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Show Report
July 12, 2012
Semicon West 2012
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| Ken Cavallaro, Business Manager, Semiconductor Packaging News
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The Semicon
West show in San Francisco has been a busy conference with technical sessions
on the latest technology in semiconductor design, manufacturing and
packaging. Each morning thousands of visitors also wait for the
exhibit halls to open to review the newest technology to increase yield and reduce
costs. This is impressive for an industry which suffers from monthly
gyrations of the global economy.
Most
companies we spoke to said business is okay, but concerned with a cloudy global
economic picture. Companies with unique niches based on a technology
solution have fared the best so far this year. Even though high volume
production remains in Asia, the European crisis is a concern for the industry
as consumer electronic growth is the fuel for increases in semiconductor
volume.
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We talked to
many suppliers on Tuesday and Wednesday who have introduced new technology this
year, in some cases, cannibalizing their older technology. But they
realized, if they do not deliver a better solution, a competitor will.
Delivering higher yields with lower cost is the key for manufacturing
applications. We attended several press conferences during the show and
learned about many new products.
We have an
interesting discussion scheduled for Thursday with Luc Van Den Hove, from Imec
on the advancements in advanced packaging technology and the development of
450mm wafer. The Flemish
government will invest in Imec's $100 million
euro 450mm clean room infrastructure projected
to open in 2015. The 450mm clean room will enable Imec to support its
partners with cutting-edge research on (sub)-10nm devices that will play a
vital role in future ICT, healthcare and
energy solutions. The transition to 450mm is
essential for the advancement of powerful and cheap ICs. Imec also collaborated
with world-leading equipment suppliers, such as KLA-Tencor, to install 450mm tools
on-site to fuel R&D.
As the
electronics industry continues to develop new products for global consumers,
automotive technology and medical applications, this demand will lead to more
components and significant increases in memory. Even as the news of the
week has been slowing equipment demand, unit increases will continue with
demand for improving yields.
Ken Cavallaro, Business Manager
Semiconductor Packaging News
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