A Photonic Finish to the International Year of Light 2015 (updated)

The month of December 2015 concludes UNESCO's proclaimed International Year of Light. The National Photonics Initiative and its affiliates have sponsored and coordinated many educational and cultural programs during the year, all of them focused on the impact light based technologies have made on our social/global population.

As we conclude 2015 in the weeks ahead, we might pause to behold our handy work. Those of us in the semiconductor industry and broader electronic market place have delivered a multitude of miracles worth mention. New break throughs in LED/OLED and AMOLED display technologies have yielded 4K HD video resolution, four times the resolution of the 1080P video we thought so revolutionary. Quantum Dots are now being mass produced, extending both the efficiency and spectrum of available colors. Hang on, 16K HD video is not far down the road. Resultingly, our global Internet must be upgraded rapidly to accommodate throughputs required for bandwidth intensive applications.

IBM [1] and Intel's CL4 Alliance [2] will soon provide on-chip silicon photonic routers and switches to boost the speed and efficiency of server farms and cloud infrastructure. New techniques in the manufacture of optical fiber have boosted propagation speeds approaching 99% the velocity of light. [3] High power lasers with femtosecond pulse rates are enabling advanced imaging techniques.

Aixtron [4] and Veeco Instruments, Inc. [5] continue as key enabing equipment suppliers of MOCVD and related technologies for the manufacture of LEDs as the growth curve for this market segment continues.

On the semiconductor front, EUV progress at ASML [6] remains stalled until a more powerful source is developed. Although pilot line and limited production runs are possible, available up time remains problematic. In the interim, 193nm steppers will enable multiple patterning techniques. While viable, multiple patterning is a more costly path to nanometer scale lithography. Work continues on many fronts to enable increasingly demanding lithography requirements.

That said, the new year is rapidly approaching and we might shift gears to observe our handy work enabling its celebration. Everyone enjoys a great light show and new years eve is a great opportunity to show off the latest in illumination technology. High intensity LEDs and lasers have enabled large scale video display screens and special effect lighting while high power xenon strobes have become the norm. A company called Martin [7] manufactures a 3 kilowatt xenon strobe which can be mounted in arrays. Each strobe is numerically bus addressable and can be controlled by a master computer which "manages" the light show. When the strobes are integrated along side high intensity LEDs and video panels the resulting visual display is stunning and must be seen to be appreciated.

A great demonstration of these technologies took place at the Ultra Music Festival, an annual international event held in Miami during March of this year (2015). A segment of the festival featured a musical program by Armin van Buuren, an award winning Dutch pop music composer and DJ. During his performance Armin is perched on top of an enormous stage structure of metal girders and beams housing a monstrous array of high intensity LEDs and video displays. Arrays of Martin's Atomic 3000 DMX high intensity strobes are added to the mix. The strobes are so powerful that safety precautions must be observed at close quarters. In close proximity a three thousand watt xenon flash can cause burns and start fires. When the strobes are combined in cluster arrays the effect is multiplied but their remote positioning on the stage's superstructure assures the safety of the audience. I wondered what the EUV output might be (but I digress). I studied images of the festival on YouTube and estimated the power requirement for the lighting and sound systems on the massive stage must easily approach megawatt scaling.

The light show accompanying Armin van Buuren's performance at the Ultra Music Festival was nothing short of a super nova. Armin combined his many pop music compositions with improvised programming unique to the festival, all of which was synchronized with a computer system controlling the accompanying lighting and video effects. On stage, Armin can be seen wearing large black wrist bands on his forearms. The wrist bands are actually near field sensors which track the movement of his arms enabling him to physically control lighting effects during the show. Armin can be seen "pointing" beams of light into the crowd below. Later his arm motions direct waves of light and energy bolts over the massive stage and video screens. The best way to visualize what I'm describing is to watch Armin's Miami Ultra Music Festival performance on UMF TV as featured on YouTube.  [8]  Equally impressive is Dash Berlin's 2015 performance at the Ultra Music Festival in Tokyo [9]. Best viewing of the festival experience requires a large screen HD display with a good low end performance sound system or head phones.  Ultra Music Festival composures are referred to as "Trance Music" and for good reason. The bolts of sound and light are energizing and soon have everyone partying in a trance like state of euphoria. As for a new years celebration, I can't think of a better photonic finish to 2015 than the Ultra Music Festival in Miami earlier this year. During your off time over the holiday and new year, give it a look/listen on YouTube. The video's run time approximates 54 minutes and fits nicely in any one's holiday break schedule (it gets frequent rerun on my play list).

