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Scientists at the U.S. Department of Energy’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) reported significant advances in the thermoelectric performance of organic semiconductors based on carbon nanotube thin films that could be integrated into fabrics to convert waste heat into electricity or serve as a small power source.

The research demonstrates significant potential for semiconducting single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWCNTs) as the primary material for efficient thermoelectric generators, rather than being used as a component in a “composite” thermoelectric material containing, for example, carbon nanotubes and a polymer. The discovery is outlined in the new Energy & Environmental Science paper, Large n- and p-type thermoelectric power factors from doped semiconducting single-walled carbon nanotube thin films.

“There are some inherent advantages to doing things this way,” said Jeffrey Blackburn, a senior scientist in NREL’s Chemical and Materials Science and Technology center and co-lead author of the paper with Andrew Ferguson. These advantages include the promise of solution-processed semiconductors that are lightweight and flexible and inexpensive to manufacture. Other NREL authors are Bradley MacLeod, Rachelle Ihly, Zbyslaw Owczarczyk, and Katherine Hurst. The NREL authors also teamed with collaborators from the University of Denver and partners at International Thermodyne, Inc., based in Charlotte, N.C.

Ferguson, also a senior scientist in the Chemical and Materials Science and Technology center, said the introduction of SWCNT into fabrics could serve an important function for “wearable” personal electronics. By capturing body heat and converting it into electricity, the semiconductor could power portable electronics or sensors embedded in clothing.

Blackburn and Ferguson published two papers last year on SWCNTs, and the new research builds on their earlier work. The first paper, in Nature Energy, showed the potential that SWCNTs have for thermoelectric applications, but the films prepared in this study retained a large amount of insulating polymer. The second paper, in ACS Energy Letters, demonstrated that removing this “sorting” polymer from an exemplary SWNCT thin film improved thermoelectric properties.

The newest paper revealed that removing polymers from all SWCNT starting materials served to boost the thermoelectric performance and lead to improvements in how charge carriers move through the semiconductor. The paper also demonstrated that the same SWCNT thin film achieved identical performance when doped with either positive or negative charge carriers. These two types of material–called the p-type and the n-type legs, respectively–are needed to generate sufficient power in a thermoelectric device. Semiconducting polymers, another heavily studied organic thermoelectric material, typically produce n-type materials that perform much worse than their p-type counterparts. The fact that SWCNT thin films can make p-type and n-type legs out of the same material with identical performance means that the electrical current in each leg is inherently balanced, which should simplify the fabrication of a device. The highest performing materials had performance metrics that exceed current state-of-the-art solution-processed semiconducting polymer organic thermoelectrics materials.

“We could actually fabricate the device from a single material,” Ferguson said. “In traditional thermoelectric materials you have to take one piece that’s p-type and one piece that’s n-type and then assemble those into a device.”

More than a dozen product categories in optoelectronics, sensors and actuators, and discretes semiconductors (O-S-D) are on track to set record-high annual sales this year, according to a new update of IC Insights’ 2017 O-S-D Report—A Market Analysis and Forecast for Optoelectronics, Sensors/Actuators, and Discrete Semiconductors.  Driven by the expansion of the Internet of Things (IoT), increasing levels of intelligent embedded controls, and some inventory replenishment in commodity discretes, the diverse O-S-D marketplace is having a banner year with combined sales across all three semiconductor segments expected to grow 10.5% in 2017 to a record-high $75.0 billion, says the O-S-D Report update.

In 2017, above average sales growth rates are being achieved in all but one major O-S-D product category—lamp devices, which are now expected to be flat in 2017 because of continued price erosion in light-emitting diodes (LEDs) for solid-state lighting applications.  Figure 1 compares annual growth rates in five major O-S-D product categories, based on the updated 2017 sales projection.

Figure 1

Figure 1

For the first time since 2014, all three O-S-D market segments are on pace to see sales growth in 2017. Moreover, 2017 is expected to be the first year since 2011 when all three O-S-D market segments set record-high annual sales volumes, according to IC Insights’ update.

