semiconductors

If you think the world is flooded with a mind-boggling volume of digital content, then you might be just a amazed to learn about the sheer wealth of information and business opportunities that will be uncovered at this year’s SEMICON Japan as the event goes full digital.To start, more than 160 companies will exhibit their semiconductor manufacturing gear and services on the virtual show floor of Japan’s premier event for the semiconductor manufacturing and design supply chain. Add to that over 80 presentations and panels that feature global industry executives, visionaries and experts offering insights into the latest microelectronics developments, trends and technologies, and it’s easy to see how SEMICON Japan 2020 Virtual is designed to help attendees grow their businesses and the industry drive the next wave of innovations that promise to address some of the world’s greatest challenges across healthcare, the environment, transportation and other industries.Best of all, it will all be available at your convenience from your office or home 24 hours a day, making it safe and easy for you and others from all over the world to attend. Following is what’s in store at SEMICON Japan 2020 Virtual to help lead you into the future.Leading Japanese Securities Analysts to Weigh in What’s Ahead for the Chip Equipment Sector in 2021 For the first time, SEMICON Japan will feature Bulls Bears as Japan’s’ five top securities analysts focus on the 2021 outlook for the global semiconductor equipment sector. The December 17th event will include discussions on the COVID-19 pandemic’s impact on the semiconductor industry, the continuing geopolitical tensions that are forcing the industry to reconfigure its supply chains, the fast-growing China market and cutting-edge applications that are powering industry growth. The perspectives from Japan’s investment community are sure to be compelling as the region supplies one-third of the global semiconductor industry’s chip manufacturing equipment.Moderated by Akira Minamikawa of OMDIA, the panel will include these experts:Three Visionaries to Explore the Digital TransformationPowered by semiconductors, the fourth industrial revolution is driving digitalization globally, remaking societies to bring more efficiencies and conveniences to our work and home lives and help more people prosper. But the flip side of those tremendous benefits is the risk that wealth will be concentrated in the hands of people in positions of power, companies and nations. Democratizing economic development remains a serious challenge worldwide.Addressing this pressing issue, the Opening Panel on December 11 will feature prominent visionaries from political, academic and industrial communities including the following:Sony’s Leading-Edge Electric Car and Nissan’s Driver Assistance System to Highlight Automotive InnovationsCars are becoming more like smartphones on wheels, rapidly filling with more and more semiconductor chips every year with electrification and electronic driver-assisted systems to key drivers of this growth. At the SMART Mobility 1 session on December 14, two pioneering companies – Sony and Nissan Motor – will focus on both areas of semiconductor innovation.Sony’s Vision-S concept car, exhibited at CES 2020, astonished many in the electronics ecosystem and the automotive industry. What is Sony’s vision behind the vehicle? Izumi Kawanishi, Senior Vice President, AI Robotics Business at Sony will share the latest on the initiative.Nissan, maker of the pioneering LEAF electric vehicle, is the first Japanese carmaker to equip a car – its new Skyline – with the ProPILOT 2.0 driver assistance system for hands-off highway driving. Nissan Executive Vice President Asako Hoshino will provide an update on the company’s driver assistance system strategy and plans.Quantum Computing Meets Chip Manufacturing for the First Time at SEMICON Japan In contrast with current computer systems that use bits (binary 0 or 1 state) for computing, quantum computers leverage quantum superposition (0 and 1 states exist at once) to quickly solve highly complex problems that might take traditional supercomputers hundreds or even thousands of years to tease out. American physicist Richard Feynman promoted quantum computer as early as 1982, but it wasn’t until nearly two decades later and long after his death that quantum bit circuits emerged for use in superconductive materials.With quantum circuits and devices requiring state-of-art semiconductor processing technology, The Era of Quantum session on December 15 at SEMICON Japan 2020 Virtual will discuss necessary advances in chip manufacturing technology to enable the next generation quantum computing. The session will be the first time SEMICON Japan connects the semiconductor manufacturing and quantum computing communities.The program will feature the following experts:Strategies for Sustainable Semiconductor Industry GrowthSemiconductors are giving rise to a hyper-connected world that is fueling demand for staggering volumes of chips, pressuring the electronics industry to uncover new ways to increase manufacturing efficiency while reducing power consumption in a bid to help combat climate change. The Grand Finale Panel composed of executives from Japan’s semiconductor supply chain and a supervising ministry will gather for the Grand Finale Panel on December 18 to discuss ways the industry can achieve sustainable growth through innovation with a focus on energy savings and an new process technologies such as extreme ultraviolet lithography (EUV), which promises to enable electronics devices that are more power powerful, cheaper and more energy-efficient.Panelists include the following:Register TodayThe SEMICON Japan 2020 Virtual All-In Pass provides online access to all 80 presentations and panels, which will be available on-demand for replay until January 15, 2021. What’s more, all eight keynote programs will feature English subtitles. For complete information of the exposition, programs and registration, visit the SEMICON Japan website.I look forward to seeing you virtually at the event!Jim Hamajima is president of SEMI Japan.

PNI Sensor, a member of the SEMI-MSIG Positioning, Navigation and Timing (PNT) Technical Advisory Council, is developing advanced tracking systems that promise to increase industrial worker safety.The availability of low-cost GPS jamming and spoofing technologies renders GPS-only solutions for location and navigation an increasingly dangerous and ineffective choice for the dismounted soldier in a battlefield environment. This threat to armed forces has spurred development of new self-contained location and navigation technologies for defense applications — an innovation that offers significant advantages for commercial applications.Though not as complex and mission-critical as in defense, self-contained location technology is also essential in commercially available industrial applications. That’s particularly true for workers in industrial sectors such as utilities, mining, and construction, and in environments with lone or remote workers, such as first responders. While jamming and spoofing are not a threat in the industrial sector, determining the precise location of workers in GPS-denied environments is fundamental to ensuring their safety. This makes it a priority to adapt any self-contained, non-infrastructure-based location technology — which was first developed for the modern dismounted soldier — to industrial applications.Bodies in MotionInertial solutions are very difficult to implement properly, even without the challenges uniquely created by human motion dynamics. On a construction site, for example, workers tend to cover a wide range of disciplines: supervisors, electricians, iron workers and equipment operators, among others. While performing their jobs, construction workers change locations, both indoors and outdoors, and perform dynamic motion such as crawling, ducking and climbing. These are all motions that are very difficult to model using traditional adaptive filtering techniques, which are typically applied in vehicular inertial navigation platforms, such as aircraft, ships and tanks. Even if existing inertial navigation systems could be made size, weight, power and cost (SWaP-C)-compatible to be body-worn, their performance accuracy would still need to satisfy the application’s requirements. To properly determine a worker’s precise location to ensure safety on job sites and in remote locations, we must tackle the combined challenges of SWaP-c and human dynamic motion. That’s the most effective approach for creating a complementary