Solid State Technology articles from September 2004

Solid State Technology archives from September 2004

If China's dicey, why not "new Europe?".(Editorial)
September 1, 2004... It seems like all the semiconductor industry can think about these days is China. Executives dream of a monstrous growth market where things can be made with cheap labor once they get past a few impediments like shaky infrastructure, stolen IP,...

Avoiding a potentially lengthy dispute with the WTO, China has agreed to lift the rebate it offers domestic chipmakers as part of its value-added tax (VAT) policy for ICs, effective April 2005.(Worldwide Highlights)(World Trade Organization)(integrated circuit)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2004... Avoiding a potentially lengthy dispute with the WTO, China has agreed to lift the rebate it offers domestic chipmakers as part of its value-added tax (VAT) policy for ICs, effective April 2005. Effective immediately, China will not certify any...

International Sematech.(Worldwide Highlights)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2004... After several years of trying to jumpstart 157nm lithography as a successor to 193nm ArF scanners and 65nm IC processes, International SEMATECH is ramping down several programs aimed at evaluating 157nm photoresist, calcium-fluoride...

STMicroelectronics has confirmed it is in discussions with South Korea's Hynix Semiconductor for a manufacturing joint venture, with a deal possibly in place in the next few weeks, according to several news outlets.(Worldwide Highlights)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2004... STMicroelectronics has confirmed it is in discussions with South Korea's Hynix Semiconductor for a manufacturing joint venture, with a deal possibly in place in the next few weeks, according to several news outlets. Earlier this year, Hynix...

International Sematech, Austin, TX, has announced the creation of an independent subsidiary of its R&D wafer fab and associated analytical laboratories.(USA)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2004... International SEMATECH, Austin, TX, has announced the creation of an independent subsidiary of its R&D wafer fab and associated analytical laboratories. The new Advanced Technology Development Facility Inc. (ATDF), which began operations on...

Texas Instruments.(USA)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2004... Texas Instruments plans to start construction of its $3 billion 300mm facility in Richardson, TX, by the end of this year--a full year ahead of its original schedule, according to the Associated Press. Construction at the site, which is funded...

Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp. (SMIC) and Japan's Toppan Printing Co.(China)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2004... Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp. (SMIC) and Japan's Toppan Printing Co. are forming a joint venture to produce on-chip color filters and microlenses for image sensors, according to the Nihon Keizai Shimbun. The JV, to be built in...

Former Seiko Instruments employees have established a new domestic company offering semiconductor design services, according to the Nikkei Business Daily.(Japan)(Keirex Technology Inc)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2004... Former Seiko Instruments employees have established a new domestic company offering semiconductor design services, according to the Nikkei Business Daily. Keirex Technology Inc., which aims to help chipmakers employ designs combining various...

S-LCD Corp., a JV between Samsung and Sony, has completed its $1.8 billion 7G amorphous TFT-LCD panel production building in Tangjung.(Korea)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2004... S-LCD Corp., a JV between Samsung and Sony, has completed its $1.8 billion 7G amorphous TFT-LCD panel production building in Tangjung. The 47,000 [m.sup.2] operation, with production capacity of 60,000 panels/month, will begin mass production...

Inotera Memories Inc., the 50-50 DRAM JV between Infineon Technologies and Nanya Technology Corp., has inaugurated its $2.2 billion 300mm DRAM production facility in Taoyuan, 18 months after its formation.(Taiwan)
September 1, 2004... Inotera Memories Inc., the 50-50 DRAM JV between Infineon Technologies and Nanya Technology Corp., has inaugurated its $2.2 billion 300mm DRAM production facility in Taoyuan, 18 months after its formation. The first of two stages of equipment...

Soitec, Bernin, France, and ASM International, Bilthoven, The Netherlands, said they have ramped a 300mm strained silicon-on-insulator (sSOI) pilot line for sampling.(Eurofocus)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2004... Soitec, Bernin, France, and ASM International, Bilthoven, The Netherlands, said they have ramped a 300mm strained silicon-on-insulator (sSOI) pilot line for sampling, with defectivity levels close to those of standard SOI and bulk silicon. The...

Wafer manufacturer Siltronic AG has opened the doors of its 300mm facility in Freiberg, Germany, after 18 months of construction.(Eurofocus)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2004... Wafer manufacturer Siltronic AG has opened the doors of its 300mm facility in Freiberg, Germany, after 18 months of construction. The 430 million [euro] facility is the largest single investment project ever undertaken by Siltronic's parent...

Spread of RET masks at 65nm node drives 'virtual stepper' software.(Technology News)(resolution enhancement technology)
September 1, 2004... Next-generation reticle sets for 65nm ICs will be blanketed with resolution enhancement technology (RET) so that current-generation lithography tools can adequately pattern devices and interconnects on production wafers. In fact, nearly...

System-in-cube builds wireless body networks.(Technology News)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2004... A novel three-dimensional stacked assembly technique is being pursued by the IMEC research organization in Leuven, Belgium, to build 1 [cm.sup.3] "system- in-a-cube" (SIC) modules for sensor and computing nodes in wireless bioelectronics...

A need for reassessing risk management in reticle handling.(Front End Of Line)
September 1, 2004... For many years, the International Technology Roadmap for Semiconductors (ITRS) has provided guidance to the semiconductor industry about technical problems facing future technology nodes that are defined according to circuit feature dimensions...

Yield improvement by defect reduction in metal and via module cleans.(Interconnect)
September 1, 2004... In wafer cleaning, a series of tradeoffs always exists--balancing chemical cost, process throughput, and removal efficiency vs. particle redeposition, wafer surface alteration, and potential etching of the exposed thin films. ...

