SEMICONDUCTOR INDUSTRY
UPDATE
March 2018
McIlvaine Company
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Siltectra Expands HQ in Dresden
ClassOne Equipment Selected to Upgrade Major UK
Fab
Samsung Breaks Ground on New Semiconductor Line
Samsung Building New 7nm Foundry Plant
ACM Research Announces Expansion of
Manufacturing Facility
ASML to Expand Connecticut Manufacturing Facility
Air Products to Supply Samsung Electronics’
Second 3D V-NAND Fab
Samsung Begins Mass Production of Embedded
Universal Flash Storage
Shenzhen MTC to Invest in LED Chip Production
CS Clean Solutions Updates Munich Refill Facility
TSMC Started Construction of Its 5nm ‘Fab 18’ In Taiwan
Siltectra Expands HQ in Dresden
In a move that marks its shift to production,
Siltectra has announced that it recently expanded its headquarters in Dresden’s
Technologie Park Nord and added a state-of-the-art pilot production line to the
larger 9,684 sq. ft. (900 square meter) facility.
At the heart of the pilot line is the
company’s Cold Split laser-based wafer thinning technology, designed to cut
costs for makers of devices based on advanced substrates like SiC, GaN, and
sapphire, as well as silicon.
The new pilot line, which is already
processing customers’ substrates, is a central piece of Siltectra’s growth
strategy, says the company’s CEO, Harald Binder.
“With the industry steadily transitioning to
advanced substrates to build devices like power electronics, there is soaring
interest in new technologies that can improve performance and contain costs.
We’re hearing daily from leading integrated device manufacturers (IDMs) who are
eyeing advanced wafering technologies, in particular, to exact cost-reductions
in their mass-production fabs.
This has generated high interest in our Cold
Split technology. We’re very pleased now to have advanced capabilities to cater
to these customers."
Siltectra’s CTO, Jan Richter, added: “The
pilot line gives us the critical infrastructure to accelerate our path to
production and expand R&D to hit aggressive milestones on our technology
roadmap. Cold Split is already out-performing traditional grinding methods by
thinning wafers to 100 microns and below in minutes, with virtually no material
loss.
Now, we’re in final-phase testing of extended
capabilities that exploit the technology’s maximum potential. Results so far are
very exciting. We believe that the additional innovations have the potential to
deliver substantial cost savings to manufacturers of SiC-based devices."
ClassOne Equipment Selected to Upgrade Major
UK Fab
ClassOne Equipment, Atlanta-based provider of
refurbished name-brand semiconductor processing equipment, has announced the
sale of multiple systems to a major global components manufacturer as part of a
significant upgrade to their UK fab. Semitool Batch Spray Solvent Tools and
Tepla barrel etch processing equipment – all refurbished by ClassOne – will be
installed at the customer facility in England.
“They selected ClassOne for two important
reasons," said ClassOne CEO, Byron Exarcos. “First, our refurbished tools are
providing “better-than-new" performance because the equipment is completely
refurbished from the frame up, replacing all older-technology elements with
current state-of-the-art parts – such as the advanced Windows 7 control systems.
And secondly, ClassOne is able to provide this customer with a very strong local
service and support infrastructure in the UK, which is essential to their
operation."
"This is a milestone fab upgrade, and we’re
proud to be playing an important role in it," said Exarcos. "Because we’ve built
a strong relationship with this particular customer for nearly a decade. Now
we're able to support their UK facility with a local team of senior product,
process and field service engineers – and with the fast response times they're
looking for."
Exarcos noted that ClassOne's UK support
group has over 100 years of combined experience specifically on Semitool
equipment and single-wafer systems. He cited this as an example of ClassOne’s
ongoing initiative to provide “an unbeatable level of quality products and
support" across Europe for single-wafer electroplating, batch spray tools, and
other process equipment.
In addition to the refurbished systems sold
by ClassOne Equipment, ClassOne also sells its own brand of new processing
systems through a sister company, ClassOne Technology. These include new
Solstice electrochemical plating systems and Trident spray solvent tools (SSTs)
as well as new spin rinse dryers (SRDs). The stated goal of both ClassOne
companies is to provide advanced processing solutions for a broad range of
budget-conscious users, many of whom are in emerging technologies.
