Technology and Trends

The presentations from the SOI Consortium sponsored workshop held during Semicon West are now posted and freely available on the website – click here to see the full agenda with links to the presentations. The workshop, entitled 4G/5G Connectivity: Opportunities for the SOI Supply Chain, was well-attended and generated excellent discussions. If you don't have time to look at all of the ppts, here are quick overviews. Market Overview and FD SOI Opportunities, by Handel Jones, CEO, IBS. Handel Jones is an industry veteran, China expert and longtime follower of the SOI ecosystem. High performance with low power consumption are the key requirements for the continued growth in the semiconductor industry, he said, making FD-SOI the right choice for a wide range of products. Here's how he sees it: [caption id="attachment_12312" align="alignleft" width="300"] (Courtesy: IBS and SOI Consortium)[/caption] He estimates the yearly TAM (total available market) for FD-SOI based products in the range of $46 billion over the next 10 years, largely driven by needs for ultra-low power and RF integration. He goes on to break out volumes by applications (including ISPs – image signal processors; and CIS – CMOS image sensors), foundry markets by feature dimension and to map out technology trends. Mobile Radio Transformation in the Age of 5G: A Perspective on Opportunities for SOI, Peter Rabbeni, Vice President, Globalfoundries. Peter Rabbeni is an RF expert par excellence, having overseen the shipping of over 35 billion RF-SOI products to date. In his presentation, he details how 5G NR (New Radio) sub-6GHz frequency band specifications significantly increase frequency range and channel bandwidth, and how new band support and MIMO complexity and die size per handset are driving complexity in RF FEMs. Furthermore, 5G/mmWave phased arrays are driving a paradigm shift in the approaches that can be taken, he explains, so greater integration is needed. Here's a great slide showing where GF's two main SOI technologies come into play: [caption id="attachment_12311" align="alignleft" width="1000"] (Courtesy: GlobalFoundries and SOI Consortium)[/caption] Empowerment of 5G with SOI-Based Technologies, Emmanuel Sabonnadière, CEO, Leti-CEA. [caption id="attachment_12310" align="alignleft" width="300"] (Courtesy: Leti and SOI Consortium)[/caption] Working in partnership with industry leaders around the world, Leti has been the research powerhouse behind all things SOI since the early 1980s. In fact Reuters ranks them #2 in their most recent list of the World’s Most Innovative Research Institutions. This presentation reviews the key technical benefits of FD-SOI for IoT and IMT (that's international mobile communications, btw). Engineered Substrates – at the Foundation of 5G, Thomas Piliszczuk, Executive Vice President, Soitec. This presentation really puts the context around engineered substrates. Here are two excellent and useful slides here that identify which engineered substrates go where in the 5G world, and the engineered substrates that Soitec provides. Check these out: [caption id="attachment_12309" align="alignleft" width="1000"] (Courtesy: Soitec and SOI Consortium)[/caption] [caption id="attachment_12308" align="alignleft" width="1000"] (Courtesy: Soitec and SOI Consortium)[/caption] Ultra-thin Double Layer Metrology with High Lateral Resolution, Bernd Srocka, Vice President, Unity GmbH. [caption id="attachment_12307" align="alignleft" width="300"] (Courtesy: Unity and SOI Consortium)[/caption] In case you're not familiar with them, Unity provides a wide range of solutions in metrology and inspection. Both the top silicon layer and BOX layer of wafers for FD-SOI applications have draconian requirements that have required new approaches in metrology to ensure the thickness and homegeneity control of these very thin layers. China 5G Plan and SOI Ecosystem, Jeffrey Wang, CEO, Simgui. Shanghai-based Simgui partners with Soitec, using SmartCut™ technology for the production of RF-SOI wafers. It is doubling its capacity to reach 400K over the next year, and expanding into 300mm. China is aggressively working on 5G and plans to deploy 5G commercialization in 2020. Jeff Wang's is a terrific presentation detailing the rollout. (BTW, in addition to the massive funding effort underway, the government created the National Silicon Industry Group (NSIG) to support the semiconductor material ecosystem in China. You'll want to keep up with what's going on here). Here's the slide that summarizes the SOI ecosystem in China – the presentation then goes on to detail who does what. [caption id="attachment_12306" align="alignleft" width="1000"] (Courtesy: Simgui and SOI Consortium)[/caption] Inspection and Metrology Relevance in SOI Manufacturing, Jijen Vazhaeparambil, Vice President General Manager, KLA-Tencor. [caption id="attachment_12305" align="alignleft" width="300"] (Courtesy: KLA-Tencor and SOI Consortium)[/caption] K-T has played a strategic role in the SOI story going back for decades (and in fact they wrote a piece for the third edition of ASN back in 2005!), ensuring metrology innovations for things that hadn't previously need detection and measurement. With each new set of requirements, they rose to the occasion with wafer metrology solutions that helped increase quality and decrease costs. This presentation recaps some of them.