positioning technology that augments GPS or other infrastructure-based location systems.To address these challenges, we need to build a high-performance inertial measurement solution using commercially available MEMS inertial sensors. The issues of bias drift error and low sensitivity have traditionally made such sensors practically useless for any meaningful inertial tracking. Fortunately, this is no longer the case. We now have sensors that already conform to the necessary SWaP-C requirements for the application, and have the additional advantage of high dynamic range of measurements without saturation errors, which helps to reduce high-force and rapid movement-induced errors, promoting greater accuracy.Thus, a path forward is emerging. The current generation of high-performance MEMS gyros can now inertially track workers’ locations to step-level resolution very well for up to 30 minutes — without significant location errors due to bias or scale errors. That’s an order of magnitude better than previous generations. With the new MEMS gyros, errors typically remain less than 2% of distance travelled over that time period. Strategically applying algorithm improvements with higher levels of magnetic corrections has the potential to bring that accuracy down even lower, to less than 0.5% of distance traveled for durations of one hour or more. What’s more, the improved gyro and accelerometer bias, gain, and signal-to-noise (SNR) performance allows for better magnetic anomaly rejection. This enables finer and more sustained gyro bias corrections in the fused solution, which creates a system greater than the sum of its parts. We believe that these newer systems will promote greater worker safety at a truly affordable price.PNI Sensor, a member of the SEMI-MSIG PNT Technical Advisory Council (TAC), is developing a tracking system that combines the best elements of the newest-generation MEMS devices with an electronic compass that uses advanced magnetic anomaly detection and rejection algorithms. Based on PNI’s latest attitude and heading reference system (AHRS), the novel PNT system employs a unique Kalman algorithm that intelligently fuses its reference magnetic sensors with gyros and accelerometers. In conjunction with this work, PNI Sensor has developed advanced pedometry functionality for use in its tracking system for very high dead-reckoning tracking performance used in defense industry applications. PNI is initially designing that system to track dismounted soldiers and special forces operating in GPS-denied or contested environments.For more information about PNI Sensor’s advanced location and navigation technology, please visit PNI Sensor. To learn more about the SEMI-MSIG PNT TAC, please contact Carmelo Sansone, director, MEMS Sensors Industry Group.George Hsu is a founder and CTO of PNI Sensor. He has focused his career on the sensor industry, having invented several magnetic sensor breakthroughs, including the magneto-inductive technology, the core of today’s electronic compassing in the automotive, consumer, scientific and military markets. Hsu is a graduate of Stanford University School of Engineering, holds several patents, and is a much-published author of technical articles on sensor theory, design and applications. He is an active member of the MEMS Sensors Industry Group PNT TAC.About the SEMI-MSIG Positioning, Navigation and Timing ProjectMEMS Sensors Industry Group (MSIG) created a member-based PNT TAC to identify and pursue PNT system innovations for GPS-denied environments. To that end, MSIG solicited proposals from its membership for the SEMI-MSIG PNT Project, a U.S. Army Research Laboratory-funded R D project. PNT committee members that have secured funding are pursuing R D platforms that improve accuracy and performance. Platforms may include software, hardware, and advanced packaging requirements of optical and MEMS-based positioning and timing systems.

Call it a wild guess, but I suspect I am not the only follower of the automotive industry who is tired of reading articles that lament the impact of Covid-19 and speculate, to varying degrees of accuracy, what kind of recovery is in store for major automotive markets around the world.I’m much more interested in what solutions and creative approaches people, companies, and countries have come up with to make cars smarter and safer despite the pandemic or even because of it.A friend of mine who works at a major European vehicle OEM told me that “innovation cannot, must not stop – despite current difficulties.” This sentiment echoes through the automotive supply chain, particularly in the resilience of the semiconductor industry during these challenging times.The recent publication of the AspenCore Guide to Sensors in Automotive – Making Cars See and Think Ahead is a refreshingly positive and inspiring collection of articles, interviews, technology deep dives and business news, all carefully curated and edited by AspenCore Global Editor-in-Chief Junko Yoshida.One article I particularly enjoyed was her “6 Trends on ‘Perception’ for ADAS/AV.” The insights she was able to gather from experts attending the AutoSens show in Brussels are fascinating, even if consensus on what, exactly, will be the winning “robust perception” solution appears to be far off. This is only fitting with so many companies elbowing for that prime spot!Another feature article that stood out was Nitin Dahad’s “Level 5 AVs Unlikely Before 2035” article. It wasn’t so much the longer ramp to full autonomy that caught my eye but the daunting challenge the automotive industry and AVs have to tackle: “…all possible unusual driving situations under all driving conditions and in all environments.” This is truly a mind-boggling undertaking. The author argues that the road to Level 5 “is likely to be paved gradually, as more advanced driver-assistance features come to market.” Sounds reasonable.Both these articles point to the need for collaboration across the automotive electronics supply chain in order to not only sustain the pace of innovation, but accelerate it, as we face our current challenges. This made me think about the SEMI Smart Mobility initiative and how the great minds supporting it might be able to help. The initiative is designed to bring together automotive OEMs, Tier 1s, device makers, design houses, equipment and materials companies as well as R D institutes to address shared challenges and opportunities.SEMI used to stand for Semiconductor Equipment and Materials International, but over the past several years – and driven by the advent of IoT, AI, and everything “smart” – we now represent the entire electronics manufacturing and design ecosystem, with more than 2,400 member companies on our global roster. We created the Smart Mobility initiative in late 2017 with the initial goal of connecting a substantial number of members to new business opportunities involving rapidly rising silicon content in automotive. IHS Markit projects automotive semiconductor revenue to continue to grow at a 6% CAGR to 2026.Over the past 2 ½ years, the initiative has quickly evolved into a global platform connecting the semiconductor, sensor and automotive electronics ecosystem under one roof – the Global Automotive Advisory Council or GAAC. While “silicon content” is still the operative word for many of our core members, the Council’s mission is to address opportunities and challenges that impact more than one segment of the value chain. For example, the challenge of getting to zero defects involves just about every stakeholder – from contamination control in wafer carriers to ensuring device reliability and robustness to packaging and, ultimately, system integration in the car.SEMI also encompasses a number of Technology Communities that provide deep technical expertise in support of the GAAC’s mission. Member companies in our MEMS Sensors Industry Group (MSIG) are directly engaged in and contributing to the GAAC work. GAAC Europe Chapter - Participating Companies“Sensorizing” – making things smarter through the application of sensors – has created solutions for the automotive and mobility space that bring innovation, safety, security and comfort to driver and passenger and that benefit the environment around the car.This makes the AspenCore Guide to Sensors in Automotive a great resource for our members and SEMI staff as we collaborate to accelerate the drive toward Level 5 autonomy.If you are interested in learning more about SEMI’s Smart Mobility and the GAAC, please contact Bettina Weiss, Chief of Staff and Global Smart Mobility Lead at [email protected] with permission from EE Times.

