Semiconductors

To enable a more sustainable semiconductor industry, new fabs must be designed to maximize output while reducing energy consumption and emissions. In this blog post, I examine Applied Materials’ efforts to drive fab sustainability through the process equipment we develop for chipmakers. It all starts with an evolution in the mindset of how these systems are designed.

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.

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.

In this blog, I look at ways Applied Materials is working with leading customers who wish to sustainably increase production to meet the world’s growing need for semiconductors. About half of the opportunity lies in the sub-fab, the often-overlooked world of support equipment below the production floor that consumes around half of the energy needed by modern fabs.

Compound semiconductors like silicon carbide (SiC) signal a new era of materials engineering in the automotive semiconductor market, one that can significantly increase efficiency, reduce heat dissipation and cut down the cost of end systems, thereby accelerating electric vehicle adoption rates.

At Applied’s 2021 Logic Master Class held today, the company showcased several innovations that help solve key logic scaling challenges and deliver continued improvements in PPACt™ at 3nm and beyond.