As we know, science fiction more frequently becomes science fact. The future's bright and you're gonna need shades.

Happy new year every one!


Thomas D. Jay
Semiconductor Industry Consultant
Thomas.Dale.Jay@gmail.com 
www.ThomasDaleJay.blogspot.com
Thomas D. Jay YouTube Channel

Visit my new Amateur Radio blog at:
www.WA2HXR.blogspot.com

Corporate, private entities or publications referenced or linked in this article are the respective owners of their logos, trademarks, service marks, media content and intellectual property.  Unless otherwise disclosed, Thomas D. Jay has no financial interest in companies referenced in blog articles or other published media communications. Thomas D. Jay is not a registered financial advisor.  No representation is made to either buy or sell securities. Opinions expressed by Thomas D. Jay are his own.  Thomas D. Jay does not employ or otherwise utilize/authorize third party agents to express his opinions, represent his interests or conduct business on his behalf except where formally contractually designated.  Thomas D. Jay does not agree to indemnify or hold harmless vendors, clients or third parties to related contractual agreements and reserves the right to applicable legal remedies in lieu of arbitration. These terms are subject to change. Concerned parties should check this blog site for periodic updates.

Acknowledgements and Reference Links

[1] https://www-03.ibm.com/press/us/en/pressrelease/46839.wss
IBM Press release, IBM web site May 12, 2015

[2] http://www.pcworld.com/article/2879152/intel-delays-part-for-highspeed-silicon-photonic-networking.html
PC World web site, Agam Shah, IDG News Service
February 2, 2015

[3] http://www.nature.com/nphoton/journal/v7/n4/full/nphoton.2013.45.html
Nature Photonics

[4] Aixtron
www.aixtron.com

[5] Veeco Instruments, Inc.
www.veeco.com

[6] ASML
www.ASML.com

[7] Martin Atomic 3000 DMX
http://www.martin.com/en-us/product-details/atomic-3000-dmx

[8] Armin van Buuren live at Ultra Music Festival Miami 2015 UMF TV
https://youtu.be/PbfSULQV9co

[9] Dash Berlin live at Ultra Music Festival Tokyo UMF TV
https://youtu.be/5YfWoVnAS_I

Silicon Photonics in the Year of Light

As we celebrate UNESCO's International Year of Light 2015, it is with some irony that earlier this month on May 12, 2015 IBM announced [1] it had fully fabricated and tested an integrated wavelength, multiplexed 100 Gb/sec silicon CMOS nano-photonic optical tranceiver chip whose design concept was first announced in December 2010 [2]. IBM's effort is echoed by consortiums of major players in the semiconductor industry, all in hot pursuit of silicon photonics [3] technology, and for good reason. The silicon photonics market is estimated to be worth $975 Million by the year 2020 [4]. Key players in this market include IBM, Intel Corporation and the CLR4 Innovators, PETRA (Japan's Photonics Electronics Technology Research Association), Hamamatsu Photonics, Finisar Corporation, Luxtera, Inc., ST Microelectronics, 3S Photonics, Oclaro Inc., Mellanox technologies, and Infinera Inc. The Optical Fiber Communication Conference and Exposition (OFC) [5] took place in Tokyo in March this year where many of these companies presented reports on their silicon photonic technologies.