I recently spoke with Chan Pin CHONG, Executive Vice President and General Manager of Products and Solutions at Kulicke Soffa, about how smart manufacturing is driving new production efficiencies in the semiconductor industry. During our conversation, he also provided practical steps for factory operators to follow in evaluating their smart manufacturing needs in order to ensure successful implementation and discussed the potential payoffs. Based in Singapore, Kulicke Soffa is a leading global provider of ball bonding, advanced packaging, wedge bonding, and electronic assembly equipment for the semiconductor, power and automotive industries.Ng: Industry 4.0 and smart manufacturing are critical to the growth of the semiconductor industry. What does the smart manufacturing movement mean to you or Kulicke Soffa?Chong: The future of smart manufacturing is the vision of building a digital connected factory to drive new manufacturing efficiencies by combining physical and cyber technologies. Industry 4.0 integrates discrete systems and harnesses the power of large volumes of data to move towards greater automation.At K S, we define smart manufacturing across the following four key areas embedded in our roadmap for all K S products, from wire bonders and advance placement tools to pick and place machines: Interoperability – This is about machines, devices and sensors connecting to each other. In fact, the very basis of smart manufacturing is that all devices are connected. Information transparency – Through simulation, various artificial intelligence (AI) tools use contextual information to emulate the actual world. Technical assistance – Robots or machines support humans in making decisions or solving problems. Autonomous decision-making – This is our vision that robots or machines can learn from machines to make decisions on their own. Ng: Please elaborate on some of these areas and how they’re the relevant to smart manufacturing. Chong: The need for machines, devices and people to communicate with each other forms the basis of connectivity, the idea of all machines communicating with each other or a host. Connectivity protocols now in place for machine-to-machine connectivity include SEMA, SECS/GEM, SEMI-ELS and IPC-CFX. Machine technology uses various sensing technologies. For example, for a pick and place machine such as SMT platform on K S Hybrid, the algorithm to recognize and align processes is part of the sensor needed in each machine before to can process and add thousands of components to the substrate or panel. In a wire bonder, the ultrasonics or EFO signal can provide some form of sensing technology for a machine to detect process conditions. Importantly, these sensing technologies can be used to collect feedback for process improvements.One example of how K S machines are connected to the host is our use of an intermediate server or host named KNeXt to connects to all assembly equipment in the fab. The equipment can then, in turn, connect to an external secured cloud or K S Global Cloud.Ng: What are the objectives for smart manufacturing?Chong: The ultimate goal is to achieve higher factory productivity or better OEE (Overall Equipment Effectiveness) by improving machine yields, productivity and efficiency. The key is to leverage AI, 5G, the Internet of Things (Iot) and other industry 4.0 technologies to drive automation and process improvements. Ultimately, each factory must meet productivity, yield and cost goals. Smart manufacturing enables factory operators to meet these goals. That is the focus of smart manufacturing.Ng: What is the biggest potential benefit of smart manufacturing?Chong: Smart manufacturing uses data to predict outcomes of a process step or machine operation. Once data is available in the global cloud, analytics can start to build data sets to run statistical modelling and examine factory operation trends. We can also use the data to identify past machine behaviors in order anticipate outcomes, including undesirable ones that we can then prevent.In the SMT example, if we can systematically examine days or weeks of historical performance, we can plot some statistical variations in the process specifically to a pick or placer or a robot and anticipate or avoid problems. However, all sensors must be in place in the bond head or the robot so that we can detect changes or variations in the robot’s movements.Kulicke Soffa smart manufacturing facility Ng: What are some recent factory improvements smart manufacturing has enabled? Chong: Kulicke Soffa has contributed to the hierarchical architecture of the smart factory and key technologies. COVID-19 is driving demand for greater factory connectivity, and K S offers solutions that are key to remote management and full control of smart equipment from a central control and embedding Internet of Things (IoT), big data, cloud computing and sensors in manufacturing. Using these technologies, a small smart factory can be remotely operated and managed.With COVID-19 limiting air travel around the world and access to support engineers, the need has grown for remote machine access to reduce the downtime per machine. Remote factory access enables off-site engineers to remotely identify and diagnose machine problems.Ng: What are barriers to faster adoption of smart factories?Chong: While most smart factories are capable of network connectivity and data collection, a key challenge is the lack of a business model for smart factories and smart equipment. Most factories must justify major capital investments by demonstrating ROI (Return of investments) potential. Capital improvements for every factory usually take several years to implement and are based on a complex business model. Factory connectivity requires substantial investments and years to implement. The same is true of the cloud infrastructure buildouts necessary to generate big data and meaningful analytics. The executive mandate for factory management to install capability usually calls for specific business targets in the planning stage.Another longstanding barrier to entry is the lack of compatibility of existing tools with new factory protocols, raising the question of whether the cost of replacing legacy tools justifies the need for a smart factory. If new factory investment is required for the latest tools to support the production of new products, the ROI will be much easier to justify.Ng: How is AI is important in smart manufacturing?Chong: AI interprets and learn from data to perform tasks and meet specific goals. Good examples of AI implementations include Amazon’s Siri and Alexa voice-command devices and self-driving cars being developed by Google and Tesla.At K S, over the years we’ve implemented AI in our smart wire bonders to reduce human intervention in our ProCu-7, PSP-2, ProCu Loop 2, Pro Bump and overhang processes.Thanks to AI, with senses of signals from the bonder, we can reduce the amount of parameters that an engineer or technician have to do trial and error. With on bonder metrology, PBI, loop height, wire sway features, AI allows us to measure process efficiency and provide feedback.Over several years of AI development, we have leveraged the technology to monitor machines and provide real-time performance feedback in order to provide better closed loop control such as short tail recovery in our bonder process. We can also use the data to predict machine behavior, monitor its health and track maintenance. Ultimately, AI enables fabs to improve manufacturing efficiency, productivity, yields and device quality.Ng: What’s an example of how AI has solved your manufacturing equipment problems?Chong: We’ve used AI to set RPM (real time monitor) limits, identify defective P-parts and monitor various conditions such as wire size and capillaries. These types of cases can arise in any manufacturing environment as humans make process mistakes or use the wrong part for a machine. With AI, we can prevent these problems and reduce the risk of further material lost from the wire bonding process.Ng: What advice do you have for factories looking to implement smart manufacturing systems?Chong: To build a smart factory, start by focusing on a clear set of business objectives and how smart manufacturing will help minimize or eliminate current factory inefficiencies. In other words, start with the end in mind – the problems that needs to be solved and the business goals – and identify the information you need to demonstrate ROI. Do you need to resolve, automate or improve processes or just to be more efficient? Before investing millions or billions of dollars to build a smart factory, identify those clear goals upfront. Then map out the particulars of implementation to avoid major problems around standards, protocols and connectivity.Bee Bee Ng is president of SEMI Southeast Asia.

