Semiconductors

To help the industry meet global demand for more affordable, high-performance memory, Applied Materials today introduced solutions that support three levers of DRAM scaling: a new hard mask material for capacitor scaling, a low-k dielectric material for the interconnect wiring, and the adoption of high-k metal gate transistors for advanced DRAM designs.

The AI Era of computing is fueling exponential growth in data generation, and the entire technology ecosystem depends on the semiconductor industry finding new ways to scale DRAM architectures to keep pace with bit demand. New hard mask patterning films can enable thinner capacitors with the highest possible aspect ratios, while new dielectric insulating materials can reduce the spacing between metal lines, both resulting in new ways to shrink.

Every AI chip in the world has been built using Applied’s systems. Now we are looking at how AI can be used holistically throughout our business to help solve complex challenges and provide engineers and technologists with “Actionable Insights” from R&D to high-volume manufacturing.

In 2020, only seven suppliers in the entire Intel supply chain earned an Intel SCQI Award, making them truly the best of the best. Applied’s recognition includes distinguished performance in supplier diversity.

Applied Materials is reinventing process control with a new solution, unveiled today, that uses Big Data and AI to find yield-killing defects better, faster and more cost effectively than legacy approaches. The solution allows chipmakers to accelerate yields and time to market of semiconductor process technologies and fabs. 

This is the second blog in a series examining challenges around defect detection and correction. Here, I describe the ideal process control solution for the AI Era and discuss what it will take to make it a reality.

Getting from R&D to high-volume manufacturing of new technology nodes is a complex process gated primarily by the ability to detect and correct defects. The methods used by the industry to perform defect inspection and review have remained relatively the same for decades. It is now time for a new approach—one that is optimized for the AI Era.

2020 will be remembered most for the challenges of COVID-19. In the world of technology, it will be remembered for accelerating digital transformations that would have taken many more years to play out. Entering 2021, the dependency between the global economy and semiconductors is greater than it’s ever been. At the same time, the way chips are being made is changing as traditional Moore’s Law scaling slows. Applied Materials is dedicated to driving new ways to help our customers continue to deliver improvements in chip power, performance and cost, in record time.

Selective processing is increasingly being used to create, shape and modify materials and features in semiconductor manufacturing. In this blog I explain what selective processing is and why it’s critically important to the future of chip scaling.