Semiconductor industry analyst and CEO of VLSIresearch Inc., G. Dan Hutcheson discusses the radically different Producer® Selectra™ etch system and extreme selectivity's importance for the industry. 

Applied's Sree Kesapragada and Miller Allen, discuss the Endura Cirrus HTX which meets chipmakers’ copper interconnect patterning needs by extending the TiN metal hardmask —the industry’s material of choice — to the 10nm and below nodes.

Applied’s Ofer Adan, Global Product and Technology manager, discusses the technical innovations of the recently announced metrology tool for 3D devices.

Applied technologists discuss TSV processes and integration, and review new requirements in a typical integration flow. 

Historically, many of the developments in the semiconductor industry have stemmed from the continued progress in lithography. However, with the persistent uncertainty of extreme ultraviolet (EUV) for future-generation patterning, the industry has developed techniques such as self-alignment double patterning (SADP) to extend optical lithography. In a video produced by SPIETV, Chris Bencher of Applied Materials Office of the Chief Technology Officer, reviews the evolution of SADP and looks to its future. 

Every year, media outlets publish year-end reviews and outlooks for the New Year. Solid State Technology, a leading magazine providing the latest electronics manufacturing news, analysis and product information related to semiconductor manufacturing features an annual outlook and invited Randhir Thakur, Executive Vice President, General Manager, Silicon Systems Group, Applied Materials to give his assessment of the major trends for 2014. He identified the shifts to 20 nanometer designs, FinFET transistors and 3D NAND as the game-changing innovations and discussed how Applied is focused on providing the precision materials engineering solutions to address the challenges involved in advancing these technologies.

Applied Materials' Schubert Chu, Epi Products Head, Silicon Systems Group, discusses how Applied's new epi technology for NMOS transistors increases transistor speed in an interview with Pete Singer, Editor-in-Chief for Solid State Technology.

Chip makers and equipment suppliers are taking new steps forward in exploring revolutionary materials and techniques needed to continue enabling breakthroughs in microchip performance.  The pace of innovation is ramping at a rate never-before experienced in the industry.  We’re going to see more changes in the next five years than we’ve seen in last 15. Without these efforts, the innovation engine that has produced generation after generation of mobility and computing devices capable of astonishing capabilities will stall. One area where disruptive change is coming is the interconnect. 

Following is a short explanation of this transition.

Given that today’s advanced chips can contain billions of transistors, 60 miles of copper wiring and 10 billion vertical connections between metal layers, the challenges and potential pitfalls this level of complexity presents are mind-boggling. One major problem on the horizon at 20nm and below is the threat of voids forming in the vertical interconnects commonly called vias.

A notable development in the renewable energy industry has been the swift ascendency of China in solar cell manufacturing. It took under five years for Chinese manufacturers to dominate production and the global market. Many of these manufacturers are Applied Materials customers. So, when MIT’s Technology Review started to research their February cover feature on “manufacturing breakthroughs” that includes a look at China’s leadership in solar, they reached out to Applied for perspective. Applied EVP and GM for the Energy and Environmental Solutions team, Mark Pinto discussed with Technology Review the evolution of China’s solar industry and how it is changing to being driven by not only scale but also technology advancements in conversion efficiency to reduce cost.

ExtremeTech’s Sebastian Anthony, details Applied Materials’ role in the semiconductor industry and describes the company as the unsung hero of Silicon Valley that has been guiding the leading edge of CMOS processing since before Intel released its 4004 CPU in 1971. Quoted in the story is Applied Materials’ chief technology officer for silicon, Klaus Scheugraf. Visit ExtremeTech’s web site to access the full story or read the following short excerpt.

Semiconductor Manufacturing & Design’s David Lammers recently covered Applied Materials’ analyst meeting and published an article on the growth and wider adoption of solid-state drives as well as what is driving wafer-level packaging and through-silicon vias.

Below are a few highlights of the report.

Applied Materials and China are leaders in solar; Applied as a supplier and China as a manufacturer. This makes next week's SNEC PV Power Expo 2011 in Shanghai a significant event for the industry and for Applied. Not surprisingly, SNEC has grown into one of the most influential international PV shows in the world. More than 4,000 experts and scholars, 80,000 professionals, and 5000 companies, including buyers, suppliers, integrators, will gather in Shanghai for this occasion.

The industry has reached a crucial inflection point on the adoption and commercialization of 3D packaging technology, and Applied Materials’ CTO Hans Stork gave attendees of the 3D Architectures for Semiconductor Integration and Packaging conference held recently in Burlingame, Calif. his assessment on the current status of this emerging technology.

According to Stork, though significant challenges remain with vertical interconnects using through-silicon vias (TSVs), the semiconductor industry is on the verge of turning this into a manufacturing technology.

Christopher Bencher, member of the technical staff at Applied Materials, recently gave a presentation at the IEEE Bay Area Nanotechnology Council’s Half-day Symposium on process and integration-based scaling for 15nm nodes. In an interview with Debra Vogler, senior technical editor at Solid State Technology, Bencher discussed the company’s development work at 15nm. Listen to Bencher's talk on the realities driving the push to 15nm or for more details visit the Solid State Technology web site.

Scott Rothenberg of Applied Materials speaks with Debra Vogler with Photovoltaics World Magazine at Solar Power International 2010 about manufacturing execution system (MES) software for our solar cell manufacturing customers.

Photovoltaics World just published a special issue called “Champions of Photovoltaics” to honor a select group of advocates, technologists, investors and companies that have helped to make PV a viable clean energy source and the world’s fastest growing energy technology. Applied Materials is recognized in 3 of the 4 categories – for technology, as investors and as a company.

Recognized as one of the PV technology champions is Dr. Charlie Gay, and President of Applied Solar. A 35-year industry veteran, Gay has been a stalwart proponent and innovator for PV starting in the 1970s when PV first became recognized as a commercial power source. Today, Gay is responsible for Applied’s solar efforts with important stakeholders in the industry, technical community and governments around the world.

The photovoltaics industry has to be increasingly frugal with its raw materials in order to survive in the price war. The role model, as is often the case, is the microelectronics industry.

Applied Materials Baccini, considered one of the leading equipment providers, was featured in the latest issue of Sun & Wind Energy Magazine. The following is a short excerpt of the article.

The President of Applied Materials' Solar division, Dr. Charlie Gay, is featured in a Q&A article in the August issue of the global photovoltaic business magazine, InterPV. The following is a brief except of the article.

Applied Materials was founded in 1967 and has since become the leading supplier of manufacturing equipment to the semiconductor, display and more recently, the Photovoltaic (PV) industry. Today, virtually every semiconductor chip and liquid crystal flat panel display in the world is produced using Applied Materials manufacturing equipment.

Solar Industry Magazine featured Applied Materials’ plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition (PECVD) technology in this month’s print issue. Read the follownig short excerpt of the article.