Connectivity. Electrification. Shared Mobility. Autonomous Driving. McKinsey Company cites these four disruptive trends behind future mobility — dynamics that could help to transform quality of life for hundreds of millions of people.McKinsey Company predicts that by 2030, mobility innovation could dynamically alter everything from safety in human locomotion to air quality, public spaces and power systems. Much the same way that tiny plankton in our oceans sustain aquatic animals, MEMS and sensors, while small, are crucial building blocks of integrated mobility.As partner at McKinsey Company, Andreas Breiter will explore this connection during his MSEC 2020 presentation, Future Mobility Enabled by Sensorization. SEMI recently caught up with Breiter to preview his October 7 talk at SEMI’s first virtual MEMS Sensors Executive Congress, October 6-8 and 13-15, 2020.Register now for MSEC 2020 and explore this topic with Breiter during the live Q A portion of his presentation.SEMI: You play a dual role at McKinsey Company, advising clients in advanced industries on capital investments and serving on the leadership team of the McKinsey Center for Future Mobility (MCFM). What is the relationship between them?Breiter: Mobility has become so much more than the auto sector. Today when we say future mobility, we’re talking about the convergence of many exciting developments influencing the ways that people and goods move around. Cars have become computers, and we now have to contemplate new frontiers, such as air taxis and electric vehicle infrastructure.Mobility is changing so quickly that it’s inspiring decision-makers from other market sectors to explore what implications it will have for them. We’re helping mining companies think about their haulers, retailers think about their footprints, and insurance companies plan for autonomous vehicles. The MCFM exists as a global think tank to focus on these frontier topics, helping to ensure we are ready for the future. During my MSEC presentation, I’ll explore how those future topics are influencing automotive mobility in the short- and long-term. The MCFM is even more forward-looking, so we’re just starting to build scenarios for what might come in 2040 and beyond.SEMI: How are changes in the mobility ecosystem affecting the automotive value chain?Breiter: In the past, the automotive value chain was clearly structured. We had sensor companies selling to Tier 1 suppliers, who would in turn sell to OEMs, who would sell directly to end customers.The value chain has grown more complex, however. In the future, we might see fleets of robotaxis, which will be owned by companies instead of by individual consumers. Already today, rideshare companies are game-changers because consumers can travel by car without owning one.Plus we see companies offer parts of the user experience such as user interfaces for automotive infotainment. In the past, everything in the car was branded by the OEM, but now we have third-party platforms that let us control some of our automotive infotainment options.SEMI: How are MEMS and sensors suppliers participating in this new value chain?Breiter: The pervasive use of sensors in cars has driven automotive OEMs and Tier 1 suppliers to work directly with suppliers, whose close involvement eases the complexity of integration. Just think about the sensors used in autonomous driving. Getting that right is safety-critical.We’re also seeing suppliers go beyond the individual component level to provide complete systems-level solutions. Advanced driver-assistance systems (ADAS) are a good example.SEMI: Automotive applications tends to have some of the longest design-to-delivery cycles in industry. Will this ever change?Breiter: The automotive product lifecycle was typically five-plus years, with a few years of development before that and continued service after the end of the lifecycle. That gives MEMS and sensors suppliers a 10+ year timeline on one model.With so much innovation taking place, this slow cycle won’t work forever. Over-the-air (OTA) updates, for example, enable new features when they become ready for deployment. I expect we’ll see OTA updates from many end manufacturers in coming years. SEMI: What changes do you foresee in ADAS and autonomous driving?Breiter: ADAS and autonomous features will become much more common. We’ve already witnessed this progression, with introductions first in premier models and later rolling out in more affordable vehicles. Lane-change assist and rear camera followed this path and are now pretty standard. Collision avoidance, as a safety-critical feature, is likely next in line for more widespread adoption.As for fully autonomous driving, consumers will accept that only when it becomes safer than a human driving a car.SEMI: Where is the greatest opportunity in the next five years?Breiter: Electrification of vehicles is number one. When it comes to engines, we’re moving from internal combustion to hybrid and then to electric. Since OEMs are adding sensors for the battery system, for battery management, and for electric motors, this progression represents growth opportunity for sensors suppliers – in particular for hybrid vehicles that contain both powertrain technologies.But that’s not all when it comes to sensors. Outside of powertrains, new sensors are added to enable a variety of functions, including, for example, ADAS and autonomy, as well as increased interior content, such as mood lighting.SEMI: Is there anything surprising coming, sensor-wise, in mobility?Breiter: To enable intelligent traffic systems, you need to make infrastructure smarter — which brings us to sensors. We’re going to see roads and other assets in infrastructure sense the state of traffic, sense what traffic participants are doing, and support connectivity between, for example, the infrastructure, vehicles on the ground, pedestrians on walkways and drones in the air.SEMI: What would you like MSEC attendees to take away from your presentation?Breiter: We’re living in a transformative era for the mobility industry. During the last 100 years of mobility, the ecosystem barely changed. In recent years, however, we’ve seen massive technological gains, largely enabled by semiconductors, MEMS and sensors. Instead of serving as just one of many suppliers, I’d encourage MSEC attendees to anticipate future mobility challenges so they can offer solutions to OEMs and Tier 1 suppliers accordingly.For more information, visit McKinsey Center for Future Mobility. MEMS Sensors Industry Group® (MSIG), a SEMI technology community that connects the MEMS and sensors supply network in established and emerging markets, enables members to grow and prosper. Visit us today.Andreas Breiter leads McKinsey’s capital-investment work for advanced industries in North America as well as its Center for Future Mobility on the West Coast. In his advisory work, Breiter serves a broad range of companies in the automotive sector, including car and truck manufacturers and their suppliers, as well as companies in the utilities and renewables space. He helps executives make strategic choices around product development and helps companies stay ahead of emerging trends, such as autonomous driving, connectivity, electric vehicles, and shared mobility.Andreas holds a Ph.D. in Operations Management and studied in Germany, France, the U.S. and Canada.Nishita Rao is product marketing manager at SEMI.

The costs of production are typically based on labor and materials and define manufacturing expenses. But is this approach accurate enough? What about the cost of poor quality and lack of efficiency in production? How is the pandemic impacting semiconductor manufacturing and what can we expect from the future?SEMI recently spoke with Dr. Eyal Kaufman, founder and CEO of QualityLine, a Kiryat Gat, Israel-based provider of smart manufacturing analytics solution, about manufacturing controls and how to select the best data source to improve product quality and yield. Kaufmann provided a snapshot of current best practices used by the company to improve manufacturing efficiencies and product quality while reducing costs. He also discussed the COVID-19 pandemic’s impact on semiconductor smart manufacturing and how artificial intelligence (AI) can help keep factory workers safe.For additional insights on smart manufacturing, join the virtual SEMI Global Smart Manufacturing Conference, October 20 - 22, 2020. Registration is open.SEMI: Real manufacturing costs are calculated based on different aspects such as failures in production, repairs, products returned, scrap of components or late deliveries. Lack of quality and efficiency in manufacturing can undermine a business. How are you helping businesses overcome these challenges?Kaufman: To increase profit margins, it is essential to identify inefficiencies and what improvements to prioritize. Once manufacturing quality and efficiency deficiencies have been measured, the next step is to continuously collect manufacturing data in order to run the final cost analysis and use the analytics to improve the manufacturing process.Smart manufacturing makes it possible to detect anomalies in automated factories, improve production performance and increase profitability. Today, automated data are collected from every machine and piece of test equipment in the factory. Still, manufacturing data collection in many industries remains manual and expensive because of the time and human resources involved. A real-time analytics system can automatically collect all data sources and select the relevant data for analysis, which today is the most accurate and effective way of measuring and resolving quality and efficiency deficiencies.Data-driven decisions made by smart manufacturing reduce costs and improve manufacturing strategies, enabling factory operators to increase product quality, drive higher production capacity and enhance product design for manufacturability. Analytics solutions monitor shop floor operations accessing vendors and subcontractors’ products criterion to run root cause analysis. All those data will reduce the return rate of faulty products and accelerate return on investment. This is why we definitely need smart manufacturing technologies!SEMI: Data accumulated during the manufacturing process includes vital information about failures, anomalies and machine usability. What data are necessary to create the best analytics solution?Kaufman: Many companies today run data mapping and automatic creation of data capture. They often wonder if they need to use testing data, sensors data