Process Development
Legeritys chip sets fabricated upon the HV7
process will begin production immediately at Chartered. The need for
Legerity to qualify a new manufacturing facility for the HV7 process arose
last year when AMD closed the fab where Legerity had previously outsourced
the manufacture of several products.
Chartered will make all of Legeritys products based upon the HV7 process.
These include the VoiceChip family, products from the newly formed HPA
business, and the products from the acquired Agere Systems business. Also,
the partnership with Chartered will allow Legerity to develop new advanced
products.
HV7 is a 150V complementary bipolar process technology with high speed (fT
greater than 1GHz) transistors. The devices in HV7 are dielectrically
isolated, increasing packing density and reducing device crosstalk. This
produces a smaller, lower cost and higher performance die than if
traditional isolated junction techniques were used.
TDK Semiconductor has ported its 78Q2120 Ethernet transceiver line from a
low-power BiCMOS to a contemporary CMOS process with the new 78Q2120C. The
CMOS product uses less power and is expected to further improve the quality
rating. The TDK 78Q2120C includes an integrated Media Independent Interface,
ENDECs, scrambler/descrambler, dual-speed clock recovery and
auto-negotiation functions. The 78Q2120C part is ready for shipment.
Infineon Technologies and Clariants AZ Electronic Materials business have
signed an agreement to jointly develop photoresists for 157nm lithography.
The goal is to accelerate qualification of this technology for volume
production.
The photoresist materials to be developed in this project will specifically
enable Infineon to qualify the 157nm technology for producing 55nm
structures in DRAM (dynamic random access memory) semiconductor chip
production. Infineon will have one of the earliest exposure tools available
for 157nm pilot production.
The International Technology Roadmap for Semiconductors (ITRS) predicts that
55nm structures will be in volume production beginning in 2007. One of the
mainstream candidate technologies for achieving these dimensions is 157nm
lithography, a technology that uses fluorine molecular lasers emitting at
the vacuum ultraviolet wavelength of 157nm. However, Intel has recently
indicated that it will not use the technology, opting instead to extend
193nm and transition to extreme ultraviolet (EUV) at wavelengths of the
order 13.5nm.
Negevtech launched its Negevtech 302 wafer-inspection tool for entry at the
90nm semiconductor manufacturing node and optimised for the next generation
after that - 65nm. The company claims an industry first with the tools
combination of both bright-field and dark-field wafer inspection
technologies. Further, the company boasts a footprint of up to 50% less than
traditional bright-field tools. A proprietary process technique is capable
of identifying all defects in both bright-field and dark-field mode while
offering the industrys highest sensitivity and throughput.
The companys patented Step&Image 2D Imaging process uses short pulsed
ultra-violet (UV) illumination and a large two dimensional focal plan
assembly (FPA) to create die sized images with both bright-field and
dark-field illuminations at a high rate. The FPA enables a large field of
view, which dramatically improves throughput and reduces overhead. The UV
illumination source also enables high optical resolution, which affords a
high image sampling of small pixel, non-scanned rigid large 2D image sizes.
The company also estimates a 10x improvement in cost of ownership compared
with current tools on the market. For bright-field wafer inspection the
Step&Image 2D Imaging process replaces traditional time delay and integrate
(TDI) CCD technology. Negevtech says that TDI is too slow, with jitter prone
image acquisition and inefficient illumination at sub-130nm nodes. For
dark-field imaging at smaller technology nodes, current laser-scan
technology offers high throughput but is incapable of offering sufficient
sensitivity at the sub-130nm level, the company says.
The Negevtech tool is already in beta testing with three leading
semiconductor manufacturers. These companies are evaluating tool performance
for microprocessor, digital signal processor (DSP) and DRAM production.
AngelTech Live III: Join us on 12 April 2021!
AngelTech Live III will be broadcast on 12 April 2021, 10am BST, rebroadcast on 14 April (10am CTT) and 16 April (10am PST) and will feature online versions of the market-leading physical events: CS International and PIC International PLUS a brand new Silicon Semiconductor International Track!
Thanks to the great diversity of the semiconductor industry, we are always chasing new markets and developing a range of exciting technologies.
2021 is no different. Over the last few months interest in deep-UV LEDs has rocketed, due to its capability to disinfect and sanitise areas and combat Covid-19. We shall consider a roadmap for this device, along with technologies for boosting its output.
We shall also look at microLEDs, a display with many wonderful attributes, identifying processes for handling the mass transfer of tiny emitters that hold the key to commercialisation of this technology.
We shall also discuss electrification of transportation, underpinned by wide bandgap power electronics and supported by blue lasers that are ideal for processing copper.
Additional areas we will cover include the development of GaN ICs, to improve the reach of power electronics; the great strides that have been made with gallium oxide; and a look at new materials, such as cubic GaN and AlScN.
Having attracted 1500 delegates over the last 2 online summits, the 3rd event promises to be even bigger and better – with 3 interactive sessions over 1 day and will once again prove to be a key event across the semiconductor and photonic integrated circuits calendar.
So make sure you sign up today and discover the latest cutting edge developments across the compound semiconductor and integrated photonics value chain.
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