IBM's recent announcement places emphasis on its compact device package and process proven fabrication techniques which will enable larger scale manufacturing of the devices for use in cloud computing and data centers in anticipation of “Big Data” network scaling. While IBM's most recent announcement is coincident with the International Year of Light, silicon photonics have been a glimmer in the eyes of semiconductor engineers for the past thirty years. In a recent SPIETV video presentation on silicon photonics, Yurii A. Vlasov of IBM [6] stated that during the past ten years over $1.5 B has been spent in the global quest for light based chip technology.  A portion of this investment resulted in an IBM silicon nano-photonic device design in which interconnected beams of wave guided light replace traditional electrical signals carried on copper circuit paths. Data carried by electrical signals on copper circuits propagate at only 66-70% of the speed of light as determined by dielectric properties near conductors and other physical factors. Device design engineers anticipated the day when this speed limitation would slow network server systems, as well as chip to chip intra-device data flow, and eventually singular on chip communications. To most smart phone owners, it's difficult to imagine a scenario in which electrical signals traveling at 66 to 70% of the speed of light becomes a limiting factor in computer chip design and performance, but in a world where global communications servers are linked by fiber optics, satellites and GPS navigation systems, cumulative device delay times have already created bottle necks in our global networks.

Interestingly, many original glass fiber optic cables transported light at about 70% of light's velocity in a vacuum.  New research and development in fiber optics and materials have resulted in the fabrication of optical fibers which can transport light at better than 99% of its vacuum velocity (186,282 miles/sec).  New silicon photonic devices are being optimized to provide maximum light velocity [7] while simultaneously implementing WDM (Wave Division Multiplexing) to maximize data speeds and throughput.  As such, silicon photonic devices might vary in performance as per the designs of their manufacturers.  

Why are silicon photonics important? I'll review some important observations I've made in my November 2013 blog article, “The Cloud of Nations” [8].

On a global scale we observe that in a vacuum, light travels approximately 186,282 miles per second and can circle the earth in 134 milliseconds (about one tenth of a second). If we consider the earth as a large computer, the continents might be compared to microprocessors interconnected by our global Internet, milliseconds apart. If we observe our immediate, personal photometric sphere of existence, we find that in one nanosecond light travels one foot. How precise must our world be?

Chip Level Clock Skew

In the metrics of semiconductors nanosecond measurements are woefully imprecise and we must calibrate metrology in picoseconds in order to measure the speed of data traversing millimeter sized computer chips. In the semiconductor industry we refer to differences in data arrival time on a computer chip as clock skew. On a real semiconductor device, electrical signals on copper conductors travel at approximately 66-70% of light speed. An acceptable clock skew range approximating 20 to 200 picoseconds (pico = 10^-12) usually provides acceptable device performance but this specification can vary across device types and circuit designs. For each tick of the chip's master system clock, billions of transistor gates must be switched on and off in precise unison. A microprocessor operating at a 2 gigahertz clock speed must have sufficient temporal uniformity across the device so that the arrival time of gate switching signals are all within an acceptable time window. If the switching signal's arrival time falls outside this window, the microprocessor and the program it's running will crash. Careful design considerations go into device fabrication technique and wafer processing to ensure product and performance quality. More information on computer chip clock skew can be found in the paper “Skew Variability in 3-D ICs with Multiple Clock Domains” [9] Hu Xu, Vasilis F. Pavlidis, and Giovanni De Micheli, LSI - EPFL, CH-1015, Switzerland Email: {hu.xu, vasileios.pavlidis, giovanni.demicheli}@epfl.ch

As clock speeds increase and device geometries decrease, the <10nm design node will pose additional technical challenges in device timing and data throughput. The evolution of light speed photonic interconnects for on and off chip communication will minimize concerns with clock skew across chips and networks as device structures shrink to critical dimensions (CD) <10nm and become stacked in dense arrays. As the integration of CMOS silicon nano-photonics matures, we may eventually see microprocessors, memory chips and 3D devices structured on photonics instead of conventional copper conductors. In the interim, IBM anticipates that the more immediate advantages afforded by silicon nano-photonic inter-chip speeds could dramatically improve cloud server/network performance, and advance its Exascale super computer initiative which could potentially perform over a thousand times the speed of currently available systems. While the initial focus of silicon nano-photonics targets network centers and cloud servers, the wider proliferation of the technology can profoundly effect our evolving Internet.

