickLogic Corporation (NASDAQ: QUIK), a developer of ultra-low power multi-core voice-enabled SoCs, embedded FPGA IP, display bridge and programmable logic solutions, announced that it has collaborated with Mentor, a Siemens business, to provide a seamless design and development environment for its embedded FPGA (eFPGA) technology. Specifically, Mentor’s Precision Synthesis software has been optimized to support the QuickLogic ArcticProTM architecture used in the company’s eFPGA IP.

QuickLogic will distribute this new version of Precision Synthesis as part of its Aurora development tool suite to provide high performance synthesis technology to eFPGA designers in their next SoC with embedded FPGA IP. The combination of the two tool sets will deliver a seamless development environment supporting a complete design flow, from RTL to programming bitstream, for the embedded FPGA portion of the design.

The tools from both companies have been tuned for implementation efficiency and design performance to enable the effective targeting of designs to the eFPGA IP. By embedding eFPGA technology, SoC developers gain post-manufacturing design flexibility to support design fixes, upgrades, market variants, and rapidly evolving standards or market requirements.

“We are pleased to collaborate with Mentor to give our customers complete design flow support for our eFPGA technology,” said Mao Wang, director of product marketing at QuickLogic Corporation. “Mentor has done an excellent job in enabling their Precision Synthesis software to generate an optimized synthesis netlist for the QuickLogic ArcticPro-based eFPGA architecture.”

“QuickLogic’s eFPGA IP has the potential to be a transformative technology for our SoC customers, and we are looking forward to delivering an outstanding synthesis solution for their Aurora development tools and a continued growth in our partnership,” said Ellie Burns, director of marketing, Calypto Systems Division at Mentor.

Mentor’s Precision Synthesis and QuickLogic Aurora development tools supporting QuickLogic’s eFPGA technology are both available now from QuickLogic Corporation.

Industry enters the age of WOW


December 13, 2017

By Christian G. Dieseldorff, Industry Research & Statistics Group, SEMI, Milpitas, California

The semiconductor industry has been there before, with large increases in investments followed by dramatic downturns. While the most dramatic downturns, 2001 and 2009, were due to, in a large part, acro-economic factors, the industry has typically observed one to two years of increased investment spending followed by a down period. This time around, the industry will achieve a “WOW” with three consecutive years of fab investment growth, a pattern not observed since the mid-1990s.

Why are things different this time?  A diverse array of technology drivers promise more robust long-term growth, such as Mobile applications, Internet of Things (IoT), Automotive & Robotics, Industrial, Augmented Reality & Virtual Reality (AR&VR), Artificial Intelligence (AI), and 5G networking. Each of these new technologies inspires a big “WOW” as the industry embarks on the beginning of a promising journey of growth.

Driven by these technologies, on average the semiconductor revenue CAGR from 2016 to 2021 is forecasted to be 6 percent (in comparison to the previous 2011-2016 CAGR of 2.3 percent). For the first time in the industry’s history, semiconductor revenues will exceed the US$400 billion revenue milestone in 2017. Demand for chips is high, pricing is strong for memory, and the competition is fierce. All of this is spurring increased fab investments, with many companies investing at previously unseen levels for new fab construction and fab equipment. See Figure 1.

Figure 1

Figure 1

The World Fab Forecast report, published on December 4, 2017, by SEMI, is modeling that fab equipment spending in 2017 will total US$57 billion or 41 percent year-over-year (YoY) growth. In 2018, spending is expected to shoot up another 11 percent at US$63 billion. The two spending jumps in 2017 and 2018 are contributing to the “WOW” factor and to two consecutive years of record fab investments. Following historic large investments, some slowdown is expected for 2019.

Many companies, such as Intel, Micron, Toshiba (and Western Digital), and GLOBALFOUNDRIES, have increased fab investments in 2017 and 2018; however, the strong increases we see in both years are not caused by these companies but by one company and primarily one region. See Figure 2.

Figure 2

Figure 2

The first jump – a Big WOW – in 2017 is the surge of investments in Korea, due mainly to Samsung. Samsung is expected to increase its fab equipment spending by 128 percent in 2017 from US$8 billion to US$18 billion. No single company has invested so much in a single year in its fabs and much of its spending is in Korea. SK Hynix also increased fab equipment spending, by about 70 percent, to US$5.5 billion, its largest spending level in its history.  While the bulk of Samsung’s and SK Hynix’s spending remains in Korea, some will also go to China, and in the case of Samsung to the United States. Both Samsung and SK Hynix are expected to maintain high levels of investments for 2018.