Sensors are inextricably linked to the future requirements of partially and fully autonomous vehicles. From highly granular dead-reckoning subsystems that rely on industrial-strength gyroscopes for superior navigation to more intelligent and personalized cockpits featuring intuitive human machine interfaces (HMIs) and smart seats, new generations of partially and fully autonomous cars will use sensors to enable dramatically better customer experiences.Dead reckoning, or, where am I, exactly? Dead reckoning is the process of calculating one’s current position by using a previously determined position, and advancing that position based upon known speeds over a time slice. As a highly useful process, dead reckoning is the basis for inertial navigation systems in aerospace navigation and missile guidance, not to mention your smartphone.Today’s best-in-class MEMS gyroscopes can offer 30-50 cm resolution (this is the yaw rate drift) over a distance of 200 meters — a typical tunnel length where a GPS signal is lost. For semi-autonomous (L3) or autonomous (L4, L5), the locational accuracy is well below 10 centimeters; that’s an accuracy usually reserved for high-end industrial or aerospace gyroscopes with a raw bias instability ranging from 1°/h and down to 0.01°/h. These heavy-duty gyros command prices from $100s up to $1000s. Current performance levels of different gyroscopes by application and performance measure in terms of bias drift (IHS Markit). This poses an interesting potential opportunity for both industrial-performance MEMS-based gyroscope sensor-makers, such as Silicon Sensing Systems, Analog Devices, Murata, Epson Toyocom and TDK InvenSense, and for broader-based sensor component-makers such as Bosch, Panasonic, STMicroelectronics, and TDK (InvenSense and Tronics).While MEMS can master performance, size and low weight, cost remains the challenge. The fail-operational mode requirement for autonomous driving will accommodate higher prices, at least in the beginning, probably in the $100+ range at first, even for the relatively low volumes of self-driving cars anticipated by 2030. Nonetheless, automotive volumes are very attractive compared to industrial applications and offer a lucrative future market for dead-reckoning sensors.Your cockpit will get smarter Automakers are banking on the idea that people like to control their own physical environment. Interiors already feature force and pressure sensors that provide more personalized seating experiences and advanced two-stage airbags for improved safety. In some vehicles, automakers are using pairs of MEMS microphones for noise reduction and image or MEMS infrared sensors for detection of driver presence. Eventually, we might see gas sensors that monitor in-cabin CO2 levels, triggering a warning when they detect dangerous levels that could cause drowsiness. These smart sensors would then “tell” the driver to open the window or activate an air-scrubbing system in a more complex solution. While today’s CO2 sensors are still relatively expensive, we may see them designed-in as lower-cost versions come to market.Future cockpits will need to go beyond such concepts in the lead-up to fully automated driving. Seats could contain sensitive acceleration sensors that measure heart and respiration rates as well as body movement and activity. Other devices could monitor body humidity and temperature.We need look no further than Murata, a supplier initially targeting hospital beds with a MEMS accelerometer as a replacement for pulse oximeters. That same Murata accelerometer could be placed potentially in a car seat to detect heart rate. It’s not the only way to do this: another sensing approach for heart-rate measurement comprises millimeter wave radiation, a method that can even look through objects such as books and magazines.Augmenting sensor-based body monitoring, automotive designers will use cameras to fuse information such as gaze direction, rate of blinking and eye closure, head tilt, and seat data with data gathered by sensors to provide valuable information on the driver’s physical condition, awareness and even mood. Faurecia’s Active Wellness concept—unveiled at the 2016 Paris Motor Show—proves that this technology might be coming sooner than we think. Active Wellness collects and analyzes biological data and stores the driver’s behavior and preferences. This prototype provides data to predict driver comfort based on physical condition, time of day, and traveling conditions, as well as car operating modes: L3, L4 or L5. Other features such as event-triggered massage, seat ventilation and even changes in ambient lighting or audio environment are possible. Faurecia’s “cockpit of the future,” announced at CES 2018. (Faurecia) Meanwhile, there are other commercial expressions of more advanced HMI as well as plenty of prototypes. Visteon’s Horizon cockpit can use voice activation and hand gestures to open and adjust HVAC. Capacitive sensors are already widely used for touch applications, and touchless possibilities range from simple infrared diodes for proximity measurement to sophisticated 3D time-of-flight measurements for gesture control.Clearly, automotive designers will have a lot more freedom with HMI in the cabin space, providing a level of differentiation that manufacturers think customers will appreciate—and for which they will pay a premium.Managing sensor proliferationResearchers are investigating ways to solve the issue of high-functionality vehicles containing myriad sensing inputs, i.e., when we have so many sensing inputs, designers must address wiring complexity and unwanted harness weight. Faurecia, for example, is considering ways to convert wood, aluminum, fabric or plastic into smart surfaces that can be functionalized via touch-sensitive capacitive switches integrated into the surface. These smart surfaces could reduce the explosion of sensing inputs, thereby diminishing wiring complexity. With availability from 2020, Faurecia’s solutions are approaching the market soon.Beyond functionalized switches, flexible electronics and wireless power sources, and even energy harvesting (to mitigate power sources), could provide some answers. Indeed, recent research has shown that graphene-based Hall-effect devices can be embedded in large-area flexible Kapton films, and eventually integrated into panels. OEMs such as Jaguar Land