Samsung Breaks Ground on New Semiconductor
Line
The US$6 billion investment at Samsung's
production site in Hwaseong will enter operation in 2020
Samsung Electronics has announced that
construction work has begun in Hwaseong, Korea, for a new EUV (extreme
ultraviolet) semiconductor line. The new facility will produce semiconductors
under 7-nanometers for use in next-generation mobiles and servers.
The US$6 billion investment, the company
said, aims to maintain leadership in state-of-the-art semiconductor technology.
The new facility is expected to be completed within the second half of 2019 and
start production ramp-up in 2020.
Speaking at the groundbreaking ceremony,
Kinam Kim, President & CEO of Device Solutions at Samsung Electronics, said:
“With the addition of the new EUV line, Hwaseong will become the center of the
company’s semiconductor cluster spanning Giheung, Hwaseong and Pyeongtaek in
Korea.
“The line will play a pivotal role as Samsung
seeks to maintain a competitive edge as an industry leader in the coming age of
the Fourth Industrial Revolution.”
With this new EUV line, Samsung will be able
to strengthen its leadership in single nanometer process technology by
responding to market demand from various applications, including mobile, server,
network, and HPC (high-performance computing) for which high performance and
power efficiency are critical.
Samsung has decided to utilize cutting-edge
EUV technology starting with its 7-nanometer (nm) LPP (Low Power Plus) process.
This new line will be set up with EUV lithography equipment to overcome
nano-level technology limitations.
The Korean technology company has continued
to invest in EUV R&D to support its global customers for developing
next-generation chips based on this leading-edge technology.
With memory chips in short supply, the South
Korean semiconductor giant is set to invest approximately $27 billion USD in its
DRAM and NAND business. The Pyeongtak memory production facility opened its
gates in July 2017, with the current production line set to operate at 70
percent capacity as a result this year's scheduled investments. “The investment
is aimed at better preparing for future market demand. Any details related to
production will be determined after taking market situations into account,”
Samsung commented in an email to Reuters.
News of the company's plans to expand its
memory business comes after a strong 2017 which saw the company make a record
$14 billion profit driven primarily by its component business. In addition to
investments in the existing facility, a second Pyeongtak production facility is
also being planned. Exact ground-breaking dates have not been announced, but
mass production of chips in Pyeongtak's second production unit could be set for
2020.
In the meantime, DRAM and NAND flash memory
prices are set to increase further during 2018 due to strong market demand,
according to Gartner.
Samsung Building New 7nm Foundry Plant
Samsung’s semiconductor division is a
veritable cash cow for the company which is why it has been pouring money into
its manufacturing facilities to meet rising demand and further consolidate its
position in the market. The company decided to invest in a new memory chip
production line recently at its Pyeongtaek plant to better prepare for future
demand.
Taiwan-based TSMC got a leg up on Samsung by
focusing on the 7nm process earlier and Samsung now wants to catch up by
building a new foundry plant equipped with advanced process technologies in
Hwaseong, Gyeonggi Province, South Korea.
A South Korean news outlet has reported that
Samsung is going to break ground this week for a new 7-nanometer foundry plant.
It’s going to hold a ceremony with some 100 local residents in Hwaseong to mark
the ground breaking. A Samsung official has said that this new plant is planned
to be used largely for foundry production but it could be expanded further to
produce other components.
The new 7nm foundry will be equipped with the
latest Extreme Ultraviolet lithography equipment imported from the Netherlands.
Samsung’s 7nm process will be superior to rivals like TSMC because it’s going to
use EUV technology compared to the traditional optical process used by TSMC.
Samsung expects to start mass producing 7nm
chips at this facility from next year.
ACM Research Announces Expansion
of Manufacturing Facility
The single-wafer wet cleaning equipment maker
prepares to build 18,000 sq. ft of cleanroom space for product assembly and
testing at its site in Shanghai.
ACM Research, a wafer cleaning technology
specialist, has announced plans to expand its manufacturing facility in
Shanghai, China. The $1.5 million investment will create additional production
capability that can support more than $250 million of revenue. The expansion is
expected to be completed in the second quarter of 2018.