The 2017 double-digit percent increase will be the highest growth rate for combined O-S-D sales since the strong 2010 recovery from the 2009 semiconductor downturn that coincided with the 2008-2009 financial crisis and global economic recession.  Total O-S-D revenues are now forecast to reach a ninth consecutive annual record high level of $80.5 billion in 2018, which will be a 7.4% increase from 2017 sales, says the O-S-D Report update.

After a rare decline of 3.6% in 2016, optoelectronics is recovering this year with sales now projected to grow 8.1% in 2017 to an all-time high of $36.7 billion, thanks to strong double-digit sales increases in CMOS image sensors (+22%), light sensors (+19%), optical-network laser transmitters (+15%), and infrared devices (+14%).

Meanwhile, record-high revenues for sensors and actuators are being fueled by the expansion of IoT and new automated controls in a wide range of systems—including more self-driving features in cars. Sensors/actuator sales are now expected to climb 17.5% in 2017 to $13.9 billion, marking the strongest growth year for this market segment since 2010.  Sales of sensors and actuators made with microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) technology are forecast to rise by 18.5% in 2017 to a record-high $11.6 billion.  The O-S-D Report update shows all-time high sales being reached in 2017 with strong double-digit growth in actuators (+20%), pressure sensor, including MEMS microphone chips (+18%), and acceleration/yaw sensors (+17%).

Even the commodity-filled discretes market is thriving in 2017 with worldwide sales projected to rise 10.3% to $24.1 billion, which will finally surpass the current peak of $23.4 billion set in 2011.  Sales of power transistors, which account for more than half of the discretes market segment, are forecast to grow 9.0% in 2017 to a record-high $14.0 billion, according to the new O-S-D Report update.

The number of connected Internet of Things (IoT) devices worldwide will jump 12 percent on average annually, from nearly 27 billion in 2017 to 125 billion in 2030, according to new analysis from IHS Markit (Nasdaq: INFO).

In a new free ebook entitled “The Internet of Things: a movement, not a market,” IHS Markit details how the IoT is revolutionizing the competitive landscape by transforming everyday business practices and opening new windows of opportunity.

According to the ebook, global data transmissions are expected to increase from 20 to 25 percent annually to 50 percent per year, on average, in the next 15 years.

“The emerging IoT movement is impacting virtually all stages of industry and nearly all market areas — from raw materials to production to distribution and even the consumption of final goods,” said Jenalea Howell, research director for IoT connectivity and smart cities at IHS Markit. “This represents a constantly evolving movement of profound change in how humans interact with machines, information and even each other.”

IHS Markit has identified four foundational, interconnected pillars at the core of the IoT movement: connect, collect, compute and create. The entire IoT is built upon these four innovational pillars:

  • New connections of devices and information
  • Enhanced collection of data that grows from the connections of devices and information
  • Advanced computation that transforms collected data into new possibilities
  • Unique creation of new interactions, business models and solutions.

“While internet-connected devices hold tremendous potential, many companies are having difficulty identifying a consistent IoT strategy,” Howell said. “The four Cs of IoT — connect, collect, compute, create — offer a pathway to navigate and take advantage of the changes and opportunities brought about by the IoT revolution.”

Silicon has provided enormous benefits to the power electronics industry. But performance of silicon-based power electronics is nearing maximum capacity.

Enter wide bandgap (WBG) semiconductors. Seen as significantly more energy-efficient, they have emerged as leading contenders in developing field-effect transistors (FETs) for next-generation power electronics. Such FET technology would benefit everything from power-grid distribution of renewable-energy sources to car and train engines.

Diamond is largely recognized as the most ideal material in WBG development, owing to its superior physical properties, which allow devices to operate at much higher temperatures, voltages and frequencies, with reduced semiconductor losses.

A main challenge, however, in realizing the full potential of diamond in an important type of FET — namely, metal-oxide-semiconductor field-effect transistors (MOSFETs) — is the ability to increase the hole channel carrier mobility. This mobility, related to the ease with which current flows, is essential for the on-state current of MOSFETs.