Rover are interested in such approaches to address the downsides of electronics and sensor proliferation, especially in luxury vehicles. While smart surfaces would represent a big change in sensor packaging and a disruption in current semiconductor processes, they remain a long way from commercial introduction.By 2030 or thereabouts, fully autonomous cars that detect our mood, vital signs and activity level could well be available. Cabins could signal us to open the window if CO2 levels become dangerous. HVAC systems could increase seat ventilation or turn up the air conditioning (or the heat) based on our body temperature. Feeling too hot or too cold in the cabin could become a thing of the past, at least for the driver, whose comfort level is the most important! We could feasibly feel more comfortable in the car than in our office, our home or at the movies. Perhaps our car will become our office, our entertainment center and our home away from home as we take long road trips with the family, without a single passenger uttering, “Are we there yet?” Bio: Richard Dixon, Ph.D., is a senior principal analyst for MEMS research at IHS Markit and author of more than 50 MEMS-related consulting and market research studies. He is a renowned expert on automotive MEMS and magnetic sensors used in safety, powertrain and body applications. Along with supporting the overall activities of the MEMS and sensors group, his responsibilities include the development of databases that forecast the markets for more than 20 types of silicon-based sensors in more than 100 automotive applications. In addition, he has supported organizations with future scenarios for sensors in cars and has supported many custom projects for companies in the automotive supply chain.In his prior post at Wicht Technologie Consulting (WTC), Dixon was a senior MEMS analyst where he led research on physical sensors and was the co-author of the NEXUS Task Force Report for MEMS and Microsystems 2005-2009. He has also led commercialization and road-mapping activities on European Commission-funded technology projects, including detailed MEMS chip cost analysis studies.Dixon worked previously as a journalist in the compound semiconductor industry and has five years of experience as a technology transfer professional at RTI International, where he provided business and market intelligence for early-stage technologies.Dixon graduated from University of Greenwich with a degree in materials science and earned a doctorate from Surrey University in semiconductor characterization. He speaks English and German.For more information, visit https://technology.ihs.com/Categories/450486/mems-sensors. ___________________________________________________________________________________________________ Want to hear more from IHS Markit on MEMS and sensors devices and their applications? Top thinkers from IHS Markit will be speaking at upcoming SEMI events. Register today!Disruption in the authentication sensor market Manuel Tagliavini, Principal Analyst, MEMS Sensors, IHS Markit Autonomous and Electric Cars: What's in for Conventional MEMS SensorsJeremie Bouchaud, Director and Senior Principal, MEMS Sensors, IHS Markit

Are you ready for a shared economy where your transportation needs are no longer met by an automaker, but rather a “mobility service provider”? While smart transportation news has mostly focused on the likes of electrification (Tesla) and autonomy (Waymo), the real changes in transportation may be more fundamental than self-driving electric cars. According to presenters at this week’s Smart Automotive Summit at SEMICON Taiwan, new technologies won’t just make cars smarter: they will transform the way we see and use transportation in myriad ways.Constance Chen, public relations general manager for forum sponsor Mercedes Benz, opened with a brief overview of parent Daimler’s evolving approach to transportation, dubbed CASE, which stands for Connected, Autonomous, Shared and Services, and Electric.“The fundamental value of vehicles is changing,” Chen said, and car ownership is one of the biggest changes. Ride-sharing services like Uber and Lyft, and shared car services like ZipCar and DriveNow, are already addressing the transportation needs of a growing urban population that eschews car ownership. Traffic congestion, parking challenges, and a desire to improve air quality are key drivers (no pun intended) moving people away from car ownership to embrace shared transportation solutions.Indeed, societal considerations are as challenging as some technological hurdles facing autonomous vehicle development. Robert Brown, Taiwan operations manager for Magma Electronics, listed his top five challenges for autonomous transportation: Perception (vision, sensors) Assessment (ability of systems to analyze data) Control (need for faster-than-human response) Communication (vehicle-to-vehicle, vehicle-to-everything) Expectations—specifically people’s expectations of the value autonomous transportation should deliver As people change the way they view transportation and begin to understand what is possible when they can relinquish control of their vehicle, they’re transportation needs and expectations are likely to change. The challenges are, of course, also an opportunity to deliver a wide range of services, including information, entertainment, and retail, which opens the door for traditional carmakers to position themselves more as service providers like Mercedes Benz.For those who have grown up with traditional car ownership and the perceived freedom that owning allows one to go anywhere at anytime, the idea of giving up their car—one that they drive themselves—might seem beyond the pale. But as ride-sharing services are already showing, a growing portion of our population seems more than ready to embrace a shared and autonomous future.The SEMICON Taiwan Smart Automotive Summit is part of SEMI’s Smart Transportation initiative focusing on automotive electronics, a top priority for SEMI and its 2,000+ members. SEMI’s industry standards, technology communities, roadmap efforts, EH S/regulatory activities and other global platforms and communities bring together the automotive and semiconductor supply chains to collaborate, increase cross-industry efficiencies and shorten the time to better business results.Michael Droeger is director of marketing at SEMI.

