While working with a committee on evaluating multiple microelectronics companies for their efforts on sustainability an interesting question arose. Is a company being sustainable if it switches to renewables, but don’t reduce their energy footprint? In an industry where the semiconductor unit growth rate runs about 10% — TSMC builds...
My, what a fix the microelectronics industry has gotten itself into! Three crises happening all at the same time: One threatening the automotive industry, one our electronics supply chain, and the third the United States’ ability to remain competitive in the semiconductor space. There has been a bit written on...
This past week SEMI announced that SEMICON West 2o21 will be a hybrid affair with both a live conference and virtual views possible. The show will be held December 7-9, 2021. The usual July show will be canceled this year, but according to Dave Anderson President of SEMI America, will...
On a trip home from Dresden, Germany, my plane was delayed by fog. A fellow analyst and I just missed our connection to San Francisco in Munich. Lufthansa was very accommodating and shipped us to Paris where we spent the night, and the next day caught our respective flights to...
Like every other awards event in the past year, the 2021 3D InCites Awards Program had to make some adjustments for celebrating its winners. We can’t gather in person at the IMAPS Device Packaging Conference to applaud the winners, catch up with colleagues over a great barbeque, watch the 3D...
For the last several years, we held the 3D InCites Mural Project, in conjunction with the 3D InCites Awards, in support of STEM Education. This year, we have initiated a new fund in support of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI). Because DEI is critical to the UN Sustainable Development Goals,...
As part of our annual 3D InCites Awards program, we decided this year to turn the spotlight on two areas that we think are critical for the future of society: sustainable semiconductor manufacturing and diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI). These topics are so important that we chose to have the...
After a year living in the shadow of COVID 19, the speakers at the Technology Unites Global Summit Executive Forum have some positive news to share about its impact on the semiconductor industry and vice-versa. The verdict is unanimous: COVID 19 catapulted the digital transformation into reality, which means explosive...
Fan out (FO) packaging is one of the key growth segments in advanced packaging, with high adoption rates and strong technology advantages offering a strong pathway moving forward to support industry roadmaps. The nature of reconstituted substrates is now enabling fan-out panel-level packaging. Fan out packaging is no longer limited...
Since its founding in 1992, StratEdge Corporation has moved its factory a couple of times. Its recent move from Sorrento Mesa, in San Diego, to nearby Santee, California, was not by choice. The president of StratEdge, Tim Going, received a most unpleasant call while on a business trip in November...
China consumes more than 50% of all semiconductors annually. However, with a rapidly growing consumer market, domestic Chinese manufacturers can meet only around 30% of their own demand. A statistical report from China Electronic Production Equipment Industry Association (CEPEA) shows that the domestic market self-sufficiency rate of integrated circuit equipment...
Analysts are projecting strong growth in advanced packaging, with a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) through 2026 approaching 7% across the segment; much higher for certain high-end technologies, including 3D stacking, embedded die, and fan-out. Outsourced assembly and test (OSAT) firms, which package finished die manufactured by independent device manufacturers...
It was exactly two years ago that IFTLE first discussed the entity known as BRIDG and how it planned to be a “boutique microelectronics fabrication facility” that would be able to prototype 2.5/3D devices for the U. S. government and the microelectronics community. Later in the year, BRIDG announced that...
Wafer Thinning and Nano TSVs In the last few years, Ann Jourdain of IMEC and co-workers have described silicon device stacking through extreme silicon thinning technology. Recently Jourdan and Dave Thomas of SPTS reviewed this technology for the Jan/Feb issue of Chip Scale Review. The technology is interesting enough that...
This past fall, our packaging industry saw significant shortages of packaging substrates made from Ajinomoto Build-up Film (ABF). Let’s take a closer look. Ajinomoto is not your typical electronics materials company. Its main product lines are food seasonings, amino acids, and pharma products. The company entered the electronic materials industry...
On Definitions and Buzzwords Long-time readers of IFTLE know that I’m sensitive about nomenclature and buzzwords. For instance: “nanotechnology” and “internet of things” are buzz words that are being used way too loosely and have little meaning. I’m OK with 2.5D because I was there when it was first uttered...
We took our annual mural project online this year! Illustrator Ronna Encarnacion created this original watercolor to reflect the importance of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion in creating sustainability. Proceeds from the project will be used to seed the 3D InCites DEI Fund to support technology businesses owned by women and...
A headline on CNN Business caught my eye last night: Working mothers are quitting to take care of their kids, and the US job market may never be the same. I started reading and went down a rabbit hole of related articles that revealed a few things: Unlike the recession...
Severine Cheramy has devoted her career to developing 3D integration technologies and bringing them to market. She was the first person to show me what a TSV wafer looked like when I visited CEA-Leti’s cleanroom in 2009 during my Tour de France in 3D. At the time, she was a...
“Don’t surround yourself with yourself …” Yes, from I’ve Seen All Good People. “At Japan’s Most Elite University, Just 1 in 5 Students Is a Woman.” The New York Times, 08 December 2019 “The semiconductor industry isn’t known as a standout example of diversity and inclusion. But that’s changing.” Jane...