or product design data, or whether they should collect feedback from their customers and vendors. The best way to create an effective manufacturing analytics system is to use data sources such as: Feedback from customers (returned units, customers complaints, etc..) Testing data from automated test equipment and manual test activities Feedback from technicians repairing faulty units Analysis of testing processes done by vendors Sensors data Data from our ERP/MES systems Artificial intelligence enables any type and size of data structure, even accumulated data, to be automatically integrated and interpreted. AI-based analytics can also establish correlations between each manufacturing stage to help factory operators quickly conduct deep diagnostic and root cause analysis for problem solving and prevention – all while leaving intact a factory’s existing process, machinery and data output. Machine learning evaluates how a factory runs its database and puts all the information generated into an analytics solution that provides the know-how to continuously improve factory efficiency.SEMI: How do you select the best data source to improve manufacturing quality and yield? Kaufman: The accuracy and integrity of data accumulated in our manufacturing process is key to controlling and improving yield and quality while reducing manufacturing costs. Smart manufacturing is a technology-driven approach that uses digital and remote connected machinery to monitor the production process. The goal is to identify anomalies in manufacturing processes and leverage analytics to improve process yield and product quality.To select the relevant data, we collect each type and source of data that can improve the efficiency of a real manufacturing cell: Test data from Automated Testing Equipment Test data from Manual Testing Processes Analyses of repairing processes (failed units during the manufacturing process and units that were returned from customers) Once the data structure is collected, the next step is to turn it into actionable information in the manufacturing process. QualityLine smart manufacturing solutions provide a complete one-stop solution to interpret any manufacturing data structure. Our advanced manufacturing analytics solution detects quality and yield anomalies to reveal production line inefficiencies and opportunities to improve manufacturing quality and efficiency.SEMI: How would you describe your approach?Kaufman: Industry 4.0 in manufacturing claims to be the fourth generation of the industrial revolution. Advanced technologies like manufacturing intelligence and machine learning can efficiently achieve zero defects on manufacturing lines. Digital factories leverage technologies and methodologies including: Big data Self-optimization Self-configuration Self-diagnosis Cognitive and machine learning Smart manufacturing technologies enhance the manufacturing process by continuously collecting and analyzing data in real-time to achieve and maintain high quality performance. The goal is to achieve a significant increase in efficiency and yield while reducing waste and inefficiency.Until now, there has been no viable way to integrate all saved manufacturing data into a unified database. QualityLine advanced manufacturing analytics make it possible for any factory to become digital without installing new hardware, which can be expensive and require not only the extensive integration of existing data but investments in training. Our user-friendly solution integrates manufacturing data for industries with zero automation by first collecting and analyzing data from any type of manual test procedure and then integrated it into manufacturing analytics to improve efficiency.SEMI: Why are Pass/Fail criteria insufficient for controlling manufacturing yield and quality?Kaufman: Managing a mass manufacturing process is always a challenge because hundreds of tasks must be successfully completed before products can ship to customers. At QualityLine, we establish a test process for each stage of the production flow, from the incoming raw material to the final stage prior to the delivery of finished goods to the client. To prevent unexpected downtime incidents, waste and defective products, we collect and interpret every type of relevant data and turn it into meaningful information, setting up the following capabilities: Collection and interpretation of test and process data of each single unit and from each process and plant Automatic detection of quality and yield problems Accurate and quick root cause analysis process Automatic alerts to abnormal issues Prediction process potential and level of failures Measurement of key performance indicators Many manufacturers base their test criteria of each parameter on one key indicator – Pass or Fail. If the test result shows a Pass, then the unit is ready to move on to the next manufacturing stage. If the test result shows Fail, then the unit is sent to a technician for further analysis.A simple Pass or Fail criteria for product quality is far from sufficient since it provides little or no information about edge cases, where one or more of the technical parameters of the unit under test is only within its allowed tolerance. Edge cases may lead to unit failure during operation such as in extreme environments (cold, heat, humidity, electrical overload, impact, etc.). In fact, when running a mass manufacturing line, it is impossible to continuously digest all the detailed information collected from testing stations. Data is analyzed in detail only when a critical quality problem emerges and further analysis is required to understand the root cause.Information overload and the disregard of important parameters makes it hard to control the process and improve quality and yield. New technologies make fast and scalable data integration possible so data can be collected in real time to detect quality issues early, identify complex process disruptions to avoid delivery delays and ensure the best possible product for customers. Only by accurately analyzing data as actionable information can factory operators control the manufacturing quality process.SEMI: How has COVID-19 impacted the smart manufacturing market? How has your technology helped factories remain online?Kaufman: Smart manufacturing is playing a significant role by helping manufacturers overcome COVID-19 challenges such as workforce reductions, social distancing, drops in sales for some specific products and extreme pressure to cut operational costs.Manufacturing leaders turned to us for a solution to the challenges of maintaining efficient factory operations with a limited workforce and reduced number of operating hours. Filling factory orders with fewer people on the floor is a struggle. Digital factory technologies enable remote monitoring of operations to increase efficiency and capacity. We are helping our clients improve efficiency while reducing costs. Our remote monitoring technology can provide the operational visibility to floor managers and engineering teams who cannot go physically to the factories due to safety restrictions. With our advanced manufacturing analytics, they have full end-to-end visibility and can remotely diagnose and solve production line issues. During this critical time, we are proud to be improving remote monitoring solutions to help the industry withstand the pandemic. Some of our clients would have closed their factories otherwise. We’ve been working to integrate manufacturing data in factories that were previously unautomated to drive high automation levels. Integrating processes with existing factory data, regardless of customer’s protocols or automation level, is our great technology advantage.SEMI: How will manufacturing and its supply chains look after COVID-19?Kaufman: Smart manufacturing is currently a necessity. We collect and analyze data not only to improve quality but to reduce client returns of faulty products by 50% and reduce waste by 22%, both critical points. Manufacturing challenges will continue to accelerate advancements in technology and improve efficiency, safety and productivity as more factory operators incorporate real-time data analytics and artificial intelligence (AI). SEMI: Will suppliers continue to explore new avenues for smart manufacturing technologies and what are their growth opportunities?Kaufman: Yes, definitely. The sector has already changed, with COVID-19 bringing both opportunities and challenges. Industry leaders are facing new pressure, with sudden materials shortages, drops in demand and worker unavailability. The growth opportunities for manufacturing are likely to be digital, as already evident in the immediate response to the crisis. Industry 4.0 solutions will be crucial to increase end-to-end supply-chain transparency, automation and data integration. QualityLine manufacturing analytics have improved key manufacturing performance metrics. For example, based on customer feedback, we’ve increased production yield by 30%, saving some of our customers millions of dollars. Improvements like this can help suppliers withstand pandemics.Dr. Eyal Kaufman, Founder and CEO at QualityLine, has senior management experience and over 25 years of expertise in business development, marketing, finance, operations, engineering and quality management at leading industrial companies. Prior to QualityLine, he served as VP of Mobileye, Cardo Systems, and Medisim Ltd., as well as CEO of OnTheGo Systems. Eyal holds a Ph.D. from California Intercontinental University, an MBA from City University of New York and a BSc. from the Technion in Israel.The SEMI SMART Manufacturing Initiative is a global effort to promote awareness and interest about smart manufacturing with focus on delivering industry-recognized best-in-class programs and services to enable members to maximize product quality, productivity and cost improvements through smart manufacturing. Activities are focused on building out core capabilities to enable smart manufacturing across the microelectronics supply chain.MADEin4 is a consortium of 47 partners from 10 countries connecting the full range of supply chain: from semiconductor equipment manufacturers and system-integrating metrology companies to RTOS and key applications such as the automotive industry. The MADEin4 Project develops next generation metrology tools, machine learning methods and applications in support of Industry 4.0 high volume manufacturing in the semiconductor manufacturing industry.Serena Brischetto is a senior manager of marketing and communications at SEMI Europe.