2017 was a good year for the MEMS and sensors business, and that upward trend should continue. We forecast extended strong growth for the sensors and actuators market, reaching more than $100 billion in 2023 for a total of 185 billion units. Optical sensors, especially CMOS image sensors, will have the lion’s share with almost 40 percent of market value. MEMS will also play an important role in that growth: During 2018–2023, the MEMS market will experience 17.5 percent growth in value and 26.7 percent growth in units, with the consumer market accounting for more than 50 percent(1) share overall. Evolution of SensorsSensors were first developed and used for physical sensing: shock, pressure, then acceleration and rotation. Greater investment in R D spurred MEMS’ expansion from physical sensing to light management (e.g., micromirrors) and then to uncooled infrared sensing (e.g., microbolometers). From sensing light to sensing sound, MEMS microphones formed the next wave of MEMS development. MEMS and sensors are entering a new and exciting phase of evolution as they transcend human perception, progressing toward ultrasonic, infrared and hyperspectral sensing.Sensors can help us to compensate when our physical or emotional sensing is limited in some way. Higher-performance MEMS microphones are already helping the hearing-impaired. Researchers at Arizona State University are among those developing cochlear implants — featuring piezoelectric MEMS sensors — which may one day restore hearing to those with significant hearing loss. The visually impaired may take heart in knowing that researchers at Stanford University are collaborating on silicon retinal implants. Pixium Vision began clinical trials in humans in 2017 with its silicon retinal implants.It’s not science fiction to think that we will use future generations of sensors for emotion/empathy sensing. Augmenting our reality, such sensing could have many uses, perhaps even aiding the ability of people on the autism spectrum to more easily interpret the emotions of others.Through my years in the MEMS industry, I have identified three distinct eras in MEMS’ evolution: The “detection era” in the very first years, when we used simple sensors to detect a shock. The “measuring era” when sensors could not only sense and detect but also measure (e.g., a rotation). The “global-perception awareness era” when we increasingly use sensors to map the environment. We conduct 3D imaging with Lidar for autonomous vehicles. We monitor air quality using environmental sensors. We recognize gestures using accelerometers and/or ultrasonics. We implement biometry with fingerprint and facial recognition sensors. This is possible thanks to sensor fusion of multiple parameters, together with artificial intelligence. Numerous technological breakthroughs are responsible for this steady stream of advancements: new sensor design, new processes and materials, new integration approaches, new packaging, sensor fusion, and new detection principles.Global Awareness SensingThe era of global awareness sensing is upon us. We can either view global awareness as an extension of human sensing capabilities (e.g., adding infrared imaging to visible) or as beyond-human sensing capabilities (e.g., machines with superior environmental perception, such as Lidar in a robotic vehicle). Think about Professor X in Marvel’s universe, and you can imagine how human perception could evolve in the future! Some companies envisioned global awareness from the start. Movea (now part of TDK InvenSense), for example, began their development with inertial MEMS. Others implemented global awareness by combining optical sensors such as Lidar and night-vision sensors for robotic cars. A third contingent grouped environmental sensors (gas, particle, pressure, temperature) to check air quality. The newest entrant in this group, the particle sensor, could play an especially important role in air-quality sensing, particularly in wearable devices.Driven by increasing societal concern over mounting evidence of global air-quality deterioration, air pollution has become a major topic in our society. Studies show that there is no safe level of particulates. Instead, for every increase in concentration of PM10 or PM2.5 inhalable particles in the air, the lung cancer rate is rising proportionately. Combining a particle sensor with a mapping application in a wearable could allow us to identify the locations of the most polluted urban zones.The Need for Artificial Intelligence To realize global awareness, we also need artificial intelligence (AI), but first, we have challenges to solve. Activity tracking, for example, requires accurate live classification of AI data. Relegating all AI processing to a main processor, however, would consume significant CPU resources, reducing available processing power. Likewise, storing all AI data on the device would push up storage costs. To marry AI with MEMS, we must do the following: Decouple feature processing from the execution of the classification engine to a more powerful external processor. Reduce storage and processing demands by deploying only the features required for accurate activity recognition. Install low-power MEMS sensors that can incorporate data from multiple sensors (sensor fusion) and enable pre-processing for always-on execution. Retrain the model with system-supported data that can accurately identify the user’s activities. There are two ways to add AI and software in mobile and automotive applications. The first is a centralized approach, where sensor data is processed in the auxiliary power unit (APU) that contains the software. The second is a decentralized approach, where the sensor chip is localized in the same package, close to the software and the AI (in the DSP for a CMOS image sensor, for example). Whatever the approach, MEMS and sensors manufacturers need to understand AI, although they are unlikely to gain much value at the sensor-chip level.Heading to an Augmented WorldWe have achieved massive progress in sensor development over the years and are now reaching the point when sensors can mimic or augment most of our perception: vision, hearing, touch, smell and even emotion/empathy as well as some aesthetic senses. We should realize that humans are not the only ones to benefit from these developments. Enhanced perception will also allow robots to help us in our daily lives (through smart transportation, better medical care, contextually aware environments and more). We need to couple smart sensors’ development with AI to further enhance our experiences with the people, places and things in our lives.About the authorWith almost 20 years’ experience in MEMS, sensors and photonics applications, markets, and technology analyses, Dr. Eric Mounier provides