Researchers from France, the United Kingdom and Japan incorporate a new approach to solve this problem by using the deep-depletion regime of bulk-boron-doped diamond MOSFETs. The new proof of concept enables the production of simple diamond MOSFET structures from single boron-doped epilayer stacks. This new method, specific to WBG semiconductors, increases the mobility by an order of magnitude. The results are published this week in Applied Physics Letters, from AIP Publishing.

Left: Optical microscope image of the MOSCAPs and diamond deep depletion MOSFETs (D2MOSFETs) of this work. Top right: Scanning electron microscope image of a diamond D2MOSFET under electrical investigation. S: Source, G: Gate, D: Drain. Bottom right: D2MOSFET concept. The on-state of the transistor is ensured thanks to the accumulation or flat band regime. The high mobility channel is the boron-doped diamond epilayer. The off-state is achieved thanks to the deep depletion regime, which is stable only for wide bandgap semiconductors. For a gate voltage larger than a given threshold, the channel is closed because of the deeply and fully depleted layer under the gate. Credit: Institut NÉEL

Left: Optical microscope image of the MOSCAPs and diamond deep depletion MOSFETs (D2MOSFETs) of this work. Top right: Scanning electron microscope image of a diamond D2MOSFET under electrical investigation. S: Source, G: Gate, D: Drain. Bottom right: D2MOSFET concept. The on-state of the transistor is ensured thanks to the accumulation or flat band regime. The high mobility channel is the boron-doped diamond epilayer. The off-state is achieved thanks to the deep depletion regime, which is stable only for wide bandgap semiconductors. For a gate voltage larger than a given threshold, the channel is closed because of the deeply and fully depleted layer under the gate. Credit: Institut NÉEL

In a typical MOSFET structure, an oxide layer and then a metal gate are formed on top of a semiconductor, which in this case is diamond. By applying a voltage to the metal gate, the carrier density, and hence the conductivity, of the diamond region just under the gate, the channel, can be changed dramatically. The ability to use this electric “field-effect” to control the channel conductivity and switch MOSFETS from conducting (on-state) to highly insulating (off-state) drives their use in power control applications. Many of the diamond MOSFETs demonstrated to date rely on a hydrogen-terminated diamond surface to transfer positively charged carriers, known as holes, into the channel. More recently, operation of oxygen terminated diamond MOS structures in an inversion regime, similar to the common mode of operation of silicon MOSFETS, has been demonstrated. The on-state current of a MOSFET is strongly dependent on the channel mobility and in many of these MOSFET designs, the mobility is sensitive to roughness and defect states at the oxide diamond interface where unwanted carrier scattering occurs.

To address this issue, the researchers explored a different mode of operation, the deep-depletion concept. To build their MOSFET, the researchers deposited a layer of aluminum oxide (Al2O3) at 380 degrees Celsius over an oxygen-terminated thick diamond epitaxial layer. They created holes in the diamond layer by incorporating boron atoms into the layer. Boron has one less valence electron than carbon, so including it leaves a missing electron which acts like the addition of a positive charge, or hole. The bulk epilayer functioned as a thick conducting hole channel. The transistor was switched from the on-state to the off-state by application of a voltage which repelled and depleted the holes — the deep depletion region. In silicon-based transistors, this voltage would have also resulted in formation of an inversion layer and the transistor would not have turned off. The authors were able to demonstrate that the unique properties of diamond, and in particular the large band gap, suppressed formation of the inversion layer allowing operation in the deep depletion regime.

“We fabricated a transistor in which the on-state is ensured by the bulk channel conduction through the boron-doped diamond epilayer,” said Julien Pernot, a researcher at the NEEL Institute in France and an author of the paper. “The off-state is ensured by the thick insulating layer induced by the deep-depletion regime. Our proof of concept paves the way in fully exploiting the potential of diamond for MOSFET applications.” The researchers plan to produce these structures through their new startup called DiamFab.

Pernot observed that similar principles of this work could apply to other WBG semiconductors. “Boron is the doping solution for diamond,” Pernot said, “but other dopant impurities would likely be suitable to enable other wide bandgap semiconductors to reach a stable deep-depletion regime.”

