Researchers have demonstrated a new all-optical technique for creating robust second-order nonlinear effects in materials that don’t normally support them.
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Global Semiconductor Sales Decrease Slightly Month-to-Month in November
As 2019 winds down, global semiconductor sales continued to lag behind the previous year’s total. Month-to-month sales slipped 0.3 percent; year-to-year sales were down 10.8 percent.
Global Fab Equipment Spending Rebounds in Second Half of 2019 with Stronger 2020 Projected
Projected 2019 global fab equipment spending has been revised upward to US$56.6 billion on the strength of surging memory investments in the latter part of the year after a weak first half, SEMI reported today in its World Fab Forecast. SEMI data now point to just a 7 percent decline in fab equipment investments from 2018 to 2019, a marked improvement on the previously forecast drop of 18 percent. Rising investments in memory – particularly 3D NAND – leading-edge logic and foundries have powered the turnaround.
Imec Shows Excellent Performance in Ultra-Scaled FETs with 2D-Material Channel
At this year’s IEEE International Electron Devices Meeting (Dec 7-11 2019), imec, a world-leading research and innovation hub in nanoelectronics and digital technologies, reports an in-depth study of scaled transistors with MoS2 and demonstrates best device performance to date for such materials.
Intel Introduces ‘Horse Ridge” to Enable Commercially Viable Quantum Computers
Intel Labs today unveiled what is believed to be a first-of-its-kind cryogenic control chip — code-named “Horse Ridge” — that will speed up development of full-stack quantum computing systems.
NAND Flash to Lead All Others As IC Market Growth Returns in 2020
IC Insights is in the process of revising its forecast and analysis of the IC industry and will present its new findings in The McClean Report 2020, which will be released in January 2020. Among the revisions is a complete update of forecast growth rates of the 33 main product categories classified by the World Semiconductor Trade Statistics organization (WSTS) through the year 2024. The top five categories for IC product growth are covered in this bulletin.
Global Semiconductor Sales Increase 2.9 Percent Month-to-Month in October; Annual Sales Projected to Decrease 12.8 Percent in 2019
The Semiconductor Industry Association (SIA) today announced worldwide sales of semiconductors reached $36.6 billion for the month of October 2019, an increase of 2.9 percent from the previous month’s total of $35.6 billion, but down 13.1 percent compared to the October 2018 total of $42.1 billion.
Cobalt and Nickel Targets Super Strategic for IC Fabs
TECHCET—the advisory services firm providing electronic materials information— announced that the global market for Physical Vapor Deposition (PVD) Sputter Targets is declining by 1.5% in response to semiconductor fabrication market challenges in 2019. However, 5% growth is forecasted for 2020, with the non-precious-metal segment expected to reach US$690 million. Including precious metals the 2020 Sputter Target market is expected to reach US$1,084 million, as detailed in the latest Critical Materials ReportTM (CMR) quarterly update on Sputter Targets.
Intel to Reclaim Number One Semiconductor Supplier Ranking in 2019
IC Insights’ November Update to the 2019 McClean Report, released later this month, includes a discussion of the forecasted top-25 semiconductor suppliers in 2019 (the top-15 2019 semiconductor suppliers are covered in this research bulletin). The Update also includes a detailed five-year forecast of the IC market by product type (including dollar volume, unit shipments, and average selling price) and a forecast of the major semiconductor industry capital spenders for 2019 and 2020.
Six O-S-D Product Categories Will Hit Record Sales in 2019
With the global economy slowing and the fallout from the U.S.-China trade war causing systems makers to draw down factory inventories, combined sales of optoelectronics, sensors/actuators, and discrete semiconductors (O-S-D) are on pace to grow just 1% in 2019 to $83.5 billion after rising 9% in 2018 and 11% in 2017, according to IC Insights’ new update of the O-S-D marketplace.
