EDITION 13 | April 2012
SEMATECH celebrates 25 years of advancing technology and manufacturing innovations and collaboration
For over two decades, SEMATECH has helped to bring the world’s leading semiconductor manufacturers together to share resources and solve their most pressing technical and manufacturing challenges, including laying the groundwork for wafer size transitions; building industry-wide consensus and developing infrastructure for a succession of next-generation lithography technologies; guiding the development of robust copper/low-k and 3D interconnect technologies; and facilitating breakthroughs in advanced device structures and materials such as high-k metal gate stacks and III-V materials. 
ISMI launches forum to reduce the impact of semiconductor equipment obsolescence on wafer fabs
Tool obsolescence has been identified by the industry as an increasingly important issue for 200 mm manufacturing. In response, ISMI has chartered an Equipment Obsolescence Forum to provide alternative source solutions for both wafer fabs and equipment manufacturers. The first forum meeting will be held May 21-22, in San Jose CA.
SEMATECH to conduct rigorous manufacturability assessments to enable high-volume manufacturing readiness of 3D technology
SEMATECH’s 3D Interconnect and Manufacturability programs will be conducting equipment maturity assessments of several critical 3D tools to establish functional equipment capabilities and address high-volume manufacturing maturity issues. The assessment is a cooperative effort among experts from SEMATECH’s 3D program, ISMI and the tool supplier.
SEMATECH and Applied Seals partner to enable defect-free EUVL masks for high-volume manufacturing
Applied Seals North America, Inc., a leading provider of elastomeric sealing for the semiconductor, pharmaceutical, biotechnology and solar industries, has joined SEMATECH’s Mask Blank Defect Reduction program, collaborating with SEMATECH engineers on critical methods for improving EUV mask blank yield by eliminating defects originating from sealing materials.
SEMATECH showcases advances in lithography, metrology and 3D technologies at SPIE 2012
SEMATECH reported progress in EUV mask infrastructure, manufacturability, advancing extendibility, alternative lithography, and related areas of metrology and 3D integration in over 30 papers and posters presented recently at the SPIE Advanced Lithography 2012 conferences. Among the global semiconductor community’s leading gatherings, the SPIE conference series attracts thousands of specialists in various aspects of lithography and related metrology, two of the most challenging areas of advanced microchip production.
SEMATECH, Dainippon Screen partner to accelerate development and commercialization of advanced semiconductor doping technology
SEMATECH and Dainippon Screen Mfg. Co., Ltd. (Screen), a leading producer of semiconductor manufacturing equipment, recently announced a partnership to collaborate on techniques for monolayer doping and activation methods that are compatible with ultra-shallow junctions for planar and non-planar device technologies in silicon and non-silicon high-mobility materials.
SEMATECH and Soitec partner to advance next-generation transistors and metrology techniques
Soitec, a world leader in manufacturing revolutionary semiconductor substrates for the electronics and energy industries, recently joined SEMATECH’s Front End Processes and Advanced Metrology programs in a partnership that aims to foster the development of advanced processes and devices based on Soitec’s leading-edge silicon-on-insulator (SOI) wafers and other advanced engineered wafers for high-performance, low-power IC applications.
In This Issue
SEMATECH Turns 25
This year SEMATECH observes our 25th anniversary and celebrates the pre-competitive collaboration that has been the foundation for many of the industry’s technology and manufacturing breakthroughs.
Over the years, SEMATECH has evolved from a bold five-year experiment in U.S. industry/government cooperation to an international collaboration of the broader semiconductor community including device makers, universities, governments, national laboratories and the entire industry supply chain.
In this issue we focus on how SEMATECH continues to broaden and expand our membership and offerings to more and more sectors of the industry, while continuing to support the needs of our members' established and leading-edge technology fabs.
Upcoming Meetings
ESD Challenges for 3D ICs
San Francisco, California
10 Jul 2012
SEMATECH Workshop on 3D Interconnect Metrology
San Francisco, California
11 Jul 2012
2012 International Symposium on Extreme Ultraviolet Lithography
Brussels, Belgium
30 Sep - 04 Oct 2012
Throughout the year, SEMATECH will be commemorating our 25th anniversary through the lineup of technology-rich forums, the SEMATECH Knowledge Series (SKS), and our Annual SEMICON West Reception to be held July11 in San Francisco, CA.