in-depth industry insight into current and future trends. As a Principal Analyst, Technology Markets, MEMS Photonics, in the Photonics, Sensing Display Division, he contributes daily to the development of MEMS and photonics activities at Yole Développement (Yole). He is involved with a large collection of market and technology reports, as well as multiple custom consulting projects: business strategy, identification of investment or acquisition targets, due diligence (buy/sell side), market and technology analyses, cost modeling, and technology scouting, etc.Previously, Mounier held R D and marketing positions at CEA Leti (France). He has spoken in numerous international conferences and has authored or co-authored more than 100 papers. Mounier has a Semiconductor Engineering Degree and a PhD in Optoelectronics from the National Polytechnic Institute of Grenoble (France).Mounier is a featured speaker at SEMI-MSIG European MEMS Sensors Summit, September 20, 2018 in Grenoble, France. (1) Source: Status of the MEMS Industry report, Yole Développement, 2018

At a Glance “Software is eating the world ... and AI is eating software.” Amir Husain, author of The Sentient Machine, at SEMICON West 2018 We’re living in a digital world where semiconductors have been taken for granted. But, Artificial Intelligence (AI) is changing everything – and bringing semiconductors back into the deserved spotlight. AI’s potential market of hundreds of zettabytes and trillions of dollars relies on new semiconductor architectures and compute platforms. Making these AI semiconductor engines will require a wildly innovative range of new materials, equipment, and design methodologies. Moore’s Law carried us the past 50-plus years and as we’re now stepping into the dawn of AI’s potential, we can see that the coming Cognitive Era will drive its own exponential growth curve. This is great for the world – virtually every industry will be transformed, and people’s lives will get better – and it’s fantastic for our industry. This truly is the very best time to be working in our industry. I’m excited to be at SEMI in this inflection period and at the center of the collaborative platforms that bring the electronics manufacturing supply chain together to Connect, Collaborate, and Innovate to realize the new Cognitive Era. I invite you to partner with SEMI in building the foundation for the Cognitive Era to increase the growth and prosperity of our industry. The World Wakes Up Our lives have become digital. An Amazon Echo wakes us up and answers questions about the weather and traffic. Google Maps tells us the best way to get to a meeting. Yelp finds the best nearby restaurant. A Tweet now even informs us of the latest change in government policy. It’s a digital world that we live in – and the world already takes it for granted. We in the industry know that the digital world only works because of the semiconductors we make and because of our integrated electronics manufacturing supply chain. We make the materials and equipment that, in turn, make the chips that become the beating hearts of the digital economy. But, semiconductors have been largely invisible – hidden away under and inside a smart speaker, locked deep within a phone, buried in data centers and out of view. Meanwhile, the internet companies like Google, Amazon, Alibaba, Tencent, and Facebook stole the meaning of “Tech” and were given most of the credit for our digital world. But, finally, things are changing – it’s all coming back to semiconductors! AI Changing Everything Over $400B in semiconductors were sold in 2017 – those unseen chips like hearts beating away in Apple computers, in mobile phones for online shopping and social media, and in televisions showing Netflix. Now internet companies Alphabet, Alibaba, Amazon, Facebook, Microsoft and others are rushing to develop their own chips. Silicon is back in the Silicon Valley! Hardware is, once again, the place to be. Why? We are now entering the epoch of Artificial Intelligence (AI) – and semiconductors, and new compute architectures, are the key to AI. At this moment, hardware, not software, is the AI enabler to make leaps in performance and to usher in new architectures to become brain-like with neural networks. Beyond major AI chip investments like Google’s (Alphabet) $300M+ program to develop its Tensor Processing Unit (TPU) chip, there’s been a surge in new chip startups and VC funding. Last year, VCs (with corporate investors) invested more than $1.5B in new AI chip startups – doubling the rate from the prior year. After years of consolidation, there is, as some have described, a “Cambrian Explosion” of semiconductor startups with names like Cerebras, Graphcore, Wave Computing, Horizon Robotics, Cambricon Technologies, and DeePhi from the US, Europe, and China. Cambricon (China) has already become the first AI chip “Unicorn” (startup valued $1B+) with a valuation of more than $2.5B after their recent Round B financing. It’s a new silicon world and a new race, as Cade Metz (The New York Times, 1/14/2018) said, “… everyone is starting from the same place: the beginning of a new market.” Winning at AI is very big business. John Kelly, SVP Cognitive Solutions and Research at IBM, in his SEMICON West keynote earlier this month, said, we’re in the era of Artificial Intelligence with more than a $2T opportunity for AI decision making support on top of the $1.5T IT business in 2025. McKinsey estimates deep learning could account for between $3.5T and $5.8T in annual value. As John Kelly presented, AI will transform entire industries – not just our personal devices and lives. The $2T AI decision making support opportunity in 2025 is projected to transform the major economy industries as follows: Source IBM Market Development Insights Analysis; Oxford economics, CapitalIQ, McKinsey Global Institute Moore’s Law describes the exponential increase in the number of transistors per area that has driven growth, and has been the engine for digital innovation, through first the computer era and then the mobility era and now into the dawn of the data era. While the Dennard scaling approach to Moore’s Law may be slowing, the data-centric era continues to drive demand and the industry continues to find new ways to pack more transistors into less volume. Chip sales are forecast to pass $0.5T in 2019 and I predict they will surpass $1T before 2030. It turns out the Smart is not enough – we must reach “Beyond Smart.” Beyond Smart – The Cognitive Era As we move further into the data-centric age, we see it is more than Big Data and AI, it is, instead, the dawn of a wholly new cognitive era. SEMICON West’s 2018 theme was “Beyond Smart” because we are standing at the inflection from sensors triggering actions (smart) to systems that learn and