The manufacturing facility in Shanghai
currently has a total of 36,000 sq. ft, with 8000 sq. ft of Class 10,000
cleanroom space for product assembly and testing, plus 800 sq. ft of Class 1
cleanroom space for product demonstration purposes.
ACM’s president and CEO, Dr. David Wang,
said: “We anticipate rapid growth in demand for our industry-leading Smart
Megasonix cleaning technologies and with this project are preparing to meet our
customers’ needs for on-time delivery of high quality tools.”
“This expansion in China puts our production
in close proximity to a significant amount of new FAB construction across Asia,
enabling us to deliver tools to customers more quickly and with less
transportation cost and risk.”
“Our China-based engineering teams can also
better serve customer needs during design, installation and acceptance testing.
This investment further establishes ACM as a global leader in our segment of
semiconductor manufacturing equipment.”
Headquartered in California, US, ACM Research
operates facilities in China and Korea.
ASML to Expand Connecticut Manufacturing Facility
ASML, global manufacturer of chip-making
equipment, is planning to substantially grow its operations in Wilton,
Connecticut through an expansion project that will see the creation of up to 524
new jobs added to its current workforce in the town of 1,222 employees.
The company intends to expand its Wilton
operations to include the construction of a parking garage, expansion of its
manufacturing and engineering operations, and substantial interior renovations
as part of a potentially $100 million project.
ASML invents, develops, manufactures, and
services advanced technology for high-tech lithography, metrology and software
solutions. These are used by all the world’s top chipmakers to create chips that
power a wide array of electronic, communications, and information technology
products.
“We are thrilled that ASML – a world leader
in semiconductor manufacturing – has decided to significantly expand their
manufacturing and R&D operations right here in Connecticut," Governor Malloy
said. “These newly created, high-paying jobs are exactly the kind of
opportunities that our economic development efforts have helped generate.
Additionally, our work in expanding STEM skills at all levels of education will
allow ASML and all of our advanced manufacturers to find the talent they need to
ensure their continued success and growth here in the state."
“ASML Wilton has a long local history. For
the past 30 years, we continually invested in our state-of-the-art manufacturing
facility and highly educated workforce, which has been critical to our ongoing
success and growth," Bill Amalfitano, General Manager of ASML Wilton, said. “We
now enter our next phase of development and remain committed to realizing our
vision in Connecticut. The co-location of design engineering, procurement, and
manufacturing creates an inspiring environment, as well as generates strong job
growth."
The State of Connecticut and ASML have signed
a letter of intent, and upon completion of a definitive agreement, the state,
through the Department of Economic and Community Development (DECD) will provide
up to $14 million in grants through Governor Malloy’s First Five Plus Program to
support the expansion project. The total amount of funding the company will be
eligible to receive is based on the creation of up to 524 new jobs within
specific timeframes over the next eight years. The company is also eligible to
utilize up to $6 million in potential tax credits. In return, pursuant to the
definitive agreement, ASML will agree to retain 1,222 jobs and create up to 524
new jobs.
“The First Five Plus Program continues to be
an invaluable tool for supporting large-scale expansions of key state
employers," DECD Commissioner Catherine Smith said. “We are delighted that ASML
made the business decision to invest in our state and we look forward to
supporting their workforce growth over the next several years."
Signed into law in 2011, the First Five Plus
program supports large-scale economic development projects to encourage job
creation, new capital investment, and business expansion or relocation. In
January, DECD released an analysis of the flagship economic development program
that showed the first fifteen participating companies had created about 4,600
jobs and were well on their way to the top level job creation of 5,874 new jobs.
The companies are investing over $1.7 billion within Connecticut – over five
times the amount of assistance the state has provided through grants and loans.
Air Products to Supply Samsung Electronics’
Second 3D V-NAND Fab
Air Products announced it has been awarded
the industrial gases supply for Samsung Electronics’ second semiconductor fab in
Xi’an, Shaanxi Province, western China.