IBM's silicon photonic chip will address concerns across networks as four 25 Gb/sec optical tranceivers operating on as many different wavelengths will combine to provide a throughput of 100Gb/sec. Installed in server systems, these optical chips could dramatically improve data throughput, reducing network latency and clock skew by eliminating delays inherent in copper conductors found in servers and data center network interfacing. Using sub 100nm design rules (typically 90nm), electrical and optical device structures are formed on the same substrate to maximize efficiency. IBM estimates the device's bandwidth can accommodate the transfer of a high definition movie (approximately 1.5 to 2 Gigabytes) in two seconds.

To achieve maximum bandwidth over distance, most of today's data centers employ Vertical Cavity Surface Emitting Lasers (VCSEL) distributed on multi-mode optical fiber. Remotely located cloud servers have placed new demands on network resources as even larger bandwidths over greater distances are required. To illustrate the importance of IBM's initial 2010 achievement, note that IBM's on-chip silicon photonic wavelength multiplexing emulates the initial success of dense wave multiplexing utilized in early generation fiber optic networks, the major difference being that IBM has achieved this capability at the chip level.  Previous dense wave fiber optic implementations utilized bulky hardware to enhance long haul fiber optic bandwidth. In 1998, AT&T researchers transmitted 100 simultaneous optical signals, each at a data rate of 10 gigabits per second over a distance of 400 km utilizing dense wavelength-division multiplexing (DWDM) technology [10], allowing multiple wavelengths to be combined into one optical signal. This technique increased the total data rate on one fiber to one terabit per second. Although IBM's current silicon photonic chip design utilizes 4 discreet channel wavelengths providing 100Gbit/sec, data throughput is scalable and could be configured to accommodate many demanding applications. While IBM's silicon nano-photonic initiative is impressive, significant global competition is not far behind.

Intel's CLR4 Silicon Photonic Initiative

The silicon photonic initiative is also being pursued by Intel [11] who has helped form a consortium of companies to agree upon product designs and industry standards. The CLR4 Innovators [12] are an alliance of 27 companies inclusive of Intel, HP, Dell, MACOM and SEMATECH (see the above CLR4 link for a complete list).  In April 2014, Intel outlined its silicon photonic initiative in a presentation [13] which addresses the common requirements of the CLR4. The 100 Gb/sec silicon photonics under development utilizes 4X25 Gb/sec tranceivers which can span 1000 meters to link server centers.

Unfortunately, Intel's initiative was set back in February this year as a key component in its silicon photonic module did not meet specifications and quality control standards. [14] The new modules will not ship till the end of 2015 which means they won't be installed till early 2016. Intel's customers (and possibly CLR4 Innovator members) intending to integrate its silicon photonic technology are in a holding pattern till next year.

PETRA's Silicon Photonic Demonstration

Japan's Photonics Electronics Technology Research Association (PETRA), recently demonstrated [15] 100 Gb/sec transmissions over 300 meters using its silicon photonics device technology. The device's 5mm x 5mm package containing 4x25 Gbp/sec transceivers, can be expanded to 12 or more channels to obtain throughputs greater than 300 Gbp/sec.  This scalability enables accommodation of future demands and upgrades of installed network infrastructure.  

Silicon Photonic Research at IMEC

IMEC is also active in silicon photonic research. In February 2015 this year at the International Solid State Circuits Conference, IMEC and its collaborators released results of recent developments in their laboratories [16] demonstrating a 4x20 Ghz/sec wavelength division multiplexing hybrid CMOS silicon photonics tranceiver.  The larger global effort to standardize silicon photonic performance specifications sets the stage for future implementation over many platforms.

Silicon Photonics and The "Internet of Things"

