At SEMICON West this year, July 14-16 in San Francisco, the Chemical and Gas Manufacturers Group (CGMG) Committee of SEMI have organized an excellent program covering “Contamination Control in the Sub-20nm Era” to occur in the afternoon of the 14th as part of the free TechXPOT series. Recent high-volume manufacturing (HVM) developments have shown much tighter IC control specifications in terms of particles, metal contaminants, and organic contaminants. The session will present a comprehensive picture of how the industry value chain participants are collaborating to address contamination control challenges:
1. IDM / foundry about the evolving contamination control challenges and requirements,
2. OEM process and metrology/defect inspection tools to minimize defects, and
3. Materials and sub-component makers eliminating contaminants in the materials manufacturing, shipment, and dispensing process before they reach the wafer.
Updated reports about the markets for specialty electronic materials have recently been published by the industry analysts at TechCet, including topics such as ALD/CVD presursors, CMP consumables, general gases, PVD targets, and silicon wafers. Strategic inflection points continue to appear in different sub-markets for specialty materials, as specifications evolve to the point that a nano-revolution is needed. One example is TechCet’s recent reporting that 3M’s fixed-abrasive pad for CMP has been determined to be unable to keep up with defect demands below 20nm, and is undergoing an orderly withdrawal from the market.
As in prior years, SEMICON West includes many free and paid technology sessions and workshops, the Silicon Innovation Forum and other business events, as well as a profusion of partner events throughout the week.
—E.K.