The second jump – another WOW – is investment growth for 2018 in China. China is expected to begin equipping the many fabs that were constructed in 2017. In the past, non-Chinese companies made the majority of the fab investments in China but for the first time in 2018, Chinese-owned companies will approach parity, spending nearly as much on fab equipment as non-Chinese device manufacturers.

Between 2013 and 2017, fab equipment spending in China by Chinese-owned companies typically ranged between US$1.5 billion to US$2.5 Billion per year, while non-Chinese companies invested between US$2.5 billion to US$5 billion per year. In 2018, Chinese-owned companies are expected to invest about US$5.8 billion, while non-Chinese will invest US$6.7 billion. Many new companies such as Yangtze Memory Technology, Fujian Jin Hua, Hua Li, and Hefei Chang Xin Memory are investing heavily in the region.

New fabs being built

Historic highs in equipment spending in 2017 and 2018 reflect growing demand. This spending follows unprecedented growth in construction spending for new fabs also detailed in SEMI’s World Fab Forecast report. Construction spending will reach all-time highs with China construction spending taking the lead: US$6 billion in 2017 and US$6.6 billion in 2018, shattering another record – no region has ever spent more than US$6 billion in a single year for construction. More new fabs mean another wave of spending on equipping fabs in the next few years. See Figure 3.

Fab-forecast-Chart3

Figure 3

Considering all of these “WOW” factors, there is good reason to feel positive about the semiconductor industry. Even with a slowdown, the industry has and will continue to enjoy a positive outlook for long-term growth. In the meantime, hold on tight and enjoy the “WOW.”

More details are available in SEMI’s just-published World Fab Forecast, December 4, 2017, edition which covers quarterly data (spending, capacity, technology nodes, wafer sizes, and product types) per fab until end of 2018.

Throughout 2017, DRAM manufacturers faced pressure to boost output of their devices—particularly high-performance DRAM used in data center servers, and low-power high-density DRAM used in smartphones and other mobile products. Strong, ongoing demand put significant upward pressure on DRAM average selling prices.  This trend continued into 4Q17 and is expected to drive quarterly DRAM sales to an all time high mark of $21.1 billion (Figure 1), capping an incredible year of growth in which DRAM sales set a new all time high sales mark each quarter. The forecast $21.1 billion sales level in 4Q17 would be an increase of 65% compared to the $12.8 billion DRAM market of 4Q16.

Figure 1

Figure 1

Annual DRAM market growth of 74% is forecast for 2017, which would be the highest growth rate since the 78% increase in 1994—23 years ago—and 61 points more than the 13% average DRAM market growth rate from 1993-2017 (Figure 2).  The expected 74% DRAM market growth in 2017 will mark the fourth time since 1993 that the DRAM market has increased by more than 50%.  This near-historic high market spike in 2017 was brought on by several factors, including constrained supply attributed to a lack of major fab expansion plans, yield difficulties with leading-edge (≤20nm) processes, demand for high performance (graphics) DRAM from gaming systems and data center-based server applications, and increased average content for mobile DRAM used in smartphones.

Figure 2

Figure 2

There is an increasing need for high-speed but inexpensive data storage in smartphone handsets for multi-tasking, which is boosting the average DRAM content in a smartphone.  The Apple iPhone 8 features 2GB of DRAM and the iPhone X has 3GB of DRAM.  The Samsung Galaxy S8 is sold with 4GB of DRAM (6GB in China).  Huawei’s P10 Plus, and HTC’s U11 come with 6GB of DRAM.  The One Plus 5 model and the first smartphone from Razer, a Singapore-based company that is primarily known for its video game equipment, have 8GB of DRAM.

With virtual and augmented reality and artificial intelligence becoming prominent features on new smartphones and apps, DRAM content in high-end smartphones shows no signs of slowing.  Meanwhile, DRAM growth for smartphones is also stemming from less developed countries, where much of the population is moving from feature phones to their first smartphone—literally transitioning from zero to 1GB of mobile DRAM.

