At SEMI’s 2020 Industry Strategy Symposium (ISS), held January 12-15th at Half Moon Bay in California, Bob Johnson, vice president, Gartner, talked about the challenges ahead in the semiconductor market.
Semiconductors
Littelfuse Appoints Maria C. Green to Board of Directors
Littelfuse, Inc. (NASDAQ: LFUS), a global manufacturer of leading technologies in circuit protection, power control and sensing, announced today the appointment of Maria C. Green, retired Senior Vice President and General Counsel of Ingersoll-Rand plc (NYSE: IR), to the company’s board of directors, effective February 1, 2020.
Detection of Very High Frequency Magnetic Resonance Could Revolutionize Electronics
A team of physicists has discovered an electrical detection method for terahertz electromagnetic waves, which are extremely difficult to detect. The discovery could help miniaturize the detection equipment on microchips and enhance sensitivity. The researchers, led by physicist Jing Shi of the University of California, Riverside, generated a spin current, an important physical quantity in spintronics, in an antiferromagnet and were able to detect it electrically. To accomplish this feat, they used terahertz radiation to pump up magnetic resonance in chromia to facilitate its detection.
Rice Lab Turns Trash Into Valuable Graphene in a Flash
That banana peel, turned into graphene, can help facilitate a massive reduction of the environmental impact of concrete and other building materials. While you’re at it, toss in those plastic empties. A new process introduced by the Rice University lab of chemist James Tour can turn bulk quantities of just about any carbon source into valuable graphene flakes. The process is quick and cheap; Tour said the “flash graphene” technique can convert a ton of coal, food waste or plastic into graphene for a fraction of the cost used by other bulk graphene-producing methods.
Researchers Expand Microchip Capability with New 3D Inductor Technology
Smaller is better when it comes to microchips, researchers said, and by using 3D components on a standardized 2D microchip manufacturing platform, developers can use up to 100 times less chip space. A team of engineers has boosted the performance of its previously developed 3D inductor technology by adding as much as three orders of magnitudes more induction to meet the performance demands of modern electronic devices.
North American Semiconductor Equipment Industry Posts December 2019 Billings
North America-based manufacturers of semiconductor equipment posted $2.49 billion in billings worldwide in December 2019 (three-month average basis), according to the December Equipment Market Data Subscription (EMDS) Billings Report published today by SEMI. The billings figure is 17.5 percent higher than the final November 2019 level of $2.12 billion, and is 17.8 percent higher than the December 2018 billings level of $2.11 billion.
Physicists Trap Light in Nanoresonators For Record Time
An international team of researchers from ITMO University, the Australian National University, and Korea University have experimentally trapped an electromagnetic wave in a gallium arsenide nanoresonator a few hundred nanometers in size for a record-breaking time. Earlier attempts to trap light for such a long time have only been successful with much larger resonators. In addition, the researchers have provided experimental proof that this resonator may be used as a basis for an efficient light frequency nanoconverter.
EV Group and Inkron Partner on High Refractive Index Materials and Nanoimprint Lithography Development
EV Group (EVG), a supplier of wafer bonding and lithography equipment for the MEMS, nanotechnology and semiconductor markets, today announced that it is partnering with Inkron, a manufacturer of high and low refractive index (RI) coating materials, to provide optimized processes and matching high RI materials for the development and production of high-quality diffractive optical element (DOE) structures. These DOE structures include waveguides for augmented/mixed/virtual reality (AR/MR/VR) devices, as well as beam splitters and diffusers for advanced optical sensing used in automotive, consumer electronic and commercial applications.
Siemens Achieves Industry-Leading Performance with GaN Systems Power Transistors
GaN Systems, the global leader in GaN (gallium nitride) power semiconductors, today announced that Siemens is integrating part of its Simatic Micro-Drive product line with GaN Systems power semiconductors. With the integration of GaN Systems power transistors, this Siemens product line features industry-leading standards and benefiting customers by power density, efficiency and robustness.
Designer-Defect Clamping of Ferroelectric Domain Walls for More-Stable Nanoelectronics
A UNSW study published today in Nature Communications presents an exciting step towards domain-wall nanoelectronics: a novel form of future electronics based on nano-scale conduction paths, and which could allow for extremely dense memory storage. FLEET researchers at the UNSW School of Materials Science and Engineering have made an important step in solving the technology’s primary long-standing challenge of information stability.