make decisions (cognitive). Devices are moving “beyond smart” to being “cognitive or aware.” Gary Dickerson (CEO of Applied Materials) at SEMICON West said, “… we are in the beginning of the first inning of a major inflection.” Even in the early dawn of the cognitive era, the volume of data is simply astonishing. In the last 24 months, we create more than 90% of all historic digital data. By 2025 we expect AI to generate 160 zettabytes – with 80% of that unstructured data. Moore’s Law is an exponential, but as John Kelly points out, AI’s deep learning is driving its own exponential with performance/watt increasing 2.5X each year. Source: IBM AI was the focus of SEMICON West’s Day 1 keynotes – and a common theme through much of the events programming. There was a common language in the keynotes by John Kelly, Gary Dickerson, and William Dally (Chief Scientist and SVP of Research NVIDIA), and others. We heard how AI is based on data, algorithms, and compute. I was inspired by these talks and for the potential for AI and the cognitive era. Looking ahead, I believe data + algorithms + compute + machine learning = knowledge and cognition. My vision is that this AI knowledge and cognition will be the catalyst to create new modes of systems transformations that will usher in the next Industrial Revolution. As the 4th Industrial Revolution becomes a reality, I look forward to working with others in SEMI Think Tanks to imagine the 5th Industrial Revolution – and its opportunities for our industry. I believe that it will make our lives better, healthier, more prosperous, and more fulfilled. A sentiment shared by many speakers at SEMICON West was – this is the most exciting time to be in the semiconductor manufacturing industry. Many wished they were just now starting in the industry as this is the most interesting inflection and transformation ever. There is a flood of new architectures, new materials, new equipment, new processes – and a new system-based design approach to enable the Cognitive Era. We, in hardware manufacturing, are in the driver’s seat for this incredible ride. SEMI is working to help its members speed their time to better business results – and to take full advantage of the Cognitive Era and AI opportunity. At SEMICON West 2018, SEMI provided a broad and deep slate of program education and spotlighted AI expertise across the electronics manufacturing supply. In case you missed it, SEMI also provided: Seven keynotes and dozens of expert panelists Semiconductor venture funding program – problems and solutions for the ecosystem SEMI Smart Workforce Pavilion with over 600 students registered to learn about the industry Smart Pavilions including Smart Manufacturing and Smart Automotive SEMI highlighted the five key vertical application platforms where our industry needs to collaborate across the full supply chain and streamline the supply chain for efficiency. The five are: IoT, Smart Transportation, Smart Manufacturing, Smart MedTech, and Smart Data. These verticals drive huge business potential and are just one of the reasons that SEMICON West has become the gathering place of the extended electronics manufacturing supply chain. With SEMI, together we can realize the potential of the coming Cognitive Era. SEMI members can advance the industry with SEMI collective action in Workforce Development, Advocacy (public policy and regulatory), Standards to synchronize the industry, and in the many SEMI technology communities and special interest groups – to increase the global industry’s rate of growth and overall level of prosperity. For more information, please visit www.semi.org; to become a member, please visit http://www.semi.org/en/become-member-join-semi. Ajit Manocha is President and CEO of SEMI

Advances in areas from materials, packaging and testing to devices, equipment and standards must come together to enable smart factories and new capabilities in the microelectronics manufacturing supply chain. The secure transfer of information between factories is an important part of creating the “digital thread” that will give rise to higher yield, faster cycle times and reduced cost. At SEMICON West 2018, Tom Salmon, Vice President of Collaborative Technology Initiatives at SEMI, discusses his group’s work across the supply chain – including semiconductor front-end, packaging and test, as well as PCB and final product assembly – to accelerate the development of smart manufacturing. Ariana Raftopoulos is a marketing manager at SEMI.

pSemi (formerly Peregrine, now a Murata company) has staked its claim for having the world's first monolithic SOI Wi-Fi front-end module (FEM)—the PE561221. This 2.4 GHz Wi-Fi FEM is the first to integrate a low-noise amplifier (LNA), a power amplifier (PA) and two RF switches (SP4T, SP3T) on a single SOI CMOS die. pSemi says it's ideal for Wi-Fi home gateways, routers and set-top boxes (read the full press release here). Driving this is the new WiFi standard, IEEE 802.11ax, which launches next year. While it's largely meant to tackle issues with WiFi in crowded places, it's also going to be welcome in high-demand home situations. (There's a good piece on the NetworkWorld site on what 802.11ax will do compared to the current 802.11ac – you can read it here). [caption id="attachment_12252" align="alignright" width="300"] The PE561221 uses a smart bias circuit to deliver a high linearity signal and excellent long-packet EVM performance. (Courtesy: pSemi)[/caption] With new standards come new challenges. pSemi explains their PE561221 uses a smart bias circuit to deliver a high linearity signal and excellent long-packet error vector magnitude (EVM) performance. “Traditional process technologies struggle to keep up with both performance and integration requirements, and only SOI can offer the ideal combination of integration and high performance,” says Colin Hunt, vice president of worldwide sales at pSemi. The monolithic die uses a compact 16-pin, 2 x 2 mm LGA package ideal for either stand-alone use or in 4 x 4 MIMO and 8 x 8 MIMO modules. It is based on pSemi’s UltraCMOS® technology platform—a patented, advanced form of SOI that offers superior performance compared to other mixed-signal processes. UltraCMOS technology also enables intelligent integration, notes pSemi—the unique design ability to integrate RF, digital and analog components on a single die. Volume-production parts and samples of the PE561221 are now available from pSemi. And this is just the beginning: while the PE561221 is the first product in the pSemi Wi-Fi FEM portfolio, the product roadmap includes 5 GHz Wi-Fi FEM solutions. The folks at pSemi have been doing RF-SOI for 30 years now, and recently shipped their 4 billionth chip. For the last five years, they've partnered with GlobalFoundries.