Based on historical trends, the DRAM industry will likely experience a decline (possibly a big market decline) in its growth rate in the not-too-distant future as prices begin to tumble with significant capacity additions and an increase in DRAM output expected over the next year or two.  Announcements by Samsung and SK Hynix in the second half of 2017 confirmed that new DRAM capacity is set to come online in 2018, which likely will ease the upward trend of DRAM ASPs next year.  Samsung has stated its semiconductor capital expenditure budget for 2017 will be an enormous $26.0 billion, and SK Hynix has announced plans to build a new manufacturing line at its massive facility in Wuxi, China.  Micron has gone on record as saying it doubts that it will ever need to build another new DRAM fab, but it is hard to imagine that Micron will sit still as its two fiercest rivals capture additional marketshare.  (For the record, Micron and Intel are developing Crosspoint memory as a potential replacement for DRAM).

Today, SEMI, the global industry association representing the electronics manufacturing supply chain, released its Year-end Forecast at the annual SEMICON Japan exposition. SEMI projects that worldwide sales of new semiconductor manufacturing equipment will increase 35.6 percent to US$55.9 billion in 2017, marking the first time that the semiconductor equipment market has exceeded the previous market high of US$47.7 billion set in 2000. In 2018, 7.5 percent growth is expected to result in sales of US$60.1 billion for the global semiconductor equipment market – another record-breaking year.

The SEMI Year-end Forecast predicts a 37.5 percent increase in 2017, to $45.0 billion, for wafer processing equipment. The other front-end segment, which consists of fab facilities equipment, wafer manufacturing, and mask/reticle equipment, is expected to increase 45.8 percent to $2.6 billion. The assembly and packaging equipment segment is projected to grow by 25.8 percent to $3.8 billion in 2017, while semiconductor test equipment is forecast to increase by 22.0 percent to $4.5 billion this year.

In 2017, South Korea will be the largest equipment market for the first time. After maintaining the top spot for five years, Taiwan will place second, while China will come in third. All regions tracked will experience growth, with the exception of Rest of World (primarily Southeast Asia). South Korea will lead in growth with 132.6 percent, followed by Europe at 57.2 percent, and Japan at 29.9 percent.

SEMI forecasts that in 2018, equipment sales in China will climb the most, 49.3 percent, to $11.3 billion, following 17.5 percent growth in 2017. In 2018, South Korea, China, and Taiwan are forecast to remain the top three markets, with South Korea maintaining the top spot at $16.9 billion. China is forecast to become the second largest market at $11.3 billion, while equipment sales to Taiwan are expected to approach $11.3 billion.

The following results are in terms of market size in billions of U.S. dollars:

equipment forecast

With BOE, China Star, LG Display and Foxconn expected to build seven new Generation 10.5 factories by 2020, Gen 10 and larger fab flat panel display (FPD) capacity is expected to grow at a compound annual growth rate of 59 percent between 2017 and 2022, according to IHS Markit (Nasdaq: INFO).

FPD_capacity_dedicated_to_production_of_large_are_applications

“The majority of all new incremental capacity for producing FPD televisions and other large area applications will be added at Gen 10.5 in the future,” said Charles Annis, senior director at IHS Markit. “The new Gen 10.5 fabs will install 735,000 substrates per month of capacity by the end of 2022. This is enough capacity to produce more than 60 million 65-inch televisions a year.”

Gen 8 and 8.6 fabs that currently account for the bulk of large-area dedicated supply were designed to produce 55- and 58-inch panels respectively, but suffer from inefficiency at bigger sizes. Now with premium televisions rapidly moving to larger sizes as prices fall, FPD makers are racing to build Gen 10.5 factories that are highly optimized for 65- and 75-inch panels.

Gen 10.5 factories, which use enormous 2940 x 3370 mm glass substrates, require high capital outlays to construct. Based on panel makers’ public announcements, total project costs of a Gen 10.5 LCD fab with a monthly capacity of 60,000 substrates will range between $3.4 billion and $6 billion, varying by maker and process to be adopted. To help finance such expensive factories panel makers in most cases are turning to regional governments for support.

Outfitting these fabs is creating unprecedented opportunities for the supply chain that supports them, particularly for equipment makers. According to the Display Supply Demand & Equipment Tracker by IHS Markit, FPD equipment spending will reach a record high of more than $20 billion in 2018, of which new Gen 10.5 factories are a major contributing factor.

