Semiconductor & MEMS Fabrication News

How can you pack more transistors onto a given amount of device real-estate? How do you shorten trace lengths to improve speed and reliability? The answer in both cases is — you build 3D transistors. Intel's next-generation of microprocessors — code-named Ivy Bridge and based on the company's 22 nm manufacturing process — will feature such transistors to achieve higher transistor density, as well as lower power consumption and heat dissipation. This article and video introduce the new technology, and an item from Information Week explores its significance. Other chip makers — including IBM and AMD — are developing products along similar lines.

Join your peers and leading manufacturers for this free, informative, and interactive ONLINE conference and trade show — right from the convenience of your PC. Participate in any or all of the educational sessions, network with peers, and meet with manufacturers eager to showcase what's next. Learn more about the educational sessions offered to meet your information needs, and register today! You could even win an Apple iPad 2 just for attending!

Participating Exhibitors: Texas Instruments, TE Connectivity, Panasonic Electronic Components, Microchip Technology, Maxim Integrated Products, Honeywell Sensing & Control, Omron Electronics, Littelfuse, Cymbet Corporation, and Lantronix.

Infinity's patented line of heaters make the unlikely solution possible to your most demanding processes. Products include:

•  DI Water heaters — Clean and Ultra Clean Heaters
•  Chemical heaters — PFA lined inline heaters for all process requirements
•  Nitrogen Heaters — Pure Stainless and PFA units
•  Pure Steam heaters — Point of use applications

CBI has been supplying their customers with quality refurbished equipment at a great value since 1987. With over 2,000 items in stock from Silicon Etchers and Lithography Equipment to Vacuum Pumps and Chillers, our entire inventory can be viewed on our Web site. All equipment is refurbished and sold with a warranty.

The 10 companies of Brush Engineered Materials are now known as Materion, which means we're able to get you a broader range of products and services more efficiently than ever, all while still delivering a remarkable level of service and expertise that you simply won't find anywhere else.

The Atmel ATmega128RFA1 wireless AVR® microcontroller is an IEEE 802.15.4 compliant single-chip that combines the industry-leading AVR MCU and best-in-class 2.4 GHz RF transceiver to provide the industry's highest RF performance for single-chip devices with a link budget of 103.4 dBm.

Taking a page from the pendulums that grace the floor of many science museums, a new MEMS-based gyroscope dramatically improves on the performance of previous designs. Although he patented the idea nine years ago, a University of California at Irvine professor only recently came up with an architecture that allows manufacturing the devices using conventional silicon processes and only one photolithographic mask.

Designing devices for today's high-speed systems goes beyond the "mere" electronics. Contacts between devices and packages must minimize crosstalk, reflection, and insertion loss. This article from EE Times contends that designers can no longer treat the package as a simple layout problem. They have to design both device and package as a single entity.

As transistors shrink, sources and drains move closer together and become more susceptible to leakage and shorts. Reducing voltage levels can provide some relief, but that approach reaches a practical limit. This article examines the situation, describing the challenges of shrinking architectures, the limitations of silicon-only solutions and the likelihood that designers will have to resort to other materials.

Much has been written lately about the scarcity of rare-earth minerals critical to the performance of electric and hybrid cars and other electronic systems. Most of those minerals come from China, raising the possibility of future shortages and dramatically higher prices. The situation, according to this video, will lead to opening rare-earth mines in California and elsewhere, as well as a push to use the materials more efficiently and to identify alternatives.

MEI upgrades, reconditions, and services wet processing equipment, wet benches, chemical delivery systems, and SRD's.

•  Change processes, differ wafer sizes, improve safety
•  Repair robots, change automation, update control software

We service most semiconductor wet bench systems, including Verteq, SCP, Akrion, Universal.

Do more with less.

Today, lubricants must be able to handle higher loads, improve productivity, and extend endurance, all while minimizing outgassing and particle generation created in vacuum environments.

NyeTorr® 6200 and 6300 have been developed to perform to a new level to help extend the operating life of critical components in vacuum environments.

CHRocodile sensors are now available to measure TSV and IGBT devices, in addition to the containers, films and wafers commonly tested. The high-speed optical measurements can be combined with encoder signals, making integration simple. Whether you are looking to inspect surface topography or thickness, contact us for more about CHRocodile's killer technology.

The EnerChip CC is the world's first intelligent Thin Film Battery. It is an integrated solution that provides battery backup and power management for systems requiring power bridging and/or secondary power. A single EnerChip CC can charge up to 10 additional EnerChips connected in parallel.

The complexity of embedded devices makes testing them more difficult, increasing the possibility that you will ship product to your customers that doesn't work. This white paper examines the related issues of inadequate testing, premature product release, and late release. It recommends how to balance the logistics of the product life cycle with the cost and consequences of testing at different steps in the process.

Nanotronics Imaging has introduced a semiconductor analysis system for identifying defects in silicon wafers. The system is ergonomically designed so that it is easier to use, minimizing the learning curve, while providing results that are both accurate and easy to interpret. The short accompanying video shows the machine in action.

Powering wireless sensors on a factory floor to monitor machine performances and warn operators of any malfunctions requires power. Now, researchers at the University of Michigan have constructed a convenient solution — a device smaller than a penny that harvests vibrations from the machines themselves at an efficiency 5 to 10 times higher than can be achieved with any other existing technology.

Computer scientists have known for years that memristors offer features that give them advantages over transistors in computer operations. They can be denser, consume less power, and make an "on/off" computer possible. But only recently did some researchers from Hewlett-Packard discover how they work and what else they can do. The video that accompanies the article offers a five-minute primer on the devices.

Metrigraphics, LLC techniques utilize photolithographic processes in combination with thick and thin film techniques to processes to create custom, high-density passive circuits or compact assemblies.

If your application includes any of the following characteristics, our technology could be your solution:

•  severe size and space constraints
•  chip on-board micro-miniaturization
•  lines or spaces down to (5 microns)

Optimizing the utility of a thermal sensor is a critical success factor in every heater application. Thermal Circuits' engineers are experienced and trained to integrate state-of-the-art temperature sensing, controlling and limiting componentry to assure accuracy, repeatability, and quality.

Research has shown that most people fear speaking in public more than they fear death. So when you need to give that special presentation to your company, colleagues, or customers, how can you overcome that fear? According to this management expert, maintain eye contact with one person for a sustained thought, then move on to the next thought — and another person.

Not all stars have planets in orbit around them, but the idea that planets don't have to orbit a star seems anathema to our understanding of the universe. Yet recently astronomers have found exactly that. Although some speculate that each of these 10 Jupiter-sized planets orbits a star at a very large distance, the prevailing theory is that they were "ejected" by their parent stars.

Vulnerable Are You to Rare-earth Shortages?

What would you do if some of the rare-earth minerals that you need for your products suddenly became much more expensive or not available at all? Could you cope with the higher cost? Switch to a different material?

Newsletter Subscriptions
Your source for technology news and industry information

Questions & Discussion
CR4: Q&A and discussion for the engineering, scientific, and technical community

Product Alerts
Receive e-mail updates on new products and suppliers

Engineering News
Engineering and scientific news from hundreds
of sources

Download the Engineering Toolbar
Put the power of GlobalSpec right at your fingertips

Product Announcements
New and featured products from manufacturers and suppliers

Events
NEW: Online, interactive conferences / trade shows featuring latest news and industry trends
Call for Speakers — submit your proposal

Directory of Companies
Part Number Search
Technical Articles
Engineering & Scientific Links