On October 26, China’s first Gen6 flexible AMOLED line – BOE Chengdu Gen6 flexible AMOLED production line has put into mass production in advance. The production line is built by BOE Technology Group Co., Ltd, a developer in semiconductor display industry as well as an IoT technologies, products and services supplier. The production line’s mass production and products delivery indicate that Chinese enterprises begin to lead the development of the global AMOLED industry in the new display era.

BOE flexible AMOLED display panel

BOE flexible AMOLED display panel

In recent years, Chinese enterprises are accelerating their layouts in new display areas, becoming a crucial base of the global semiconductor display industry. BOE built ChengduGen6 flexible AMOLED production line, which is China’s first full flexible AMOLED line, as well as the world’s second Gen6 flexible AMOLED line that has put into mass production. The line adopts the world’s most advanced evaporation technology and thin film encapsulation technology, making it possible for the display panels to be curved, bendable and foldable.

It is said that BOE Chengdu Gen6 flexible AMOLED production line mainly produces display panels used in mobile terminal products, smart wearable devices and other display products. On the mass production ceremony, BOE delivers its flexible AMOLED display panels to more than ten customers including Huawei, OPPO, vivo, Xiaomi, ZTE and Nubia, enabling more possibilities for future application innovation.

In the flexible AMOLED field, in addition to BOE Chengdu Gen6 flexible AMOLED line that has put into mass production, BOE’s other Gen6 flexible AMOLED line in Mianyang will be put into operation in 2019.

BOE Chief Executive Officer Chen Yanshun said: “BOE has always been providing customers with more innovative, competitive products and solutions. The smooth mass production of Chengdu Gen6 flexible AMOLED line will greatly enhance the company’s comprehensive competitiveness in high-performance mobile phones, mobile displays and other products, so as to meet the market’s growing demands for small and medium-sized high-performance display products, which is of epoch-making significance for accelerating development of Chinese OLED industry and global flexible display industry.”

“The GaN market promises an imminent growth”, announced Dr. Ana Villamor, Technology & Market Analyst from Yole Développement (Yole). “2015 and 2016 have been undoubtedly exciting years for the GaN power business. We project the explosion of the market with 84% CAGR between 2017 and 2022. The market value will so reach US$ 450 million at the end of the period.” What makes the power GaN technology so promising?

The “More than Moore” market research and strategy consulting company Yole pursued its investigations based on numerous exchanges with power GaN companies and thanks to its participation to leading conferences. Yole announces this month the Power GaN 2017: Epitaxy, Devices, Applications, and Technology Trends report. Things are going on the right way: the power GaN supply chain prepares for production and 2017 has been showing significant investments that confirm the added-value of power GaN technology and its strong potential in numerous applications. The new Power GaN analysis conveys Yole’s understanding of GaN implementation and details the different market segments, the related drivers, metrics and technical roadmaps.

In 2016 the power GaN market reached US$ 12 million: it is still a small market compared to the impressive US$ 30 billion silicon power semiconductor market. However its expected growth in the short term is showing the enormous potential of the power GaN technology based on its suitability for high performance and high frequency solutions.

“LiDAR, wireless power and envelope tracking are high-end low/medium voltage applications, and GaN is the only existing technology able to meet their requirements,” explained Ana Villamor from Yole. “Beginning of the year, Velodyne Lidar opened a ‘megafactory’ to ramp up the latest 3D sensor for LiDAR manufacturing and this October they already announced a fourfold production increase.”
Other major companies, like Apple and Starbucks, started offering wireless charging solutions. Moreover, since 2016, EPC has been working with Taiwan’s JJPlus Corporation to accelerate the wireless charging market’s growth. The power supply segment is still the biggest application for GaN. The data center market is adopting GaN solutions with a phenomenal speed, driving a 114% CAGR for power supplies through to 2022. Existing solutions from Texas Instruments and EPC for data centers, consisting of a DC/DC converter and point of load supply that steps down the voltage from 48 V to 1.2 V in a single chip, will propel the market. AC/DC power adapters for laptops or smartphones can be also implemented with GaN power IC solutions, which further reduces the size and cost of the system.

Therefore the consumer market is expected to grow during coming years and Yole’s analysts envisage two different scenarios, depending on the acceptance in key markets like AC/DC adapters for laptops and cellphones.