ECTC: focus on integration.(Test/Assembly/Packaging)(Electronic Components and Technology Conference)
September 1, 2004... One focus at this year's Electronic Components and Technology Conference (ECTC) was highly integrated components and structures, with leading researchers taking this beyond the integrated passives that are becoming more common. Integrated...

SpectraCD 100: maximizing transistor performance and parametric yield.(SpectraCD 100 optical CD metrology system)(Advertisement)
September 1, 2004... Once insignificant wafer-to-wafer variations are now proving detrimental to parametric yield results, given today's precise design requirements and narrow process windows. As die shrink, circuit densities increase, and CD error budgets tighten,...

Attendees choose 'best-in-show' products.(Semicon West)
September 1, 2004... Solid State Technology invited SEMICON West attendee to vote on the best products they saw at the trade show, which took place from July 12-14 at San Francisco's Moscone Convention Center and July 14-16 at the San Jose Convention Center. ...

Making the move to fab-wide APC.(Special report: advanced process control)(fabrication)(Cover Story)
September 1, 2004... OVERVIEW Major efforts are underway to move semiconductor manufacturing to fab-wide solutions for advanced process control after initial deployment, which was primarily aimed at greater control over single process steps and certain tool sets....

Using re-association kinetics to identify impurities in p-type silicon.(Contamination Control)
September 1, 2004... OVERVIEW A new approach to in-line monitoring of impurities that pair with boron in p-type silicon is based on recombination lifetime measurements performed by a commercially available surface-charge profiler tool. The method monitors the...

Model-based RET using interference maps, algorithms for random contacts at 65nm.(Photomasks)(resolution enhancement techniques)
September 1, 2004... Overview Wafer-exposure imaging conditions and interference maps are employed by a novel model-based approach optimum placement of resolution enhancement features on subwavelenght photomasks. The technology, called IML. applies multiple...

Hybrid silicon-on-insulator micromachining for critical MEMS components.(MEMS)(microelectromechanical systems)
September 1, 2004... OVERVIEW To overcome design limitations identified with conventional bulk micromachining and material limitations identified with the standard surface-micromachining process, the MOEMS Manufacturing Consurtium, formed within the National...

Universal tool platform supports multiple nodes.(Product News)
September 1, 2004... The Unity platform, designed to serve as a universal foundation for future-generation tools, can be customer-configured for flexible manufacturing support, as well as tool extendibility for multiple technology nodes. With a modular design that...

CMP system is geared to copper planarization.(Product News)
September 1, 2004... The Xceda 300mm CMP platform is engineered to planarize next-generation, multilevel copper/low-k/ultra-low k structures with slurry usage reduced by up to 40%. The tool includes four independent polishing modules with through-the-pad slurry...

Circuit edit system is FIB-based.(Product News)
September 1, 2004... The Vectra Gen5 system performs front- and backside circuit editing on devices with linewidths to 65nm. The focused ion-beam system modifies circuit operation, debugs, and freezes revised designs without making new prototypes. The tool features...

CD-tuning system uses sensor wafer to acquire thermal data.(Product News)
September 1, 2004... AutoCD is a process control solution that automatically tunes lithography process-tool settings for desired critical dimension (CD) results on wafers. Combined with calibration provided by the AutoCal dynamic correction engine, AutoCD enables...

The industry goes back to school.(Perspectives)
September 1, 2004... Getting kids interested in science and math Richard Schaar, senior VP, Texas Instruments, Dallas, Texas I admit it--I have a PhD in mathematics and taught mathematics at the university level, so science and math have always interested...

Thanks for the memories ...(Magnetic storage media)(Editorial)
September 1, 2004... Integrated circuit technology is sometimes considered the greatest triumph of industrial technology, spawning an electronics revolution. TI's lack Kilby earned the Nobel Prize for combining a few devices on the same silicon chip, and Intel...

Using an atom probe microscope to characterize read heads.(local electrode atom probe )(Cover Story)
September 1, 2004... OVERVIEW The accurate characterization and control of buried interfaces is increasingly important to manufacturers of devices at the nanoscale. With thin films only a few atoms thick, device properties now are dominated by the properties of...

Structure and performance of TGMR heads for next-generation HDDs.(TGMR Heads)(thin film magnetoresistive heads, hard disk drives )
September 1, 2004... OVERVIEW This article will provide a general view and the current status of the new tunneling magnetoresistive technology to achieve recording. performance suitable for next-generation hard disk-drive (HDD) products. Ultrahigh-density...

Processing considerations for CMP on thin-film head wafers.(CMP)(chemical mechanical planarization)
September 1, 2004... OVERVIEW As critical dimensions (CDs) in thin-film magnetic read/write heads have become smaller, chemical mechanical planarization (CMP) processes have become more critical to overall manufacturing-process performance. In this article, details...

Hard disk-drive technology revolutionizes processing.(Hard Disk Drives)
September 1, 2004... OVERVIEW This article reviews trends in magnetic hard disk drive (HDD) technology and discusses underlying magnetoresistive phenomena, magnetic media materials issues, and processes for fabricating leading-edge write and read heads for...

New memory materials will enable future 'untethered' electronics.(Emerging Markets)
September 1, 2004... OVERVIEW Growing uneasiness over the ability to continue shrinking existing CMOS memory cells and the push toward portable electronics are helping to foster R&D on new memory technologies There are two very different reasons for the...