Silicon photonics can assist us in resolving a potential net neutrality dilemma. Much has been debated regarding the FCC's recent adaption of a net neutrality policy which precludes Internet service providers from charging premiums for high speed commercial traffic on the web while intentionally throttling speeds on their networks. Conspicuous consumption of bandwidth by consumers is now the norm given HD and 4K video programming available on the web. If you travel frequently and patronize fast food establishments or coffee shops and use their complementary Wi-Fi systems, you become acutely aware of the limitations on available bandwidth. Many fast food restaurants preface their Wi-Fi login screens with disclaimers of suitability for a particular use, proclaiming “intended for text and email only” and “not intended for video streaming”. All too often, email and other essential services are slow when compared with Asian and European networks. The intentional throttling of Wi-Fi bandwidth often lowers video resolutions to “wax paper” quality. It's disheartening to see 1080P video rendered at resolutions below that of 1960s era analog broadcast quality. Will the FCC's net neutrality policy effectively address these concerns? Should the concept of net neutrality also accommodate the anticipated “Internet of Things” (IoT)? The IoT envisions the interconnection of “things” on the web to include household utility monitors, appliances, cars, watches, and any imaginable “thing” assigned an IP address. A few months ago I read a story describing hackers launching malware they had placed on someone's refrigerator sporting an on board computer. The fridge's door featured an HD flat screen providing an interactive family kiosk in the kitchen, but connected to the web it also kept malware in cold storage. Should ISP's be required to provide equal bandwidth and network routing for email, video conferencing, refrigerators and toasters? A humorous question, but if you're video conferencing from the fridge while snacking in the kitchen, net neutrality/equality for appliances becomes a pertinent IoT policy discussion. That said, the new IPv6 Internet protocol will provide an exponential increase in available URL's required for new email addresses, web sites and “things” attached to the web. Accordingly, the projected increase in Internet traffic can only be accommodated by enhancing routing systems and cloud services, ensuring network speeds are optimized and remain viable as global connectivity escalates.

In this regard we might agree that from both consumer and enterprise perspectives, silicon photonic solutions are long overdue and will enjoy rapid acceptance when available for shipment and implementation.

Closing Thoughts

- It will be interesting to track the evolution of silicon photonics as market demands are met with the delivery of Intel's technology to the CLR4 group of companies.

- IBM will seek to optimize its positioning in the enterprise markets, leveraging its silicon nano-photonics, cloud server infrastructure and possible ramp of MRAM technology for strategic product applications. IBM's advances could also provide “warp speed” for networks if additionally optimized with its fasp (TM) Aspera [17] file transfer platform.

- IMEC could leverage its own silicon photonic designs as its partnered R&D effort yields finished products ready for deployment.

- PETRA and its member companies have demonstrated competitive silicon photonic technology with the ability to scale for future throughput demands. 

- Possible additions to the silicon photonic market equation are prospects for more efficiently deployed Software Defined Networking (SDN) [18] which could reduce traditional hardware and infrastructure costs while enhancing network speed, efficiency and reliability.

- Lucent Bell Labs has introduced an ultra-dense network architecture designed for silicon photonics at the optical network unit. [19] A proof of principal experiment demonstrated an FDMA architecture providing up to eight 300-MBd 16QAM (Quadrature Amplitude Modulation) subbands providing a bidirectional data rate of 9.6 Gb/sec.

As silicon photonic infrastructure expands to enhance our global networks, we may eventually see the migration of this technology to microprocessor and memory devices for use in super computing and consumer products.  Congratulations to IBM, Intel and the global technology alliance members who are working to enlighten our future with photonics.

Please join me in supporting SPIE and the International Year of Light 2015 [20] (click on the icons below for additional site links).

Thomas D. Jay
Semiconductor Industry Consultant
Thomas.Dale.Jay@gmail.com 
www.ThomasDaleJay.blogspot.com
Thomas D. Jay YouTube Channel

Visit my new Amateur Radio blog at:
www.WA2HXR.blogspot.com

Corporate, private entities or publications referenced or linked in this article are the respective owners of their logos, trademarks, service marks, media content and intellectual property.  Unless otherwise disclosed, Thomas D. Jay has no financial interest in companies referenced in blog articles or other published media communications. No representation is made to either buy or sell securities. Opinions expressed by Thomas D. Jay are his own. Thomas D. Jay does not employ or otherwise utilize/authorize third party agents to express his opinions, represent his interests or conduct business on his behalf except where formally contractually designated.  Thomas D. Jay does not agree to indemnify or hold harmless vendors, clients or third parties to related contractual agreements and reserves the right to applicable legal remedies in lieu of arbitration.  These terms are subject to change. Concerned parties should check this blog site for periodic updates.

