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450mm odds & ends: 450mm trumps "School Prime," questioning TSMC's 450mm push
May 22 -- by SST editors Bob Haavind, Pete Singer, Debra Vogler
May 22, 2008 - Tidbits gleaned from conversations and presentations about the 450mm debate: Reflections on AMD's "200mm Prime" efforts, and why 300mm-Prime tools are "silly;" how ROI -- and shareholders -- influence 450mm tool development; and why Japanese companies are headscratching at TSMC's public support of 450mm....
2007 IEDM: Darts hit elements all over the period table
Dec 11 -- Over 1600 technologists are gathered in Washington, DC, to explore a wide range of innovative ideas at the 2007 International Electron Devices Meeting (IEDM). While current mainstream CMOS approaches, using strain engineering and metal/high-k dielectric gates, are covered extensively, a wide range of further out alternatives suggests that darts have been tossed at periodic table charts all over the world....
Intel at IEDM: 45nm HK+MG, variation mitigation, Moore's Law beyond 2015
Dec 10 -- Intel execs revealed highlights from select papers the company will be presenting at IEDM, including some details about its 45nm HK+MG transistors that incorporate a redistribution layer as part of a 9-layer copper interconnect. Also featured is the company's success in mitigating process variation to the extent that results in variation at 45nm is comparable to that achieved at 130nm. Additionally, quantum well FETs may be ready at ~2015 to extend Moore's Law scaling....
Successful MEDEA+ collaboration to continue under CATRENE
Dec 07 -- This year's MEDEA+ annual forum in Budapest, Hungary (Nov. 26-28) reviewed final projects for the eight-year pan-European collaborate program for microelectronics R&D, set to expire in 2008 after overseeing three generations of CMOS technology and making the European industry a world leader in such sectors as automotive electronics, smart card technology, and image sensing....
Interview: Chinese tool firm AMEC tips equipment, strategy
Dec 04 -- Gerald Yin, CEO and co-founder of equipment startup Advanced Micro-Fabrication Equipment Inc. (AMEC), discusses his company's foray into thin-film deposition and etch tools for leading-edge IC manufacturing, and the business strategy behind forming as a global semiconductor OEM based in China....
HDDs vs. SSDs redux, at IDEMA breakfast panel
Nov 20 -- NAND flash memory manufacturers have made no secret about their rosy outlook for solid-state drives (SSDs) in consumer applications and notebook computers, as well as projected lower cost/GB and increasing densities. Such elation may be premature, however, according to remarks made at a recent IDEMA breakfast event (Nov. 7, Santa Clara, CA), where it was suggested that serious obstacles are still in the path of SSD adoption before the technology can make greater inroads into the computer sector....
PV solar: Looking for reality among the forecasts
Nov 14 -- What makes the photovoltaic solar cell industry so interesting and exciting is that the potential for growth is enormous, but realizing this opportunity is not straightforward. This is a competition between technologies, both within the PV alternatives and also from non-PV options. The way forward is also clouded by the significant involvement of politics, vested interests, and environmental lobby groups, where the "facts" may not always be what they seem....
Thin-film vs. c-Si: No clear-cut winners, yet
Nov 14 -- PV is hardly a one-size-fits-all industry. Crystalline silicon has dominated since its inception, and will likely maintain a commanding presence for the foreseeable future. However, thin-film technology has finally emerged as credible and disruptive competition. Assessing the PV technology landscape (knowing that more new technologies will come) means taking into account many variables....
Call for improved EDA tools at the Common Platform Tech Forum
Nov 12 -- Advanced technology design was a major topic at this year's Common Platform Tech Forum (Nov. 6, Santa Clara, CA). The good news/bad news is that there are no new major design concerns at 45nm, but the hurdles the industry faced at 65nm are even more challenging at 45nm, and EDA tools need to be improved to overcome them....
What's really behind the top foundries' 2008 capex cutbacks?
Nov 06 -- After forecasting good to "lackluster" 4Q sales forecasts, the top pure-play foundries (TSMC, UMC, SMIC, and Chartered) say they will reduce spending in 2008, (10%-25% declines or more). Their stated reasons -- improve productivity in current production, migrate more mature processes down to 90nm and 65nm, and get ASPs back up and improve profitability -- send a great message to the investor community. But the real reason could be a much bigger shift in the leading-edge foundry business model....
Tackling systematic/random variations while matching process chambers
Nov 05 -- Few fab management practices are more "in the trenches" than using mathematics and statistics to investigate and solve real-life problems. One such technique highlighted at the recent ISMI Symposium on Manufacturing Effectiveness was "multivariate analysis" -- specifically, comparing two ashing chambers that were supposed to be matched, but whose output showed differences....
"In-the-trenches" roundup of ISMI
Oct 30 -- People doing the actual day-to-day work in fabs gathered at last week's ISMI Manufacturing Symposium (Oct. 24-25, Austin, TX), addressing topics on yield improvement/productivity methodologies, ESH, and sustainability. Specific talks focus on how to fix litho "hot spots," cleaning wafer chucks without DI water or solvents, guidelines for detecting/preventing electrostatic discharge (ESD) events, and why process stability may be the deciding factor in the battle over 450mm wafers....
Moore's Law to head z-ward?
Oct 29 -- While the industry struggles to continue on the Moore's Law track, 3D approaches superior to those of systems-on-chip may provide an interim solution if the shrink slows down. A SEMATECH-organized workshop in Albany, NY earlier this month (Oct. 11-12) addressed fundamental issues about 3D, including four reasons why every chipmaker has 3D/TSVapproaches on its roadmap, and what needs to be solved before 3D can be effective beyond simple memory....
Will a transition to 450mm wafers leave equipment suppliers behind?
Oct 23 -- The spirited debate about whether or not the industry should migrate to 450mm wafers continued last week at the International Symposium on Semiconductor Manufacturing (ISSM, Oct. 15-17, Santa Clara, CA). Instead of a wafer size transition, are there better growth areas that both equipment suppliers and IC manufacturers should pursue instead (e.g. FPD, MEMS, solar)? It may be that both equipment suppliers and IC manufacturers need to take a second look at a transition....
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