The proliferation of chips driven by artificial intelligence and automotive will spur a record $68 billion in sales of semiconductor equipment in 2019.Building the workforce of the future is at once a challenge and opportunity for the semiconductor industry, the key to continuing the rapid pace of innovation and growth. And tariffs levied against billions of dollars of Chinese imports by the Trump administration has profound implications for SEMI members and the chip industry as a whole.Jonathan Davis, Global Vice President of Industry Advocacy at SEMI, offers insights on these key semiconductor industry issues in this interview at SEMICON West 2018. Ariana Raftopoulos is a marketing manager at SEMI.

FD-SOI was a very important topic during the recent Mount Qingcheng China IC Ecosystem Forum. To situate things, Mount Qingcheng, with its lush hills and waterways, is located just outside of Chengdu. That of course is where GlobalFoundries is building its new fab, which will be the first in China to run FD-SOI. Chengdu is also a key city in China's automotive electronics landscape. [caption id="attachment_12236" align="alignright" width="300"] (Image Courtesy: VeriSilicon)[/caption] The theme of the forum was Building a Smart Automotive Electronics Industry Chain. Over 260 decision-makers from government, academia and industry attended – and the SOI Consortium had a significant presence. The event was chaired by Wayne Dai, CEO/Founder of consortium member VeriSilicon, and tireless champion of the the FD-SOI ecosystem in China and worldwide. Morning keynotes were given by: Carlos Mazure, Soitec CTO and SOI Consortium Executive Co-Director; Mark Granger, GF's VP of Automotive Product Line Management; and Tony King-Smith, Executive Advisor at AImotive, a GF 22FDX customer. BTW, transcripts of all the talks are available through Gasgoo, China's largest automotive B2B marketplace. You can click here to access them. (They're in Chinese – but you can open them in the language of your choice using the major translation websites.) Chengdu Officials Affirm Support for FD-SOI Fan Yi, Deputy Mayor of Chengdu, spoke extensively of FD-SOI in his keynote on the importance of rapidly developing smart cars. He heralded the “spectacular” new GlobalFoundries fab there. Following a meeting with the company's top brass the day before, he affirmed GF's confidence in their investment. There is a solid roadmap for FD-SOI, he noted, and efforts are underway to accelerate the move into production and expand education and training. He cited the benefits of FD-SOI for the entire supply chain, from design through package and test, raising the level of the entire IC industry to new heights. The government, he said, attaches great importance to this enterprise. Their thinking regarding intelligent transport in China is integrated with the overall approach to smart cities. SOI Consortium Leads Industry Keynotes [caption id="attachment_12232" align="alignleft" width="300"] Wayne Dai, VeriSilicon Founder and CEO (Photo courtesy VeriSilicon)[/caption] In his opening remarks, Wayne Dai emphasized the need for China to seize the advantage in the next round of development opportunities in the automotive electronics industry. This year's Qingcheng forum, he noted, brought together key representatives from across the supply chain, from of the highest to the deepest reaches of the smart car electronics industry, and across markets, technologies, solutions, industrial ecosystem, standards and regulations. In his talk on how FD-SOI is boosting the accelerated development of automotive electronics, Carlos Mazure presented the SOI Industry Consortium. He noted that the Consortium promotes mutual understanding and development across the ecosystem. SOI is already present throughout automotive applications, he noted. There are currently about 100mm2 of SOI per car, in such diverse areas power systems, transmissions, entertainment, in-vehicle networking and more. SOI will experience especially high growth in electrification, information/entertainment, networking, 5G, AI/edge computing and ADAS. He then went on to give some history and an extensive overview of the major trends and highlights we've seen over recent years. He finished by giving examples of convergence across the supply chain with IC manufacturers working with automakers to lower power, increase processor performance and advance 5G. [caption id="attachment_12233" align="alignright" width="665"] Carlos Mazure, Soitec CTO and SOI Consortium Executive Co-Director; Tony King-Smith, Executive Advisor at AImotive and Mark Granger, GF's VP of Automotive Product Line Management (Photo courtesy VeriSilicon)[/caption] GF's Mark Granger addressed the rapid development of automotive electronics. In certain areas, he said, he sees growth rates of over 20%. They are working on building the Chengdu ecosystem, especially for design, and in cooperation with the rest of the supply chain. Furthermore, he reminded the audience, when you talk about cars, travel implies that you also talk about IoT as well as things like infotainment and integrated radar ICs. In addition to cost and power efficiencies, the AEC-Q100 standard for IC reliability in automotive applications is also pushing designers to turn to FD-SOI. In the GF meeting with Chengdu government officials (referenced above in deputy mayor Fan Yi's talk), he too confirmed their support of FD-SOI as a key technology for China. GF is currently cooperating with about 75 automotive partners, he said, and the company is looking to increase cooperation with partners in the Chengdu region. Tony King-Smith talked about the 22FDX test chip AImotive is doing with Verisilicon and GF. In case you missed it, in June 2017 AImotive announced its AI-optimized hardware IP was available to global chip manufacturers for license. AiWare is built from the ground up for running neural networks, and the company says it is up to 20 times more power efficient than other leading AI acceleration hardware solutions on the market. In the same announcement, they revealed that VeriSilicon would be the first to integrate aiWare into a chip design,and that aiWare-based test chips would be fabricated on GF's 22FDX. The chip is expected to debut this year. While the afternoon agenda was not specific to FD-SOI, it did focus on the "smart cockpit" and "intelligent driving", with talks by nine leading players in China's automotive IC and investment communities. ~ ~ ~Note: Many thanks to the folks at VeriSilicon, who wrote up this event for their WeChat feed, and shared photos with us here at ASN.