GaN needs to hurry to gain adoption in the EV/HEV market because SiC MOSFETs are already replacing silicon IGBTs in the main inverters. However, a future market for the 48 V battery’s DC/DC converter is still possible for GaN due to its high-speed switching capability. Some main players, as Transphorm, have already obtained qualification for automotive, and this would help to finally ramp-up GaN production for EV/HEV.

In parallel, the GaN power devices supply chain is acting to support market growth. Therefore it is close to being settle for the power GaN market and deals during 2017 show confidence that GaN will be a successful market. “First of all, there have been big investments from the main foundries to increase their capacity to handle mass production”, asserted Zhen Zong, Technology & Market Analyst at Yole Développement. And he added: “Navitas just announced the partnership with TSMC and Amkor to ramp production capacity. Moreover, BMW i Ventures has just invested in GaN Systems. The Taiwan’s Ministry of Economic Affairs is also interested in using GaN for clean and green technologies, also in collaboration with GaN Systems.”

GaN manufacturers clearly continue developing new products and provide samples to customers, as is the case with EPC and its wireless charging line. For example, during 2017, Panasonic announced the mass production of its 650 V products and Exagan successfully produced its first high voltage devices on 8-inch wafers. Other players are in the final phase of R&D or qualification for their GaN products to be launched in 2018. In both cases, manufacturers and clients are pushing to use GaN HEMTs in emerging technologies.

The number of IC packages utilizing wafer-level packaging (WLP) will overtake flip chip shipments in 2018 and then continue growing at a compound annual growth rate of 15% (between 2014 and 2020) compared to just 5% for flip chip, according to the report entitled “Flip Chip/WLP Manufacturing and Market Analysis,” recently published by The Information Network, a New Tripoli, PA-based market research company.

“Advanced wafer-level packaging technologies hold the key to meeting future technology needs, from mobile devices to automotive applications, to those required for enabling the IoT,” noted Dr. Robert Castellano, [resident of The Information Network. “Flip chip technology is slowly replacing wire bonding for many high-performance chips, and wafer level packaging (WLP) is replacing flip chip.”

wlp device shipment

To meet the needs of thinner mobile devices, fan-out WLP (FO-WLP) enables redistribution of I/Os beyond the chip footprint, differing from Fan-in WLP in several key areas. One major advantage of FO-WLP, especially in mobile applications, is that the elimination of the substrate reduces the vertical footprint by an average of 40% compared with Fan-in WLP, enabling thinner products or making it possible to stack more components in the same form factor. The elimination of the interposer and TSVs also provides a cost reduction and eliminates concerns on the effects of TSVs on electrical behavior. The reduced path to the heat sink also helps improve thermal performance.

IC Insights has raised its IC market growth rate forecast for 2017 to 22%, up six percentage points from the 16% increase shown in its Mid-Year Update.  The IC unit volume shipment growth rate forecast has also been increased from 11% depicted in the Mid-Year Update to 14% currently.  As shown below, a large portion of the market forecast revision is due to the surging DRAM and NAND flash markets.

In addition to increasing the IC market forecast for this year, IC Insights has also increased its forecast for the O-S-D (optoelectronics, sensor/actuator, and discretes) market.  In total, the semiconductor industry is now expected to register a 20% increase this year, up five percentage points from the 15% growth rate forecast in the Mid-Year Update.

For 2017, IC Insights expects a whopping 77% increase in the DRAM ASP, which is forecast to propel the DRAM market to 74% growth this year, the largest growth rate since the 78% DRAM market increase in 1994.  After including a 44% expected surge in the NAND flash market in 2017, including a 38% increase in NAND flash ASP this year, the total memory market is forecast to jump by 58% in 2017 with another 11% increase forecast for 2018.

At $72.0 billion, the DRAM market is forecast to be by far the largest single product category in the semiconductor industry in 2017, exceeding the expected NAND flash market ($49.8 billion) by $22.2 billion this year. As shown in Figure 1, the DRAM and NAND flash segments are forecast to have a strong positive impact of 13 percentage points on total IC market growth this year. Excluding these memory segments, the IC industry is forecast to grow by 9%, less than half of the current total IC market growth rate forecast of 22% when including these memory markets.