Acknowledgements and Reference Links

[1] https://www-03.ibm.com/press/us/en/pressrelease/46839.wss
IBM Press release, IBM web site May 12, 2015

[2] https://www-03.ibm.com/press/us/en/pressrelease/33115.wss
IBM Press Release, IBM web site, December 1, 2010

[3] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silicon_photonics
Wikipedia

[4] http://electronics.wesrch.com/paper-details/press-paper-EL1GP94JCLEHH-silicon-photonics-market-worth-497-53-million-by-2020
WeSRCH web site, MarketsandMarkets press release uploaded May 27, 2015

[5] http://www.ofcconference.org/en-us/home/about/
OFC web site

[6] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KRY53sEXyNI
Yurii A. Vlasov, SPIETV, YouTube

[7] http://www.nature.com/nphoton/journal/v7/n4/full/nphoton.2013.45.html
Nature Photonics

[8] http://www.thomasdalejay.blogspot.com/2013/11/the-cloud-of-nations.html
ThomasDaleJay.blogspot.com

[9]http://infoscience.epfl.ch/record/173534/files/ISCAS_11_1.pdf?version=1
InfoScience web site, Hu Xu, Vasilis F. Pavlidis, and Giovanni De Micheli, LSI - EPFL, CH-1015, Switzerland Email: {hu.xu, vasileios.pavlidis, giovanni.demicheli}@epfl.ch

[10] http://www.fiber-optics.info/history/P3/
Fiber Optics History web site

[11] http://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/research/intel-labs-silicon-photonics-research.html
Intel web site

[12] http://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/research/intel-labs-clr4-adopter-listing.html
Intel web site

[13] http://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/research/intel-labs-clr4-presentation.html
Intel web site

[14] http://www.pcworld.com/article/2879152/intel-delays-part-for-highspeed-silicon-photonic-networking.html
PC World web site, Agam Shah, IDG News Service
February 2, 2015

[15] http://www.ofcconference.org/en-us/home/news-and-press/exhibitor-press-releases/petra-demonstrates-low-power-silicon-photonics-i-o/
OFC website

[16] http://www2.imec.be/be_en/press/imec-news/imec-ugent-tyndall-silicon-photonics-transceiver.html
IMEC web site

[17] http://asperasoft.com/resources/white-papers/ultra-high-speed-transport-technology/?gclid=Cj0KEQjw1pWrBRDuv-rhstiX6KwBEiQA5V9ZoXa1_o6T48KX_XxsJ95irqG6EuLgXtaJmB7fkHAFaNsaAnzj8P8HAQ
IBM Aspera web site

[18] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Softwaredefined_networking
Wikipedia

[19] http://ieeexplore.ieee.org/xpl/articleDetails.jsp?arnumber=6997998
IEEE Xplore web site


[20] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-R8jJ0wPM2Q
International Year of Light 2015, Official Trailer, YouTube

Direct Write E-beam Lithography; Complementary Technology in the Fab

On April 7, 2013 Yehiel Gotkis commented on my recent March 20, report on SPIE Activities (scroll down to my prior post) which spoke to developments in EUV lithography and related process issues.  Yehiel questioned why my comments did not include discussion of Direct Write E-beam Lithography.  Burn Lin of TSMC recently presented a status update on DWEB lithography at SPIE Advanced Lithography IV which prompts further discussion of this complementary lithographic technology.  My response to Yehiel's comments follow:

Thank you for your observations on e-beam lithography.  In my opinion direct write e-beam technology continues to demonstrate its value as an important component in the mix of lithography strategies used in both current and future semiconductor production.  In addition to my recent blog comments on EUV, I made a brief reference to direct imprint, multiple e-beam and Directed Self Assembly (DSA) as supplemental alternatives to EUV lithography.  My omission of commentary on e-beam technology was not intended to minimize its importance or viability in the semiconductor manufacturing market place.  If there is limited success with the further increase of EUV source output power the extended dose/exposure times will enhance the competitive viability of e-beam lithography for HVM (High Volume Manufacturing).