As the many new Gen 10.5 factories begin to ramp-up, IHS Markit expects 65-inch and larger panel prices will fall continuously, about 5 percent annually. Subsequently, demand for this high-end segment of the FPD market is forecast to expand 2.5 times to approximately 40 million units in 2022.

“Sixty-five-inch and larger panels are predicted to be one of the fastest growing segments of the FPD market over the next five years. Even so, with so many new Gen 10.5 factories being built, capacity is forecast to surge ahead of demand,” Annis said. “After 2020, smaller than Gen 10 capacity is expected to start to decline as legacy factories are shuttered. The 735,000 substrates per month of Gen 10.5 capacity in the pipeline will not only dramatically increase FPD capacity, but will also shift industry leadership towards to the four companies that are building them.”

By Inna Skvortsova, SEMI

Electromagnetic interference (EMI) is an increasingly important topic across the global electronics manufacturing supply chain.  Progressively smaller geometries of ICs, lower supply voltages, and higher data rates all make devices and processes more vulnerable to EMI. Electrical noise, EMI-induced signal generated by equipment, and factors such as power line transients affect manufacturing processes, from wafer handling to wire bonding to PCB assembly and test, causing millions of dollars in losses to the industry. Furthermore, conducted emission capable of causing electrical overstress (EOS) can damage sensitive semiconductor devices.  Intel consistently names EOS as the “number one source of damage to IC components.” (Intel® Manufacturing Enabling Guide 2001, 2010, 2016).

While EMC (Electromagnetic Compatibility) standards, such as the European EMC Directive and FCC Testing and Certification, etc. provide limits on allowed emission levels of equipment, once the equipment is installed along with other tools, the EMI levels in actual operating environments can be substantially different and therefore impact the equipment operation, performance, and reliability. For example, (i) Occasional transients induce “extra” pulses in rotary feedback of the servo motor which in time contributes to robotic arm’s erroneous position eventually damaging the wafer; (ii) Combination of high-frequency noise from servo motors and switched mode power supplies in the tool creates difference in voltage between the bonding wire/funnel and the device which causes high current and eventual electrical overstress to the devices; (iii) Wafer probe test provides inconsistent results due to high level of EMI on the wafer chuck caused by a combination of several servo motors in the wafer handler.  Field cases like these illustrate the gap between EMC test requirements and real-life EMI tolerance levels and its impact on semiconductor manufacturing and handling.

EMI on AC power lines

EMI on AC power lines

New standard, SEMI E176-1017, Guide to Assess and Minimize Electromagnetic Interference (EMI) in a Semiconductor Manufacturing Environment, developed by the NA Chapter of the Global Metrics Technical Committee bridges this gap. Targeted to IC manufacturers and anyone handling semiconductor devices, such as PCB assembly and integration of electronic devices, SEMI E176 is a practical guide as well as an educational document. SEMI E176 provides a concise summary of EMI origins, EMI propagation, measurement techniques and recommendations on mitigation of undesirable electromagnetic emission to enable equipment co-existence and proper operation as well as reduction of EOS in its intended usage environment. Specifically, E176 provides recommended levels for different types of EMI based on IC geometries.

“SEMI E176 is likely the only active Standard in the entire industry providing recommendations on both acceptable levels of EMI in manufacturing environments and the means of achieving and maintaining these numbers,” said Vladimir Kraz, co-Chair of the NA Metrics Technical Committee and president of OnFILTER, Inc. “E176 is also unique because it is not limited just to semiconductor manufacturing, but has application across other industries.  Back-end assembly and test, as well as PCB assembly are just as affected by EMI and can benefit from SEMI E176 implementation as there are strong similarities between handling of semiconductor devices in IC manufacturing and in PCB assemblies and prevention of defects is often shared between IC and PCBA manufacturers.”

The newly published SEMI E176 and recently updated SEMI E33-0217, Guide for Semiconductor Manufacturing Equipment Electromagnetic Compatibility (EMC),provide complete documentation for establishing and maintaining low EMI levels in the manufacturing environment.

Undesirable emission has operational, liability and regulatory consequences.  Taming it is a challenging task and requires a comprehensive approach that starts from proper system design practices and ends with developing EMI expertise in the field.  The new SEMI 176 provides practical guidance on reducing EMI to the levels necessary for effective high yield semiconductor manufacturing today and in the future.

SEMI Standards development activities take place throughout the year in all major manufacturing regions. To get involved, join the SEMI International Standards Program at: www.semi.org/standardsmembership.