The Xi’an fabrication line, within the Xi’an
High-tech Zone (XHTZ), represents one of Samsung’s largest overseas investments
and one of the most advanced fabs in China. It produces three-dimensional (3D)
vertical NAND (V-NAND) flash memory chips for a wide range of applications,
including embedded NAND storage, solid state drives, mobile devices, and other
consumer electronics products.
Air Products has been supporting this project
since 2014 from a large site housing two large air separation units (ASUs), a
hydrogen plant and a bulk specialty gas delivery system. Under the new award,
Air Products will expand its site by building several large ASUs, hydrogen and
compressed dry air plants, and a bulk specialty gas supply yard to supply
ultra-high purity nitrogen, oxygen, argon, hydrogen and compressed dry air to
the new fab, which is scheduled to be operational in 2019.
“Samsung is a strategic and longstanding
customer for Air Products. It is our honor to have their continued confidence
and again be selected to support their business growth and this important
project in western China,” said Kyo-Yung Kim, president of Air Products Korea,
who also oversees the company’s electronics investment in the XHTZ. “We have
been supplying the project with proven safety, reliability and operational
excellence. This latest investment further reinforces our global leading
position and commitment to serving our valued customer, as well as the broader
semiconductor and electronics industries.”
Continuing to build its strong relationship
with Samsung Electronics, Air Products also recently announced the next phases
of expansion to build two more nitrogen plants serving the customer’s giga fab
in Pyeongtaek City, Gyeonggi Province, South Korea.
A leading integrated gases supplier, Air
Products has been serving the global electronics industry for more than 40
years, supplying industrial gases safely and reliably to most of the world’s
largest technology companies. Air Products is working with these industry
leaders to develop the next generation of semiconductors and displays for
tablets, computers and mobile devices.
Samsung Begins Mass Production of Embedded
Universal Flash Storage
Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. announced that
it has begun mass production of a 256-gigabyte (GB) embedded Universal Flash
Storage (eUFS) solution with advanced features based on automotive
specifications from the JEDEC UFS 3.0 standard, for the first time in the
industry.
Following the memory breakthrough of the
automotive industry’s first 128GB eUFS in September 2017, Samsung’s automotive
256GB eUFS is now being shipped to automotive manufacturers preparing the market
for Advanced Driver Assistance Systems (ADAS), next-generation infotainment
systems and new-age dashboards in luxury vehicles.
As thermal management is crucial for
automotive memory applications, Samsung’s 256GB eUFS extends the temperature
range to between -40°C and 105°C for both operational and power-saving modes.
Warranties for conventional embedded multimedia card (eMMC) 5.1 solutions
generally cover -25°C to 85°C for vehicles in operation and -40°C to 85°C when
in idle or power-saving mode.
“With the new temperature threshold for
automobile warranties, major automotive manufacturers can now design-in memory
that’s even well suited for extreme environments and know they will be getting
highly reliable performance,” said Kyoung Hwan Han, vice president of NAND
marketing at Samsung Electronics. “Starting with high-end vehicles, we expect to
expand our business portfolio across the entire automotive market, while
accelerating growth in the premium memory segment.”
Samsung’s 256GB eUFS not only can easily
endure the new temperature specification, despite the heat-sensitive nature of
memory storage, but also through its temperature notification feature, a sensor
will notify the host application processor (AP) when the device temperature
exceeds 105°C or any pre-set level. The AP would then regulate its clock speed
to lower the temperature to an acceptable level.
Sequential reads for the 256GB eUFS can reach
850 megabytes per second (MB/s), which is at the high end of the current JEDEC
UFS 2.1 standard, and random read operations come in at 45,000 IOPS. In
addition, a data refresh feature speeds up processing and enables greater system
reliability by relocating older data to other less-used cells.
The temperature notification, developed by
Samsung, and data refresh features are included in UFS specification, version
3.0, which was announced last month by JEDEC, a global semiconductor standards
organization.
Samsung plans to bolster its technology
partnerships with global automakers and component providers, and continue
expanding its eUFS line-up with an aim to lead the premium memory market.
