At the 2021 Symposium on VLSI Technology and Circuits in June a short course was held on “Advanced Process and Devices Technology Toward 2nm-CMOS and Emerging Memory”. In this article I will review the first two presentations covering leading edge logic devices. The two presentations are complementary and provide and excellent… Read More
Resist Development for High-NA EUV
The successful transition to a new fabrication process from development to high volume manufacturing requires a collective, collaborative effort among process engineers, equipment manufacturers, and especially, chemical suppliers. Of particular importance is the chemistry of the photoresist materials and their interaction… Read More
Semiconductor CapEx strong in 2021
Semiconductor manufacturers are expanding capital spending in 2021 and beyond to help alleviate shortages. In addition, many governments around the world are proposing funding to support semiconductor manufacturing in their countries.
The United States Senate this month approved a bill which includes $52 billion to fund… Read More
Ten Lessons Learned from Andy Grove
I met Andy Grove on a sunny day in New York City in 1987. He was dashing to press interviews for his just-off-the-presses management book, “One on One with Andy Grove.” I was a freshly badged member of the press working for IEEE Spectrum, a year or so out of college, still toting my college backpack. Little did I know that that would be … Read More
Silicon Photonics Solutions Address Bandwidth, Reach, and Power Challenges
A couple of weeks ago, I blogged on GlobalFoundries’ silicon technologies supporting automotive radar applications. This time it is on GlobalFoundries’ silicon photonics technology which expects to find adoption in a broad spectrum of applications. The blog is based on listening to a technology presentation made by Dr. … Read More
Highlights of the TSMC Technology Symposium 2021 – Automotive
At the recent TSMC Technology Symposium, TSMC provided a detailed discussion of their development roadmaps. Previous articles have reviewed the highlights of silicon process and packaging technologies. The automotive platform received considerable emphasis at the Symposium – this article specifically focuses on the… Read More
Highlights of the TSMC Technology Symposium 2021 – Packaging
The recent TSMC Technology Symposium provided several announcements relative to their advanced packaging offerings.
General
3DFabricTM
Last year, TSMC merged their 2.5D and 3D package offerings into a single, encompassing brand – 3DFabric.
2.5D package technology – CoWoS
The 2.5D packaging options are divided into the CoWoS… Read More
Highlights of the TSMC Technology Symposium 2021 – Silicon Technology
Recently, TSMC held their annual Technology Symposium, providing an update on the silicon process technology and packaging roadmap. This article will review the highlights of the silicon process developments and future release plans.
Subsequent articles will describe the packaging offerings and delve into technology … Read More
TSMC and the FinFET Era!
While there is a lot of excitement around the semiconductor shortage narrative and the fabs all being full, both 200mm and 300mm, there is one big plot hole and that is the FinFET era.
Intel ushered in the FinFET era only to lose FinFET dominance to the foundries shortly thereafter. In 2009 Intel brought out a 22nm FinFET wafer at the… Read More
TSMC 2021 Technical Symposium Actions Speak Louder Than Words
The TSMC Symposium kicked of today. I will share my general thoughts while Tom Dillinger will do deep dives on the technology side. The event started with a keynote by TSMC CEO CC Wei followed by technology presentations by the TSMC executive staff.
C.C. Wei introduced a new sound bite this year that really resonated with me and that… Read More
MediaTek Develops Chip Utilizing TSMC’s 2nm Process, Achieving Milestones in Performance and Power Efficiency