Even though microchips continue to get smarter, vital security gaps continue to be exposed through such hack attacks as Meltdown, Spectre, and in recent weeks, Plundervolt. Researchers continue to discover open doors in chip architectures for malicious players to steal increasingly sensitive data, hide the identity of counterfeits, or tamper with electronics systems most anywhere along the global microelectronics supply chain. Today, it’s impossible to have full visibility of the distributed chip making process – from design and fabrication to packaging, testing and delivery. That’s why our industry’s future hinges to a large degree on establishing a hardware root of trust throughout the silicon’s operational lifecycle. Trust but verify! It’s easy to say, but how do we do it?To gain insights, SEMI interviewed Dr. Mark Tehranipoor, currently the Intel Charles E. Young Preeminence Endowed Chair Professor in Cybersecurity at the University of Florida’s Electrical and Computer Engineering Department. A foremost authority on microelectronics security and trust, counterfeit electronics detection, and supply chain risk management, Dr. Tehranipoor will be a keynote speaker at the SEMICON Taiwan Security on Chip Summit, Friday, September 25, where a full program of industry leaders will address key security challenges and solutions involving IoT, systems on a chip (SoCs), integrated circuits, physical unclonable function (PUF) technology, future design, certifications, managed services, and more.For additional insights and to hear Dr. Tehranipoor’s full presentation, register for SEMICON Taiwan 2020, which SEMI is holding as a hybrid event with both a virtual format and an in-show program September 23-25.SEMI: What are the major uncertainties in providing the hardware root of trust within the cyber domain?Tehranipoor: One of the most critical issues we’re dealing with now is loss of control over the process of designing and fabricating integrated circuits and systems. This has happened along with globalization and the movement of supply chain operations overseas to lower costs of nearly all goods, including electronics products and semiconductors. As skill sets, talent, design and fabrication have all shifted offshore, concerns have also risen about security controls across the many different segments of the microelectronics supply chain.For example, when you think about the security of military, space, transportation, power grids, financial or other networks, it becomes a major concern if you cannot trust the underlying electronics system that runs them. New SoCs are also holding more sensitive data around encryption keys, biometrics, personal information or banking data. And as reports escalate about cybersecurity gaps at the electronics part level, it’s increasingly important to establish a hardware root of trust. Today, it’s not enough for a buyer to just call up the design house and verify the electronic ID of an asset. The ID might match, but the device could have been tampered with or replaced with a counterfeit somewhere along its end-to-end journey. Unlike software or networks where problems can be automatically identified, upgraded and fixed, verifying electronic hardware is a costly and time-consuming process, especially when they’re as complex as microchips. It can take months to deconstruct, reverse engineer, inspect, and authenticate a chip. By then, discovery of any security breaches is too late.When addressing the security of electronics systems, there are three important features to keep in mind. First, there’s confidentiality. The device shouldn’t leak information to an unauthorized user. Second, there’s integrity. Unauthorized users should not be able to manipulate an SoC’s sensitive data. The third feature is availability, which can be a result of Denial of Service (DoS) attacks. If the device is under attack and can’t access your online service or network, you must still have security measures for your electronics system to be available in a safe mode while you simultaneously identify the problem, recover from it, and return to normal functions.SEMI: What framework should be followed to establish greater trust and confidence across the entire microelectronics supply chain?Tehranipoor: In the United States, we recognize it may not be possible to bring all manufacturing, design, and delivery teams back to this country and have them certified by the U.S. Department of Defense. You could do some of it, but it would be very costly and complex to bring back all the design, fab, testing, and packaging operations involved with electronics systems and still have complete control.The most practical approach is to make sure we design electronic systems with security and trust in mind from the start. We need to provide security features up front throughout the extended supply chain – into the design flow, fab flow, and out into the field to make it easier and faster for anyone at any point to verify the authenticity of an electronic system as well as identify and mitigate a problem. Finally, we have to remember that we are all in this together – designers, developers, packaging facilities and fabs. We can’t just blame semiconductor manufacturers or any other single entity. As a result, we must be cooperative and collaborative by focusing on this issue as a consortium. Everyone in this ecosystem must come to the table, share best practices, establish standards, and initiate best practices for device to system authentication.SEMI: How can SEMI and the SEMI Electronic System Design (ESD) Alliance help the industry meet these challenges?Tehranipoor: It’s certainly of utmost importance for members of organizations like SEMI and its ESD Alliance committees to jointly develop and adhere to standards or guidelines that establish hardware root of trust across all participants in the global supply chain. At the same time, such alliances should make it a high priority to protect each company’s intellectual property (IP). Collectively, we need resolutions that allow us to develop unique IPs and more easily trace, identify, and verify the authenticity of electronics systems as they flow throughout the end-to-end electronic supply chain. Great efforts are under way and progress is being made. But it’s not enough. Clearly, more needs to be done to establish root of trust standards at the chip level.I can’t emphasize enough the importance of consortia like the SEMI ESD Alliance to create an environment where industry, government, and academia can come together, share best practices and even case studies on how they handled security vulnerabilities and breaches. We understand that not everyone wants to share their security problems, vulnerabilities, or attack surfaces, but learning from each other’s experiences can have a tremendous impact on industrywide progress. If you don’t know what you need to address, you won’t be able to address it when it happens.I also encourage organizations like SEMI to create standards or guidelines that reduce the complexity of microchip designs for security purposes. Realtors often say there are three things to consider in finding a home that will appreciate in value: Location, location, location. To build more secure electronics systems, my mantra is: Automation, automation, automation. Complexity is the enemy of security. By using automation to simplify security mechanisms and detect inconsistencies, it will be easier to find and fix security problems, not to mention lower costs at the same time. SEMI: What will an attendee take away from your talk at SEMICON Taiwan?Tehranipoor: I have a large team of researchers who day and night spot vulnerabilities by attacking and assessing data from different electronic systems set up in our labs. Attendees will see real-world examples and lab animations that show how electronics systems can be hacked most anywhere across the supply chain. They will also learn about step-by-step security solutions we have developed at the microchip level. We need to do a better job of protecting the security of our semiconductor assets and the electronic solutions or services they power. My call to action will be that we need to invest more in research and foster an environment of more open trust and cooperation. We can do this by bringing together different countries, companies, and organizations in the microelectronics ecosystem to overcome this major challenge.Dr. Mark Tehranipoor is currently the Intel Charles E. Young Preeminence Endowed Chair Professor in Cybersecurity at the ECE Department, University of Florida. He is currently serving as Director for Florida Institute for Cybersecurity Research (FICS), National Microelectronics Security Training Center (MEST), CYAN Center of Excellence, and ECI Transition Center. He also serves as Program Director of Cybersecurity for UF Herbert Wertheim College of Engineering. His current research interests include IoT security, hardware security and trust, and reliable circuit design.Samer Bahou is senior manager of corporate communications at SEMI.

