| CDFreaks Resident
Join Date: May 2002 Location: Near Seoul, South Korea
Posts: 12,379
| Re: Samsung 64GB CF Card
An insightful article from Digitimes.com http://digitimes.com/bits_chips/a20060911VL204.html Quote:
The next step - Industry takes aim at 450mm
Chris Hall, DigiTimes.com, Taipei [Monday 11 September 2006]
The semiconductor industry faces challenges without end, and one of the major issues looming on the horizon is the move to 450 millimeters, and all the questions and challenges that involves.
When the issue was recently broached with Archie Hwang, who became chairman of SEMI in June, Hwang emphasized that production platforms within the fabs would have to change, and change dramatically, if they are going to handle the relatively huge size of 450mm. Concerning the R&D costs, Hwang indicated that there's a tendency these days for the equipment makers themselves to have to bear a proportion of those costs.
Charles Kau, president of DRAM maker Inotera, pointed out that the industry may split on the 450mm issue, between those bigger players that wish to scale up on a faster schedule, and suppliers who don't want to make the move too fast. The big players will aim to increase revenues and profits by transitioning to larger wafers. For smaller companies, it will be a question of survival, since many of them will hardly be able to afford the cost of transition. The danger there is that suppliers of materials and equipment may lose their customers.
The semiconductor industry scales up wafer sizes every 12 to 15 years on average. In the past, such transitions were always accompanied by a decreased number of companies that could afford the manufacturing costs at the new level. For example, while over 100 companies worldwide produced 200mm wafers, only about 50, perhaps even less, were able to move ahead to production on 300mm wafers. Approximating a similar trend going to the next phase, which will be the transition to 450mm wafers, it is easy to understand why suppliers are already worried about the future, Kau explained.
Intel, for one, has already indicated that 450mm wafer production is now on its technology development roadmap, with the chip giant claiming that the migration will be inevitable, regardless of the vast investment costs involved.
Ajit Manocha, vice president of NXP (previously known as Philips Semiconductors), has also stated that the transition to 450mm wafer production is inevitable, but he also warned that the migration will disrupt the entire semiconductor environment. He estimated that there will be 10 450mm wafer fabs by 2015, with only a limited number of big names, such as Intel and Samsung Electronics, demanding the migration.
Brian J. Shields, vice president of worldwide wafer fabrication for Micron Technology, commented that Micron is closely watching any movement on the issue, but the technology is not mature enough for Micron to make any form of commitment at this stage. He further noted that any process or tool migration involves both risk and capex—most likely in large doses of both—before any revenue will be realized. The shift to 300mm wafer fabrication has reinforced the importance, for the supplier base, of adhering to an industry standard, and this should provide some guidelines for the industry when it heads into next-generation wafer production, Shields added.
SEMI is approaching the issue by forming a productivity workforce, a body made up of industry representatives who will study various models and scenarios and figure out just how a successful migration to 450mm could be achieved and what the benefits might be. Inevitably, it will be a very complex model, says Hwang; a lot of parameters have to be taken into account.
Any number of questions can arise at 450mm, says Hwang. For example, do you want a flexible, "agile" production model, or something more along the lines of traditional mass production? Would you want a single-wafer approach, or would batch be the order of the day?
The International Technology Roadmap for Semiconductors (ITRS), in the meantime, has assessed that 450mm wafer fabrication will come online in 2012, while VLSI Research believes the earliest time for introducing 450mm wafer production will be 2020-2025.
Hwang himself thinks the majority voice within SEMI today wants to push out any transition to 450mm for a few more years. He recognizes that many in the industry have only just completed their 300mm investment, and they are looking for a return. Even so, SEMI is already defining the 450mm issues and listening carefully to what all of its members have to say.
Related stories:
From ITRS roadmap to latest lithography development (Sep 12)
Semiconductor equipment billing hit record-high level in 2Q06, says SEMI (Aug 15)
Novellus: Demand for 12-inch foundry equipment to peak in 2006 (Jul 12)
SEMI: Semiconductor equipment sales to rebound in 2006, stay flat in 2007 and pick up in 2008 (Jul 11)
Wafer fab equipment purchases to top US$40 billion in 2007, highest level since 2000, says SMA (Jul 10)
|
__________________
Kill Confucius |
12-09-2006
Similar Threads