IntroductionStarting July 4, 2022, PFOA (Perfluorooctanoic acid) levels in semiconductor manufacturing and related equipment (SMRE), including replacement parts, entering the European Union (EU) will be restricted to 25 ppb per component (or any part thereof). Semiconductor equipment components (and the parts thereof) of particular concern include fluid tubing and fittings, pipe/seal tape, wire and cable insulation, filters, valves, tanks, panels, reaction vessels and o-rings; if they are made from fluoropolymers or fluoroelastomers.When PFOA is used as an aid to the manufacture fluoropolymers such as PTFE, PFA, PVDF or fluoroelastomers such as FKM and FFKM (collectively referred to as fluoromaterials), an unintended PFOA residue can be trapped within the fluoromaterial. Buyers of components used in SMRE are usually unaware of the processing method used for any fluoromaterials they may contain, and, as a consequence, the potential for PFOA residue. This lack of information about potential PFOA residues could result in regulatory enforcement actions and restricted market access, particularly in the EU.The impact of restrictions on fluoromaterials used in SMRE has been introduced in previous SEMI articles ‘Fluorinated Compound Restrictions May Trigger Costly Equipment Changes’ and ‘Fluorinated Substance Restrictions Triggers Costly Equipment Changes.’PFOA and its related compounds, such as the ammonium salt APFO (collectively called PFOA in this article), are recognized internationally as hazardous chemicals and are now targeted for regulatory restriction in the U.S., Taiwan, Canada and the EU. The UN Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs) is also considering listing PFOA, which could lead to additional international restrictions.The SEMI EHS Division PFOA Compliance Working Group has been working to understand: The likelihood of PFOA residue entering the supply chain of new components The residual level of PFOA in fluoromaterials produced prior to the phase out of PFOA by some manufacturers The impact of PFOA residue on the secondary equipment market This SEMI resource page, ‘Elimination of PFOA from the Equipment Supply Chain,’ and the supporting FAQ contain the Working Group’s key findings and conclusions.PFOA in the Fluoromaterial Supply ChainSignatories to the U.S. EPA Stewardship Program, which include FluoroCouncil members, eliminated PFOA from their manufacturing processes by 2013. However, other fluoromaterial manufactures – particularly in China, Russia and India – might still use PFOA and pose a significant risk to the worldwide supply chain.China, the world’s largest fluoromaterial producer, accounts for 53 percent of global production of PTFE and 38 percent of worldwide production of PVDF, FEP and FKM. An estimated 75 percent to 85 percent of fluoromaterials are manufactured using PFOA in China. Fully 25 percent of these fluoromaterials are exported, primarily to the U.S, Japan, EU and India. What’s more, finished goods made from or containing fluoromaterials that might be used as components in SMRE are exported from China.Documentation that traces fluoromaterials through the supply chain back to the original fluoromaterial manufacturer is key to meeting the PFOA regulatory requirements. This traceability can be straightforward in cases when an SMRE manufacturer directly specifies the use of a fluoromaterial in a custom-fabricated fluoromaterial component. However, for off-the-shelf components (e.g., cable ties, wiring insulation, tubing) or the components assembled from these components (e.g., controllers), the complexity and dynamics of the supply chain makes traceability back to the original fluoromaterial producer almost impossible.Residual PFOA Levels If, or how much, PFOA/APFO residue is contained in a fluoromaterial depends on the manufacturing process. Details of the manufacturing processes are proprietary and vary widely. Post manufacturing thermal treatments, such as sintering, extrusion, and molding, can result in the rapid thermal decomposition of APFO above 250C, but PFOA is significantly more stable. The temperature and time of thermal treatments is also proprietary and varies depending on the type of fluoromaterial and what is being made.This variability makes it impossible to estimate the likely level of trapped PFOA or APFO in a finished component or a part thereof. It is unwise to use data on the level of residue made known for one case to extrapolate the level of residue across the fluoromaterial industry. However, an industry-wide range on the order of 1ppm-10ppm (nearly 1000 times the EU limit) is suspected. Testing for the presence of PFOA/APFO at 25ppb in components is also problematic as there is no standard test method, and results among the custom methods developed in each test lab may vary.Given this uncertainty in test methods, a system of supplier declarations warrants consideration.Impact on Secondary (Used) EquipmentThe EU REACH restrictions apply to SMRE and replacement parts placed on the market at any time (not just initial placement – known as “first placing on the market”). For fluoromaterial components manufactured prior to 2013, there is a higher likelihood of residual PFOA/APFO levels exceeding the 25ppb limit of EU REACH. In principle all the SMRE components containing fluoromaterials should be investigated, and those containing PFOA above 25ppb must be replaced before the SMRE can be legally placed again on the EU market. Companies (e.g., semiconductor manufacturers) in the EU who wish to sell used equipment within the EU will be required to demonstrate the used equipment is in compliance. Selling older used equipment would likely be unprofitable after necessary investigations and component replacements are completed.Next StepsWhile the EU semiconductor manufacturing industry heavily depends on the secondary (used) equipment market, EU regulators may be unaware of the PFOA restriction’s damaging impact to this market. The EHS Division PFOA Working Group, in conjunction with SEMI Europe, is now considering how to bring this concern to the attention of regulators and to collaborate and lobby for effective changes including possible modifications to the EU Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs) regulation.