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 Dylan McGrath is editor of the EE Times Newsletter, which brings you the latest semiconductor and design news.
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| Editor's Note |
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Hindsight, as they say, is always 20/20. Were semiconductor vendors wrong to place so many of the industry's eggs in the EUV lithography basket? The question is probably irrelevant at this point. The fact is that in 1997, no less an influential player than Intel backed EUV and led the formation of an industry consortium to support it. The original plan was to commercialize EUV by 2005. The latest estimate is that EUV will be introduced at the 16-nm half pitch node in 2011. Much work is needed on EUV and its supporting infrastructure in order for that to happen.
Semiconductor editor Mark LaPedus spoke with a number of influential people in the world of lithography. Some of them argue that the industry was wrong to essentially back one horse. There are other lithography technologies that have shown promise, but as some of our experts point out, these technologies have not received even a fraction of the R&D dollars that have gone into EUV. Whether this was a mistake or not is a legitimate question. But it's a moot point.
The situation today is that lithographers have again found ways to extend optical lithography a little bit further. There are those who believe that they can go even further, but the general consensus seems to be that a new lithography technology will absolutely be needed in the next few years to enable chip scaling as we know it to continue.
EUV isn't ready yet. But by nearly all accounts it's a lot closer to being there than anything else. And many believe, in the cavalier way of lithographers who make a living doing what seems physically impossible, that EUV is far enough along that it can be put into early production in 2011, even if all of the supporting pieces are not quite there.
There may yet be a role for technologies such as nanoimprint, maskless lithography and self-assembly. But at this point, for leading-edge chip makers to stay on the Moore's Law curve in the immediate future, it's EUV or bust.
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| Top Story |
Point/Counterpoint: What's the right path for litho?
Back in 1997, Intel led the formation of EUV LLC, a consortium that planned to commercialize extreme ultraviolet lithography by 2005.
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| Semiconductor News |
Toshiba to add NAND fab in Japan
Toshiba plans to begin construction later this year on a new semiconductor fab to build NAND flash memories on a site adjacent to existing Toshiba fabs in the city of Yokkaichi, in Japan's Mie prefecture, the company said.
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Education to reduce barriers to SOI adoption
The SOI Industry Consortium has launched the 'Ready for SOI Technology' program to stimulate adoption of energy-efficient silicon-on-insulator (SOI) technology. A cornerstone of the program is education.
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ISSI raises quarterly financial targets
Memory chip maker ISSI increased its financial guidance for the quarter ending March 31, saying the company has experienced better than expected end market demand and pricing, primarily for its DRAM products.
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| Business News |
Analysts cite five growth areas to watch
PC demand is starting off the year better than expected with Acer, Apple and Hewlett-Packard benefiting from the trend, and in smart phones Samsung and LG Electronics are poised for a major push into handsets using Google Android, according to analysts from Barclays Capital.
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Wireless carrier capex expected to decline again
Global spending on capital expenditures by wireless carriers is expected to decline in 2010 for the second consecutive year, with carriers remaining cautious as they recover from the recession, according to the latest forecast from iSuppli.
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ISuppli: Seagate still No. 1 in hard disk drives
Seagate retained its position as the leading manufacturer of hard disk drives in the fourth quarter of 2009, with unit shipments increasing by 8 percent compared to the previous quarter, according to iSuppli.
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| Commentary |
Opinion: For engineers, no good deed goes unpunished
The loss of engineering prestige is a consequence of having succeeded too well, writes Bill Schweber, editor of Planet Analog.
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| Design News |
Cadence acquires FPGA-focused EDA startup
EDA vendor Cadence Design Systems, Inc. announced it has acquired Taray Inc. (Campbell, Calif.) to strengthen its position in the design-in of large and complex FPGAs into PC boards. Financial terms remained undisclosed.
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ARM, IBM, Cadence build SOI IP ecosystem
ARM, Cadence and IBM, under the umbrella of the SOI Consortium, have joined forces to ease the access to energy-efficient silicon-on-insulator (SOI) technology.
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Free OVP models offered for ARC processors
The Open Virtual Platforms (OVP) has announced the release of free, high-speed simulation models of Virage Logic's configurable ARC processor cores.
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