On-chip metal interconnects limit IC speed in many advanced design today, and with signal delay proportional to the product of the resistance (R) of wires and the capacitance (C) of dielectric insulation, wires with R lower than that of copper (Cu) metal would significantly improve IC performance. We know of superconductors—materials with zero resistance to electrical current flow—but only at “critical temperature” (Tc) well below 77°K, and so there has…
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EUV Cost at 1000 Daily Exposures
On October 14, 2015, ASML Holding N.V. (ASML) published its 2015 third-quarter results: Q3 net sales of €1.55 billion with gross margin of 45.4% (in line with guidance), and guided Q4 2015 net sales at approximately €1.4 billion and a gross margin of around 45%. Due to mismatched financial analyst expectations, Bloomberg reported that ASML’s stock price dropped ~7% in a single day of trading, despite the company also reporting…
Check out the finalists for MEMS & Sensors Technology Showcase at MEMS Executive Congress 2015
By Karen Lightman, Executive Director, MEMS Industry Group Back in 2001 when I was a young mother with a baby in diapers, I dreamed of a MEMS-enabled gizmo (perhaps on her diaper?) that would remotely indicate if my daughter was sleeping. She was (and still is) a restless sleeper, and I had many nights where I tip-toed into her room to ensure that she was breathing and yes, indeed, still…
Leti Shows MEMS on 300mm Wafers
As reported by EETimes from the European MEMS Summit last month, French research institute CEA-Leti has manufactured accelerometer MEMS devices on 300mm-diameter wafers. This technology is currently being transferred to Tronics Microsystems SA (Grenoble, France), which currently only manufactures on 200mm wafers. Since CEA-Leti has long functioned as the R&D group for STMicroelectronics (ST), and previously led the way for ST to produce MEMS chips on 200mm-diameter wafers, we may…
Silex’ Strategic Acquisition by China
A secretive investment holding company out of Hong Kong named GAE Ltd has acquired 98% of the shares in Silex Microsystems AB (Jarfalla, Sweden). The transaction took place on July 13th of this year when the former major shareholders agreed to sell all of their respective holdings, while Silex founder and CEO Edvard Kalvesten retains 2% of the shares in the company and continues his role as CEO and board…
300mm ams Fab Bet on IoT
Leading-edge IC fab investments are multi-billion-dollar risky bets. Insufficient demand for ICs dooms the line to economic failure regardless of the quality of design and manufacturing. Thus, it is a big deal that Austrian-headquartered ams AG—world leader in production of IC sensors, RFID chips, and power-supplies—has announced plans to set up a new silicon wafer manufacturing line in up-state New York. To date, ams’ leading fabs run 200mm diameter silicon…
IoT Surveys Indicate Optimism, Confusion
Solid State Technology recently conducted a survey of our readers on how the Internet of Things (IoT) is driving the demand for semiconductor technology. A total of 303 people responded to the survey. A majority of the respondents were in management roles. Survey questions focused on their expectations for growth in the Internet of Things (IoT), drivers, potential roadblocks, opportunities and impact on semiconductor technology, including manufacturing and packaging. There…
Cross-point ReRAM Integration Claimed by Intel/Micron
The Intel/Micron joint-venture now claims to have successfully integrated a Resistive-RAM (ReRAM) made with an unannounced material in a cross-point architecture, switching using an undisclosed mechanism. Pilot production wafers are supposed to be moving through the Lehi fab, and samples to customers are promised by end of this year. HP Labs announced great results in 2010 on prototype ReRAM using titania without the need for a forming step, and then…
Single-electron Molecular Switch 4nm Across
A molecule rotating on the surface of a crystal can function as a tunnel-gate of a transistor, as shown by researchers from the Paul-Drude-Institut für Festkörperelektronik (PDI) and the Freie Universität Berlin (FUB), Germany, the NTT Basic Research Laboratories (NTT-BRL), Japan, and the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory (NRL). Their complete findings are published in the 13 July 2015 issue of the journal Nature Physics. The team used a highly stable…
Electronic Materials Specifications and Markets
At SEMICON West this year, July 14-16 in San Francisco, the Chemical and Gas Manufacturers Group (CGMG) Committee of SEMI have organized an excellent program covering “Contamination Control in the Sub-20nm Era” to occur in the afternoon of the 14th as part of the free TechXPOT series. Recent high-volume manufacturing (HVM) developments have shown much tighter IC control specifications in terms of particles, metal contaminants, and organic contaminants. The session…
