Semiconductor & MEMS Fabrication News

When AMD spun off its manufacturing arm as GlobalFoundries in 2009, the industry yawned. How could this upstart compete with #1 Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) and other established foundries with AMD as its primary customer? Four years and some 160 customers later, the picture has changed dramatically. The company grew by 32% in 2011 and another 18% in 2012 to climb into the #2 spot among independent foundries worldwide. Its new fab in Malta, NY churns out 28 nm wafers and chips. During construction, the $6.9 billion facility was the largest private construction project in the U.S., and it is only the beginning. This article presents the company's history, looks at the overall state of the independent foundry model, and speculates on the future.

Ceric Ammonium Nitrate ((NH4)2Ce(NO3)6) is used to make chrome etchant for manufacture of electronic microcircuits. GFS Chemicals produces C.A.N. domestically "off-the-shelf" with consistency, predictable and responsive delivery, competitive prices, and a secure supply chain. And, GFS Chemicals can produce higher purity products for customers with stringent trace metal requirements

With a size of 6.1 x 4.7 x 8.2 mm and power consumption of 0.2 mW, Omron's new ±50kPa 2SMPP-03 gauge sensor will fit the most space and energy conscious devices.

•  Output span/offset voltage variation and temperature influence lower than many existing products
•  Long life; cost-effective for disposable applications

Semiconductor makers who have touted extreme ultraviolet (EUV) lithography as necessary to make devices with node sizes below 20 nm will have to rely on optical alternatives for a little longer. EUV technology has been delayed again, while node shrinking continues undaunted. Immersion lithography — slower and more expensive than EUV would be — will remain the technology of choice for one more generation. This piece examines the implications.

Engineers have been looking for practical applications for nanotechnology since its discovery. Now chemical and molecular engineers from Harvard and MIT have proposed folded DNA structures to program shapes and patterns that could be used to make semiconductors. Because sunlight and oxygen can degrade DNA, however, the researchers want to transfer the DNA's information onto one-carbon-atom-thick graphene.

Xerox's Palo Alto Research Center (PARC) has done it again. Using a kind of laser printer, engineers have forged tiny pieces of electronic logic they call "chiplets." The chiplets can act as microprocessors, memory, MEMS, and other structures. The idea of depositing thousands of them on objects created by additive layer manufacturing promises futuristic applications that sound like science fiction.

A material that formed the first transistors more than a half-century ago has proved once again that what is old can be new. These researchers have created one-atom-thick sheets of germanium called germanane that share many of the desirable characteristics of graphene, its carbon sibling. More stable and conducting electrons much faster than silicon, the new form may finally give manufacturers a superior alternative.

The Accumeasure systems are preferred measurement solutions that require sub-nanometer resolutions with outstanding accuracy, stability, and repeatability. Together with fast response time and extremely low noise levels, customers worldwide have adapted MTII capacitive products into many displacement applications that previously could not be solved with capacitive sensing technology.

TPL offers a range of titanate powders with controlled size and chemistry. NanOxide™ powders are produced via an aqueous, low temperature process that allows for binary and tertiary oxide compositions with controlled stoichiometries. The crystalline ceramic powders have uniform spherical morphology and high dielectric constant with sintering temperatures as low as 1000° C.

To address portable conveniences like smartphones and tablets that incorporate universal flash storage (UFS), JEDEC has released a test standard containing test procedures and cases to ensure that the devices provide promised performance. It includes both test commands and command sequences and specifies expected output. The group plans to include conformance to the standard as a prerequisite for UFS certification.

To verify the quality of wafers containing high-power devices such as MOSFETs, IGBTs, and diodes, this company has enhanced the test software on its family of semiconductor characterization systems. New features include device libraries and support for hardware scan, recognition, and configuration management. The resulting systems offer a unified platform that provides test flexibility and higher speeds, increasing process productivity.

Declining personal-computer sales because many customers are migrating to tablets and smartphones and the emergence of the cloud to supplant many high-end servers has put pressure on companies that produce devices for those environments. Intel — one of the primary beneficiaries of the PC revolution — must change to meet these challenges, a goal complicated by the need to replace departing chief executive Paul Otellini. This report comes from The New York Times.

Efforts to make the aging power infrastructure more efficient and more environmentally friendly have encouraged the introduction of "smart grid" technology. This piece looks at the situation and proposes one particular approach — the incorporation of FPGAs into the mix. Their flexibility, and features such as error-correction, allow modifying network functions on-the-fly to accommodate changing needs.

Bellows vacuum pumps and compressors offer long life and high-reliability. All wetted surfaces are stainless steel. Hermetically sealed welded bellows provide positive containment and clean operation. These pumps/compressors are ideal for handling toxic or corrosive gasses or where zero particle contamination and zero leakage is required.

Hexoloy® SG Silicon Carbide is a unique electrically conductive analog of sintered silicon carbide that can be readily DC magnetron sputtered. Hexoloy® SG features high-density and uniform electrical resistivity, less than 5 ohm-cm. It can be sputtered at high deposition rates compared to other ceramic target sources, with controllable thin film optical properties.

This guide, available now from IHS, provides recommendations for water quality related to electronics and semiconductor-industry manufacturing. Seven classifications of water are described, including water for line widths as low as 0.032 micron. In all cases, the recommendations are for water at the point of distribution (POD).

For more information on IHS standards, visit us here.

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