Photovoltaics: Grid Competitive in Five Years
Alexander E. Braun, Senior Editor — Semiconductor International, 1/29/2008

The solar photovoltaic industry will achieve grid parity — standalone economic viability without incentives — in under five years, predicted Stephen O'Rourke, senior analyst for Deutsche Bank Securities at the SEMI Industry Strategy Symposium. More

China Now Rivals United States in Technology Competitiveness
Staff — Semiconductor International, 1/24/2008

A long-running study of technological competitiveness by the Georgia Institute of Technology (Atlanta) suggests China may soon rival the United States as the principal driver of the world's economy. More

Roadmap Dictated by Flash, More Than Moore
Laura Peters, Lead Technical Editor — Semiconductor International, 1/25/2008

The 2007 edition of the International Technology Roadmap for Semiconductors (ITRS) projects the technology targets needed to continue to produce semiconductor devices cost-effectively through the year 2022. A significant new focus is the emphasis on More than Moore, the integration of various types of devices, as is deemed cost-effective, either on the same chip or in the same package. More

Chinese Company Begins Thin-Film Solar Cell Production
Yao Gang, Editor-in-Chief, SI China — Semiconductor International, 1/14/2008

Nantong Qiangsheng Photovoltaic Technology Co. Ltd. (QS Solar, Shanghai, China) will begin making thin-film solar cells using a new production line in Nantong, Jiangsu, with the biggest production capacity in China (25 MW). More

32 nm Marked by Litho, Transistor Changes
Laura Peters, Lead Technical Editor — Semiconductor International, 1/1/2008

With extreme ultraviolet lithography not available for the 32 nm generation, companies are turning to ArF double patterning (DP), which involves splitting a dense circuit pattern into two separate, less dense patterns, which are then printed on the wafer. DP is most easily performed on masks with 1-D structures, such as those found on flash memory layouts. Harder are 2-D DRAM and varied logic layouts. Depending on the device, there may be 3-5 critical layers requiring DP at the 32 nm node. More

Executive Outlook: Driving Productivity, CoO in 2008
Franklin Kalk, CTO, Toppan Photomasks Inc., Round Rock, Texas — Semiconductor International, 1/1/2008

Like a Silicon Valley day, the 2008 economic landscape will be cloudy early and clear later. What's easier to predict is the continued downward pressure on average selling prices. More

Webcast: Highlights of the 2007 ITRS
Moderated by Laura Peters, Lead Technical Editor — Semiconductor International, 1/22/2008

Alan Allan, Intel External Programs Staff Engineer and member of the ITRS International Roadmap Committee (IRC), explains the important changes relative to past years and significant additions to the roadmap, including the discussion of More than Moore, reasons for the changes, and ways that the roadmap should be interpreted. View

Profitless Prosperity Haunts IC Industry
Alexander E. Braun, Senior Editor — Semiconductor International, 1/18/2008

Profit levels in the semiconductor industry have dropped to alarmingly low levels, said Steve Newberry, CEO at Lam Research Corp. (Fremont, Calif.). For more than half of the top 40 semiconductor companies, current levels of profitability are "minimally sufficient" to fund new investments. More

Webcast: Preparing for High-Volume Immersion Lithography
Moderated by Aaron Hand, Executive Editor, Electronic Media — Semiconductor International, 2/19/2008

Broadcast in both English and Japanese, this webcast features an international lineup of panelists who discuss the most pressing challenges facing immersion lithography, and the solutions that are being worked on. View

2008 Economic Forecast: Fairly Unpredictable
Staff — Semiconductor International, 1/1/2008

2008 will be a year when the industry's hopes and realities clash, according to the opinions of industry executives. Hopes are for a strengthening expansion in 2008, a year that should have history, speaking a lot of momentum, given the U.S. presidential election and Olympic Games, said Klaus Rinnen, Managing Vice President, Semiconductor Manufacturing, Gartner. More

TSMC Reorganizes Into Three Business Units
Staff — Semiconductor International, 3/3/2008

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. Ltd. (TSMC, Hsinchu, Taiwan) announced a reorganization into three main business units that will focus on advanced technology, mainstream technology, and sales and marketing. More

Photovoltaics Ready for Next Big Market
Alexander E. Braun, Senior Editor — Semiconductor International 2/20/2008

At the SEMI (San Jose) Silicon Valley Lunch Forum, the subject of "Solar: Will It Light Up the Semiconductor Market? What are the Real Opportunities?" was explored. More

TI Pushes Junctions in 45 nm Transistors
David Lammers, News Editor — Semiconductor International, 2/7/2008

Ben McKee, vice president of advanced CMOS development, said the biggest challenge at the 45 nm node was to control leakage while scaling the silicon oxynitride (SiON) gate dielectric by several angstroms and shortening the gate length. More

Toshiba CEO Comments on SOI
Kenji Tsuda, Asia Contributing Editor — Semiconductor International, 1/9/2008

Toshiba Corp. (Tokyo) may modify the Cell processor to Toshiba's bulk CMOS process, moving away from the silicon on insulator (SOI) process, said Atsutoshi Nishida, Toshiba president and CEO. More

PCM Technology? Intel Says 'Probably,' But Hurdles Remain
Alexander E. Braun, Senior Editor — Semiconductor International, 1/3/2008

Al Fazio, Intel Fellow and technology and manufacturing group director, memory technology development, Intel Corp. (Santa Clara, Calif.), considers phase-change memory (PCM) to be a technology that will ensure the continuation of Moore's Law in the non-volatile memory (NVM) sector, assuming that its manufacturability hurdles are overcome. More