Shenzhen MTC to Invest in LED Chip Production
China-based LED packaging service provider
Shenzhen MTC will have its subsidiary Jiangxi MTC Semiconductor purchase 100
MOCVD sets from Advanced Micro-Fabrication Equipment (AMEC), according to
industry sources.
Jiangxi MTC is constructing a plant with
total floor space of 3,012,800 sq. ft. (280,000 square meters). The construction
will be completed in first-quarter 2018 and MOCVD sets from the China-based
supplier will be installed in the following quarter, the sources said.
Monthly production capacity of over 400,000
4-inch LED epitaxial wafers will be operational in fourth-quarter 2018, the
sources noted. Shenzhen MTC plans to invest a total of CNY4.65 billion (US$732
million) in the subsidiary's LED chip production, including subsequent capacity
expansion, over 12 years. The chips will be mainly for in-house use.
Along with increased packaging for
backlighting and lighting, Shenzhen MTC's demand for LED chips has been
increasing, prompting it to build in-house chip production capacity, the sources
explained.
Viewing that Sanan Optoelectronics and HC
SemiTek, the two largest China-based LED epitaxial wafer and chip makers, will
see new capacities come online in 2018, Shenzhen MTC's move may worsen the LED
chip oversupply, the sources indicated.
CS Clean Solutions Updates Munich Refill
Facility
CS Clean Solutions AG has announced a new
facility for the refurbishment and service of waste gas treatment columns. It
opened the modernized facility at its Ismaning (Munich, Germany) headquarters
follows successful completion of a 12-month trial phase.
Unused process gases and hazardous
by-products from plasma etch, CVD and similar semiconductor processes must be
removed efficiently and safely from exhaust lines to ensure safety of personnel
and compliance with regulatory emission standards. For over 30 years, users of
the Cleansorb range of dry scrubber products in Germany, Austria and Switzerland
have enjoyed a comprehensive maintenance package comprising a take-back and
disposal service for the spent absorber material. Similar customer support is
available in other countries through the CS Clean Solutions network of local
service centers.
Expansion of the service center at the Munich
facility was necessary to increase throughput and keep pace with the steady
growth in semiconductor research and processing in recent years, particularly in
the III-V sector. The modernized facility has been re-built from scratch in a
dedicated building which is equipped to the highest standards of operator safety
and materials handling.
The Cleansorb waste gas abatement system
removes hazardous process gases by chemical conversion to stable solids at
ambient temperature (chemisorption). No external heating, waste water, or other
facilities are required for operation. Hence, the Cleansorb system is fully
passive, and is permanently on standby, even in the event of a power- or other
facilities failure.
TSMC Started Construction of Its 5nm ‘Fab 18’ In
Taiwan
At the Southern Taiwan Science Park near
Tainan City, the groundbreaking ceremony for TSMC’s next major 12-inch gigafab
was held. TSMC chairman Dr. Morris Chang led the event, gold shovel in hand,
marking a milestone in the firm’s 30-year history. The Fab 18, Phase 1 facility
will be TSMC’s fourth 12-inch gigafab in Taiwan, and the first to produce 5nm
chips.
Following the groundbreaking ceremony
contractors will move in to construct Phase 1. It is hoped that manufacturing
equipment will be installed in Q3 2019 with volume production in early 2020.
Phase 2 will also enter volume production that year. However, Phase 3, with its
construction scheduled to start in Q3 2019, won’t hit volume production until
2021. TSMC says that once up and running, the triple phase Fab 18’s output will
exceed a million 12-inch wafers per year. It will support at least 4,000 “high
quality jobs”. Interestingly, the cleanroom area of Fab 18 will be approximately
the same size as 25 football fields. Fab 18’s total floor area is about six
times larger than the cleanroom area.
The investment in Fab 18 will be over NT$500
billion (approx. £12 billion). Already TSMC has spent NT$200 billion (£4.8
billion) on 5nm technology R&D, which it has been working on since at least
2015.
TSMC plans to locate its first 3-nanometer
production facilities in Southern Taiwan Science Park too. Back in October 2016
we heard that over 300 personnel were already dedicated to 3nm R&D. With all
these ambitious plans in place, the current TSMC chairman, Morris Chang, plans
to retire in June, aged 86.
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