Teck Khiong, WOI, senior manager of Factory Integration at Infineon Technologies Asia Pacific Pte Ltd, recently shared with me how the Infineon backend plant in Singapore has benefited from its journey to qualify for the lighthouse certification.WOI is driving Infinion smart manufacturing projects with a strong focus in the area of connect and control using IoT (Internet of Things) and analytics technologies. Ng: How did the Infineon backend plant in Singapore distinguish itself to qualify for lighthouse certification? WOI: The Infineon Singapore backend manufacturing plant is proud to be a Lighthouse Certified Smart Manufacturing site as part of the World Economic Forum’s (WEF) Fourth Industrial Revolution platform. Our Industry 4.0 (I4.0) implementation reduces labor costs by 30% and improves capital efficiency by 15%. We drove this successful digital transformation continuously investing in our people development and digital backbone.Of the many initiatives under our I4.0 Smart Factory platform, five were selected for WEF Lighthouse submission and certification. Digital foundation with integrated connectivity and workflow execution We implemented an Internet of Things (IoT) framework to connect machines to manufacturing system more than two years ago. The digitization of our Work-in-Progress (WIP) management systems provides full traceability and gives us better control of the four Ms (Man-Machine-Method-Material). Material handling and process automation We progressively deployed automated solutions starting six years ago using autonomous transport, robotic material management systems and automation of packing processes. This eliminated non-value touches in areas of WIP storage and retrieval. Advanced algorithms enabled WIP scheduling and dispatching As our product mix and volume grew in complexity, our advanced algorithms has enabled us to increase our machine uptime, thus reducing idle and set-up time. Manufacturing control tower Our control tower provides a real-time pulse of the entire manufacturing process, from machine efficiency to quality. The tower also improves data integrity and collaborative information sharing while issuing early-warning alerts that enable exception management and timely decisions. Running a global virtual factory Our Global Production Network deployments allows us to connect and manage a growing contract-manufacturing network in real time, with the same transparency, traceability and control as if the manufacturers are our internal sites.About Teck Khiong, WOITeck Khiong, WOI graduated from Loughborough University in the UK with a Master of Science degree in Computer Integrated Manufacturing (CIM). For more than 20 years he has delivered manufacturing IT solutions to global backend (assembly and test) semiconductor manufacturing, ranging from equipment, factory, process control, material handling automation and manufacturing execution systems (MES).

MEMS and image sensors are shining stars in the chip industry as technology companies worldwide accelerate innovation in the fight against COVID-19. The tiny devices are behind advances in areas of electronics ranging from thermal imaging and faster point-of-care testing to microfluidics-based polymerase chain reaction (PCR) tools and techniques to detect SARS-CoV-2.SEMI recently spoke with Yole Développement analysts Dimitrios Damianos and Chenmeijing Liang about MEMS and imaging sensors market trends and how microelectronics-enhanced technologies are supporting the worldwide push to contain the spread of COVID-19.For additional insights on the technologies, join the SEMI MEMS Imaging Sensors Summit, held for the first time at SEMICON Europa, 12-13 November 2020 in Munich, Germany. Registration is open.SEMI: Despite the global pandemic, the MEMS and sensors market is still growing and is one of the healthiest industries, not only in Europe, but globally. What is driving this growth?Damianos: MEMS have been continuously evolving from the first sensors that were measuring pressure and acceleration to rotation sensing and visible light management followed by light sensing beyond visible and the expansion to ultrasound and multi-spectral. Now we are heading towards an era where we want to sense every aspect of our environment, with more processing and eventually analytics bringing more quality to the data.COVID-19 has impacted various global markets in very different ways. While automotive, mobility and civil aviation have suffered, the impact on telecommunications and medical has been positive. The effects on the consumer, mobile and industrial markets have been moderate. Moreover, COVID-19 is changing the perception of the current global supply chain in manufacturing, potentially leading to more localized value chains and further regionalization in order to minimize similar risks posed by the pandemic and the first lockdown.SEMI: Who are the main MEMS players based on your research? Damianos: For MEMS players, the picture in 2019 was not the same as 10 years ago, when Texas Instruments (TI) and Hewlett-Packard (HP) were leading the scene, with Bosch and ST Microelectronics following, all at comparable revenue levels. Now, Broadcom and Bosch lead with almost $1.4 billion in revenue each, and the rest of the MEMS key stakeholders compete in the $400 million to $600 million league. Microphone players profited from the voice interface adoption trend, while players active in MEMS for mobility and smartphones suffered slightly due to weak end-system demand.SEMI: What scenarios can we expect for each market with regard to the impact of COVID-19 on MEMS for 2020? Damianos: For 2020, at Yole Développement we expect the consumer market to contract slightly by 2.6%, with the automotive market to dip by 27.5%, and defense and aerospace by 20.5%. For the defense market, no major effect is expected, as all major programs still run for the year. The market may experience some slight delays in deliveries due to supply chain and logistics problems. However, sensors integrated in commercial/civil aerospace applications will suffer due to the general paralysis of the air travel industry. On the positive side, telecommunications could increase by 4.7%, medical applications by 10.6%, and industrial by 11.5%.Due to the global pandemic, some types of MEMS have spiked in demand this year. For example, demand for thermopiles and microbolometers used in temperature guns and thermal cameras has increased because of the need for contactless monitoring of people’s temperatures. Moreover, microfluidics for DNA sequencing and real-time polymerase chain reaction (PCR) diagnostic tests for detecting COVID-19 are gaining market relevance, with the latter serving as a premier method of detecting a bacteria or virus on the molecular level with high degrees of accuracy. Furthermore, pressure and flowmeters in ventilators will grow because of huge demand by hospital intensive care units (ICUs).SEMI: What growth trends do you predict for the long haul?Damianos: In the longer term, we expect global MEMS volumes to almost double, from 24.4 billion units in 2019 to 50.8 billion units in 2025, with a 13% CAGR during the same period. The global MEMS market could reach $17.7 billion in revenue by 2025.We see a trend to more wearable devices integrating a lot of sensors but also a move to a more consumer-oriented healthcare. Moreover, everything related to voice interfaces and voice/virtual-personal assistants (VPAs) will continue to see strong growth, increasing demand for MEMS mics with better quality and high-fidelity voice capture. MEMS devices are shifting to higher accuracy, ultra-low power, embedded intelligence and possibly some bio-compatibility for medical applications.MEMS players will try to escape the commoditization cycle and deliver more value by increasing the value of the data, either grouping many sensors to create sensor hubs or by adding processing, algorithms and software. Industry players are employing strategies such as adding extra processing close to the sensor (e.g. Knowles) or ameliorating the use cases of their applications of their clients (e.g. Bosch or ST). AI on the edge seems very alluring for extra value acquisition, with many startups already working on it. Some examples include always-on-sensing (Aspinity in collaboration with Infineon, Syntiant), echolocation (IMERAI) and predictive maintenance using inertial sensors (Cartesiam). This will be the next pit stop for MEMS technology for sure. SEMI: The CMOS Image Sensor (CIS) is a cornerstone technology in the development of devices powered by machine sensing and artificial intelligence (AI) for applications such as advanced driver assistance system (ADAS). CIS powers many of the ongoing revolutions in new technical products and use cases. What is the status of the image sensors industry? Liang: Last year was exceptional with a combination of high demand and high prices due to capacity limitations. Q4 2019 went way above the forecast, and, in the end, the CIS industry reached $19.3 billion for the full year. This year, we think it will return to normal, and, despite the pandemic impact, we expect significant growth in the range of 7% to 12%. Last year’s 25% year-over-year (YOY) growth was the highest we’ve seen over the past decade. Mobile still dominates the marketplace