For many centuries, optical technologies have utilized the same principles and components to bend and manipulate light. Now, another strategy to control light—metasurface optics or flat optics—is moving out of academic labs and heading toward commercial viability.

The patterning challenges of today’s most advanced logic and memory chips can be solved with a new playbook that takes the industry from optical target-based approximation to actual, on-device measurements; limited statistical sampling to massive, across-wafer sampling; and single-layer patterning control to integrative multi-layer control. Applied’s new PROVision® 3E system is designed to enable this new playbook.

As the semiconductor industry increasingly moves from simple 2D chip designs to complex 3D designs based on multipatterning and EUV, patterning control has reached an inflection point. The optical overlay tools and techniques the semiconductor industry traditionally used to reduce errors are simply not precise enough for today’s leading-edge logic and memory chips.

Any efforts focused on increasing the next generation of diverse women in STEM must include holistic support for girls and their families. 

Part of our strategy to foster a meaningful Culture of Inclusion at Applied includes focused efforts to advance the careers of women engineers through networking, mentorships, individual development planning, conference participation, and professional skill development workshops.

At the Applied Materials Master Class today, we highlight two fast-growing and highly enabling areas of the semiconductor industry. “ICAPS” silicon powers billions of new devices on the edge—including electric vehicles. No longer an afterthought, packaging now enables the benefits associated with Moore’s Law to continue even as 2D scaling slows. Today’s class demonstrates that the AI Era requires innovation across a wide range of technologies, from the edge to the cloud.

Applied’s upcoming, Sept. 8 Master Class features the topic of heterogeneous design and advanced packaging. In this blog I preview why the role of packaging has evolved from simply protecting and connecting chips to circuit boards, to now being a competitive imperative for the world’s leading semiconductor and systems companies.

As everyday products like phones and cars get smarter, they demand more silicon, much of which is not leading-edge logic and memory. Applied Materials’ ICAPS group was formed to solve the unique design and manufacturing challenges of devices built using process nodes that are no longer found at the leading edge. In this blog I outline why devices in this segment are experiencing a renaissance of innovation.

As the 2021-22 school year begins, we are thankful for the dedication, passion and grit of education providers around the world.