The incessant demand for more speed in chips requires forcing more energy through ever-smaller devices, increasing current density and threatening long-term chip reliability. While this problem is well understood, it’s becoming more difficult to contain in leading-edge designs. Of particular concern is electromigration, which is becoming more troublesome in advanced packages with multiple chiplets, where various bonding and interconnect schemes create abrupt changes in materials and geometries. For example, electrons may travel from a copper trace to a solder bump of SAC (tin-silver-copper), t ..read more

Automotive processors are rapidly adopting advanced process nodes. NXP announced the development of 5 nm automotive processors in 2020 [1], Mobileye announced EyeQ Ultra using 5 nm technology during CES 2022 [2], and TSMC announced its “Auto Early” 3 nm processes in 2023 [3]. In the past, the automotive industry was slow to adopt the latest semiconductor technologies due to reliability concerns and lack of a compelling need. Not anymore. The use of advanced processes necessitates the use of advanced packaging as seen in high performance computing (HPC) and mobile applications because [4][5 ..read more

The need to mitigate climate change is driving a need to electrify our infrastructure, vehicles, and appliances, which can then be charged and powered by renewable energy sources. The most visible and impactful electrification is now under way for electric vehicles (EVs). Beyond the transition to electric engines, several new features and technologies are driving the electrification of vehicles. The number of sensors in a vehicle is skyrocketing, driven by autonomous driving and other safety features, while a modern software-defined vehicle (SDV) is electrifying everything from air-conditioned ..read more

In the world of advanced semiconductor fabrication, creating precise device profiles (edge shapes) is an important step in achieving targeted on-chip electrical performance. For example, saddle fin profiles in a DRAM memory device must be precisely fabricated during process development in order to avoid memory performance issues. Saddle fins were introduced in DRAM devices to increase channel length, prevent short channel effects, and increase data retention times. Critical process equipment settings like etch selectivity, or the gas ratio of the etch process, can significantly impact the shap ..read more

As device scaling slows down, a key system functional integration technology is emerging: heterogeneous integration (HI). It leverages advanced packaging technology to achieve higher functional density and lower cost per function. With the continuous development of major semiconductor applications such as AI HPC, edge AI and autonomous electrical vehicles, traditional chips are transforming into smaller, well-partitioned chiplets that require chip-to-chip interconnections to be denser, faster and more reliable. This boosts the demand for heterogeneous integration, elevating demand fo ..read more

The eBeam initiative celebrated its 15th anniversary at the recent SPIE Advanced Lithography + Patterning Conference. 130 members of the mask and lithography community attended the annual lunch to mark the milestone. The eBeam Initiative welcomed its 53rd member, FUJIFILM Corporation, having grown from 20 members and advisors at its launch. FUJIFILM is the first company from the chemical supply chain and recognizes the defacto role resist plays to the eBeam community. Two of our founding members, Matthias Slodowski from Vistec Electron Beam and Aki Fujimura from D2S and co-founder of the eBeam ..read more

What’s a sextillion? It’s the number one followed by 21 zeros — outnumbering the stars in the Milky Way. Industry analyst Jim Handy estimates that 13 sextillion transistors have been manufactured by the chip industry since the first one sprang to life in late 1947. Today, as modern graphics and artificial intelligence chips each contain billions of transistors, and the total continues to build at an astronomical rate. Inspired by nature! After studying how earthworms navigate their environments, a team of engineers at GE Aerospace Research Robotics, with funding from&n ..read more

A new technical paper titled “General-purpose programmable photonic processor for advanced radiofrequency applications” was published by researchers at Universitat Politècnica de València and iPronics. Abstract “A general-purpose photonic processor can be built integrating a silicon photonic programmable core in a technology stack comprising an electronic monitoring and controlling layer and a software layer for resource control and programming. This processor can leverage the unique properties of photonics in terms of ultra-high bandwidth, high-speed operation, and low power consumption while ..read more

Siemens’ Sumit Vishwakarma highlights the importance of crystal oscillators to the proper functioning of many semiconductor devices and applications, from clock signals to transmission and reception of radio waves. Cadence’s Jay Domadia introduces some of the new features in GDDR7, such as a semi-independent row and column command address bus and two modes of data signaling, enabling PAM3 for high speed and NRZ for low speed. Synopsys’ Keivan Javadi Khasraghi and Priyank Shukla look at an effort to standardize the implementation of PCIe over fiber optics to expand ranges and data rates and red ..read more

Supply chain disruptions and chip shortage have become household terms in recent times. COVID-19 highlighted the vulnerability of supply chains of countless industries and their critical role in the global economy. Companies across the electronics manufacturing value chain have been affected. At last count, the semiconductor shortage has already cost the automotive industry alone over $150 billion in revenue. With robust supply chains critical to the health of economies around the world, this paper examines the vital importance of the electronics supply chain, current challenges, and changes r ..read more