Figure 1

Figure 1

IC Insights is set to release its October Update to The McClean Report.  The 30-page Update includes a detailed analysis of IC Insights’ revised forecasts for the IC, O-S-D, and total semiconductor markets through 2021.

China IC industry outlook


October 17, 2017

SEMI, the global industry association and provider of independent electronics market research, today announced its new China IC Industry Outlook Report, a comprehensive report for the electronics manufacturing supply chain. With an increasing presence in the global semiconductor manufacturing supply chain, the market opportunities in China are expanding dramatically.

China is the largest consumer of semiconductors in the world, but it currently relies mainly on semiconductor imports to drive its growth. Policies and investment funds are now in place to further advance the progress of indigenous suppliers in China throughout the entire semiconductor supply chain. This shift in policy and related initiatives have created widespread interest in the challenges and opportunities in China.

With at least 15 new fab projects underway or announced in China since 2017, spending on semiconductor fab equipment is forecast to surge to more than $12 billion, annually, by 2018. As a result, China is projected to be the top spending region in fab equipment by 2019, and is likely to approach record all-time levels for annual spending for a single region.

Figure 1

Figure 1

This report covers the full spectrum of the China IC industry within the context of the global semiconductor industry. With more than 60 charts, data tables, and industry maps from SEMI sources, the report reveals the history and the latest industry developments in China across vast geographical areas ranging from coastline cities to the less developed though emerging mid-western regions.

The China IC industry ecosystem outlook covers central and local government policies, public and private funding, the industry value chain from design to manufacturing and equipment to materials suppliers. Key players in each industry sector are highlighted and discussed, along with insights into China domestic companies with respect to their international peers, and potential supply implications from local equipment and material suppliers. The report specifically details semiconductor fab investment in China, as well as the supply chain for domestic equipment and material suppliers.

Figure 2

Figure 2

With the prospects of large 450mm wafers going nowhere, IC manufacturers are increasing efforts to maximize fabrication plants using 300mm and 200mm diameter silicon substrates. The number of 300mm wafer production-class fabs in operation worldwide is expected to increase each year between now and 2021 to reach 123 compared to 98 in 2016, according to the forecast in IC Insights’ Global Wafer Capacity 2017-2021 report.

As shown in Figure 1, 300mm wafers represented 63.6% of worldwide IC fab capacity at the end of 2016 and are projected to reach 71.2% by the end of 2021, which translates into a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 8.1% in terms of silicon area for processing by plant equipment in the five-year period.

capacity install

Figure 1

The report’s count of 98 production-class 300mm fabs in use worldwide at the end of 2016 excludes numerous R&D front-end lines and a few high-volume 300mm plants that make non-IC semiconductors (such as power transistors).  Currently, there are eight 300mm wafer fabs that have opened or are scheduled to open in 2017, which is the highest number in one year since 2014 when seven were added, says the Global Wafer Capacity report.  Another nine are scheduled to open in 2018.   Virtually all these new fabs will be for DRAM, flash memory, or foundry capacity, according to the report.

Even though 300mm wafers are now the majority wafer size in use, both in terms of total surface area and in actual quantity of wafers, there is still much life remaining in 200mm fabs, the capacity report concludes.  IC production capacity on 200mm wafers is expected to increase every year through 2021, growing at a CAGR of 1.1% in terms of total available silicon area. However, the share of the IC industry’s monthly wafer capacity represented by 200mm wafers is forecast to drop from 28.4% in 2016 to 22.8% in 2021.

IC Insights believes there is still much life left in 200mm fabs because not all semiconductor devices are able to take advantage of the cost savings 300mm wafers can provide.  Fabs running 200mm wafers will continue to be profitable for many more years for the fabrication of numerous types of ICs, such as specialty memories, display drivers, microcontrollers, and RF and analog products.  In addition, 200mm fabs are also used for manufacturing MEMS-based “non-IC” products such as accelerometers, pressure sensors, and actuators, including acoustic-wave RF filtering devices and micro-mirror chips for digital projectors and displays, as well as power discrete semiconductors and some high-brightness LEDs.