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Dan Niles: Tapering and the Global Economy

Dan Niles: Tapering and the Global Economy
by Paul McLellan on 09-25-2013 at 5:21 pm

Yesterday was Dan Niles quarterly review that he does for GSA. As always he starts from the big picture of the world economy and works his way to a semiconductor forecast. The focus of this quarter was whether the world economy is strong enough for the US to “taper” and reduce the amount of quantitative easing (aka flooding… Read More


3D: the Backup Plan

3D: the Backup Plan
by Paul McLellan on 09-05-2013 at 1:20 pm

With the uncertainties around timing of 450mm wafers, EUV (whether it works at all and when) and new transistor architectures it is unclear whether Moore’s law as we know it is going to continue, and in particular whether the cost per transistor is going to remain economically attractive especially for consumer markets … Read More


Semiconductor Market Back to Healthy Growth

Semiconductor Market Back to Healthy Growth
by Bill Jewell on 08-29-2013 at 9:00 pm

The worldwide semiconductor market is back to a healthy level of growth. WSTS data shows the 2Q 2013 global semiconductor market was up 6.0% from 1Q 2013 – the strongest quarter-to-quarter growth since 6.6% growth in 2Q 2011. Recent forecasts for 2013 market growth range from a conservative 2.1% from WSTS to an optimistic… Read More


Intel Really is Delaying 14nm Move-in. 450mm is Slipping Too. EUV, who knows?

Intel Really is Delaying 14nm Move-in. 450mm is Slipping Too. EUV, who knows?
by Paul McLellan on 08-24-2013 at 3:23 pm

I attended the semi-annual SEMI Silicon Valley Lunch meeting last week. The semiconductor equipment people are the ones that really know what is going on. People can talk about capex numbers on conference calls but it is the equipment vendors who either do or do not get orders for particular types of equipment. In turn, the analysts… Read More


Funding Startups the SK Telecom Way

Funding Startups the SK Telecom Way
by Paul McLellan on 08-15-2013 at 4:15 pm

At the recent GSA Entrepreneurship Forumone of the panelists was Angel Orrantia of Innopartners who are trying a novel approach to funding startups in the semiconductor space and the surrounding ecosystem.

It seems things got started with an innovation center inside SK Hynix. Just in case you have forgotten, Hynix is the newish… Read More


Save the Dates

Save the Dates
by Paul McLellan on 08-13-2013 at 3:22 pm

There are several events in Silicon Valley coming up of general interest to people working in EDA and the semiconductor industry.

SEMI 16th Annual Valley Lunch Forum. August 22nd, 11.30am to 1.30pm, Santa Clara Marriott

  • What are the Opportunities for Advanced Semiconductor Devices?
  • Where will the year end for 2013?
  • Will we have
Read More

SEMICON Taiwan 3D

SEMICON Taiwan 3D
by Paul McLellan on 08-08-2013 at 3:10 pm

SEMICON Taiwan is September 3rd to 6th in TWTC Nangang Exhibition Hall. Just as with Semicon West in July in San Francisco, there is lots going on. But one special focus is 3D IC. There is a 3DIC and substrate pavilion on the exhibit floor and an Advanced Packaging Symposium. Design tools, manufacturing, packaging and testing solutions… Read More


Premier Gathering for Semiconductor Professionals!

Premier Gathering for Semiconductor Professionals!
by Daniel Nenni on 07-28-2013 at 6:00 pm

The US Executive Forum hosted by the Global Semiconductor Alliance is coming up on September 25th at the beautiful Rosewood Sand Hill Hotel in Menlo Park. Over 150 executives from the semiconductor and technology industry will attend creating a truly unique opportunity to listen to some of the world’s foremost speakers… Read More


Epitaxy: Not Just For PMOS Anymore

Epitaxy: Not Just For PMOS Anymore
by Paul McLellan on 07-25-2013 at 2:25 pm

At Semicon I met with Applied Materials to learn about epitaxy. This is when a monocrystalline film is grown on the substrate which takes on a lattice structure that matches the substrate. It forms a high purity starting point for building a transistor and is also the basis of the strain engineering in a modern process.

Since holes… Read More


Semicon: Multiple Patterning vs EUV, round #2

Semicon: Multiple Patterning vs EUV, round #2
by Paul McLellan on 07-24-2013 at 9:00 pm

Round #1 was here.

In the EUV corner were Stefan Wurm of Sematech (working on mask issues mostly) and Skip Miller of ASML who are the only company making EUV steppers (and light sources, they acquired Cymer).

You may know that the biggest issue in EUV is getting the source brightness to have high enough energy that an EUV stepper has … Read More