for CIS with 69% market share. Two markets, computing (8%) and consumer (5%), are adjacent to the mobile market but progressively losing ground due to the smartphone disruption.Security, at 6% market share, will probably be the second largest CIS market in the future. Although this is an area of excellence for the emerging Chinese players, unfortunately, they could be hit by the current trade war. The automotive market did very well from 2018 to 2019 because of the numerous applications recently developed for ADAS, viewing, and in-cabin applications. Lastly, the industrial camera applications benefited from large investments in automation, especially in the semiconductor and automotive industries, but here again many uncertainties remain as these markets will reshuffle in the post COVID-19 world. SEMI: Which CIS markets are most susceptible to seasonality and the impact of COVID-19?Liang: According to our quarterly CIS monitor, automotive and security were both negatively impacted by the pandemic beyond what we expected in terms of seasonality. For computing, the situation improved just prior the lockdown. Q1 got a positive impact with high sales results for laptops and tablets, but no significant impact was seen for security equipment. For automotive, the demand for cameras was very high in Q1, which is seasonally normal, despite the decrease of car shipments that followed later. The automotive CIS market in 2020 should remain relatively flat compared to 2019 due to the higher attachment rates of cameras despite the lower number of cars produced. Consumer and industrial segments dropped in Q1, which is typical early in the year.The next five years might be a bit slow, and although we forecast growth for the next year, in the future the market share will be lower in mobile. In fact, mobile CIS growth will fall below the CIS growth average, but we will see an increase of market share for the security, automotive and industrial segments. The CIS market could reach $28 billion in 2025.At first, COVID-19 had a limited impact on the production side, as factories in China are usually closed for the New Year holiday, when the pandemic started. While supply is currently recovering, we still consider the limited impact on demand. Smartphone production for 2020 will be down 6%, but camera shipments for mobile should increase about 10% this year. Another positive trend for the mobile market is optical fingerprint implementation. Currently, high-end Android phones use this kind of technology. For 2023, we estimate optical fingerprint technology revenue to be over $1 billion.The roadmap for the automotive market is driven by camera proliferation. We’ll see 10 cameras per car and more for some high-end vehicles. Increasing demand for safety and convenience will mean more cameras per car in the future. With a strong attachment rate, the market average in automotive is around 2.0 cameras per car nowadays, and we expect the market average to reach 3.5 cameras per car in 2025. In security, Charge Coupled Device (CCD)-based cameras are nearly out of the market, as CMOS-based IP cameras are most important now.SEMI: What are current key technology trends?Liang: 3D semiconductor technology is the hot topic. CIS wafer staking technology is indeed at the center of the CIS technology race. Future applications could be AI analytics or recently developed applications on new types of CIS. So far, we have seen the introduction of variants of the CIS pixel. Global shutter (GS) and indirect Time of Flight (iToF) were recently introduced, and now direct time-of-flight (dTOF) pixels are being used in high volume. 3D semiconductor technology is a bonanza for the industry, as it allows to pack more value in a single chip. While the surface of silicon is still increasing, additional silicon is added through stacking.With COVID-19 still a problem, the endpoint for smartphones in 2020 remains uncertain. The short-term impact for CIS will be slower growth with respect to the 25% YoY of last year. The downturn in car production will be mitigated by an increased attachment rate for automotive cameras. The security market will also help maintain CIS growth.For more insights, see the following reports: Status of the MEMS Industry 2020 3D Imaging and Sensing 2020 CIS Market Monitor Q2 2020 Dimitrios Damianos is a technology and market analysts at Yole Développement covering MEMS, Sensors, Photonics and Imaging. Chenmeijing Liang is a technology and market analysts at Yole Développement covering Imaging. Serena Brischetto is senior manager of Marketing and Communications at SEMI Europe.

I recently spoke with Andrew Goh, Vice President at General Manager at Lam Research Southeast Asia, about the importance of the company's new production facility in Penang and its COVID-19 relief efforts. Ng: Before we delve into details, please provide a quick introduction to Lam Research Southeast Asia for our readers who aren't as familiar with your work. Goh: As you know, Lam Research is a leading supplier of wafer fabrication equipment and services to the global semiconductor industry. Since we were established in 1980, Lam has played a key role in contributing to the extraordinary pace of innovation in the semiconductor industry. We have always developed innovative solutions that help our customers build smaller, faster, more powerful, and more power-efficient electronic devices – the kind that are driving the proliferation of technology in our everyday lives.Further to this, we established Lam Research Southeast Asia in 1992 to better serve our customers in this region. We have about 260 employees in both Malaysia and Singapore, with more than two-thirds of them in engineering or technical roles.Ng: Early this year, Lam Research announced a new advanced technology production facility in Malaysia. Please tell us about it.Goh: Yes, Lam Research and the Malaysian Investment Development Authority jointly announced in February 2020 that Lam selected Batu Kawan Industrial Park in Penang, Malaysia as the location for a new advanced technology production facility.Our new state-of-the-art manufacturing site in Penang’s Batu Kawan will open in May 2021 and be the largest in our network. The current plan envisions a 700,000 square-foot facility with expansions already anticipated to serve current and future customers. Construction started in May 2020, and we aim to have our first shipment by 2021. We are currently at our temporary site in Bayan Lepas.Ng: As Lam’s manufacturing site, what role does it play in the larger organisation?Goh: The semiconductor industry is expanding and so are we. To help our customers move the world forward, we need a dynamic, energized team with initiative and focus to help establish our footprint in Malaysia. This has led to the expansion of our existing global production footprint with locations in the United States, South Korea, and Austria. As the industry moves forward, we at Lam Manufacturing Malaysia will work on the entire portfolio of our leading-edge products, collaborating closely with customers to create some of the world’s most sophisticated processes and fabrication equipment. We chose Penang for its talented workforce with experience in aerospace, health sciences manufacturing and other high-tech fields. We are currently hiring now for our site in Penang. Anyone interested in exploring job opportunities at the site can send learn more and apply at www.MakeAtLamPenang.com. Artist's rendering of new Lam Research production facility at the Batu Kawan Industrial Park in Penang. Ng: With the world now thrown into an unprecedented situation, do you expect any delay in the construction schedule?Goh: Despite the COVID-19 pandemic, construction began in May 2020. We still expect to make our first shipment from the Batu Kawan factory around mid 2021, in line with our initial estimates. Close cooperation with and timely support from MIDA and Invest Penang have allowed us to stay on track.Ng: How has Lam done supported COVID-19 relief or recovery efforts during this pandemic?Goh: Just as with any other business, this pandemic indeed is a trying time for all of us around the world. We announced on April 8 that we are donating $25 million to global COVID-19 relief and recovery efforts, which includes relief funds to employees, employee benefit resources, and additional support for the areas in which we operate. This support includes supplies for hospitals, both short-term and long-term community assistance, and our 2-for-1 gift matching for eligible COVID-19 relief programmes.In addition to the fund, we have also donated our surplus inventory of masks for immediate relief to local hospitals. At the same time, our innovative engineers and others with 3D printers at home have begun developing prototypes and printing protective face shields.Consistent with current guidance from the U.S. as well as the region’s respective Centers for Disease Control (CDC) and World Health Organization (WHO), we have activated our business continuity plan (BCP) to safeguard the health and well-being of our employees and their families, as well as to mitigate business disruptions to our customers. Measures we've implemented include strict social distancing, quarantine measures and travel restrictions.Bee Bee Ng is president of SEMI Southeast Asia.