As the semiconductor market evolves there will be niche markets for application specific lithography technologies which are best able to address process problems unique to newly emerging segments of the semiconductor industry.  Currently, industry interest is focused on resolving EUV lithography HVM issues as evidenced by recent investments in ASML by Intel, TSMC and Samsung.  Is direct write e-beam an HVM alternative to EUV or 193 nm lithography?  For High Volume Manufacturing of RAM memory, many MPUs and other high volume commodity products the answer is probably no, not at this time, but events change quickly.  This observation in no way disqualifies e-beam from other market segments where it has real value.  In the 1980s IBM had a production line called QTAT (I'm sure the QTAT example has been cited many times).  This was a Quick Turn Around Time direct write e-beam production line which supplemented the traditional optical lithography line.  As explained to me by IBM years ago, one of the intended purposes of QTAT was to enable the IBM sales and marketing team to respond quickly to customer orders which were time sensitive.  Traditional sales activity hand off to the wafer fab involves the strategic scheduling of fab assets to accommodate work flow determined by the mix of products in the factory. Often times this scenario represented multiple customers with specific, time sensitive delivery requirements.  In most cases this work flow was efficiently scheduled on the optical lithography line where production costs were minimized.  However, on occasion the fab would receive a time sensitive order which could not be easily integrated into the mix scheduled for optical production.  These orders were sometimes routed through QTAT.  In addition to the many standard photo mask sets in place at the IBM wafer fab, much of the product line was also replicated on the direct write e-beam system computers.  When there was a resource conflict for use of the optical lithography line, the work flow could be diverted to the e-beam line.  It was a simple matter to down load the e-beam lithography patterns with out concern for the time consuming loading and qualifying mask sets.  It's probable that in most situations this was more cost and time efficient than work flow disruption of the optical line or loosing time sensitive orders to competition.

In today's foundry environment, direct write e-beam can provide a similar quick turn around back up capability on the production line.  In addition to the significant evolution of e-beam lithography capabilities over the years recent renewed interest in complementary lithography support might also be reflective of the historic value of the QTAT concept.  The ability to develop new products without concern for mask design/fabrication and optical lithography hardware can be very influential as the cost of nanometer scale production escalates.  

It is rumored that direct imprint lithography systems are currently in use at a major flash memory manufacturer where complex, high cost products are being produced.  In the absence of HVM EUV and given the added costs and complexities of 193 nm double patterning, direct imprint lithography can also become a contender for many niche applications.

Next generation nanometer scale lithography technology continues to evolve.  Mapper, KLA-Tencor, JEOL, Multibeam, 
PARAM, and Vistec are all engaged in research which pushes the envelope in both development labs and production fabs.  Many industry actions and decisions will be keyed upon successful scaling of EUV power output, mask and resist issues.  With regard to e-beam direct write systems, it's interesting to note that the full complement of current MEMS technology is being leveraged to create the electrostatic lens systems that enable some multiple e-beam lithography systems with their precision. A technology shake out is in progress. 

Direct write e-beam lithography has its own set of advantages and technology node issues worthy of further discussion.  I plan to report on e-beam lithography more expansively in the coming weeks.

Thomas D. Jay
Semiconductor Industry Consultant
Thomas.Dale.Jay@gmail.com
www.linkedin.com/pub/thomas-d-jay/26/aa3/499
ThomasDalejay.blogspot.com
The Technology High Ground

IBM - High Tech R&D Power House

The October 28, 2012 on line issue of engadget describes what might be IBM’s first steps to commercialize carbon nano tube technology. Experimentation with carbon structures has been the focus of research activity for most of the past decade. Preliminary interest in carbon’s viability as a semiconductor material was enhanced with the advent of formed nano tube structures as new interest in alternative approaches to device theory and design were explored. IBM, leading the world in new patent generation and intellectual property conducts major research and development in areas of fundamental physics, materials science and the ultimate incorporation of resulting new discovery into advanced technology products with which we often identify IBM. IBM’s annual research and development budget of $6 Billion eclipses the market cap of many well regarded technology companies enabling this wide ranging research. The derivative generation of IBM’s new discovery and product development yields a huge portfolio of intellectual property having value in both end user products and licensable technology. IBM’s recent efforts utilizing an oxide/halfnium oxide/oxide trench to facilitate the delivery and self/location assembly of carbon nano tubes exemplifies the new directions in research being explored to provide more simplistic solutions to challenging semiconductor designs. Other experimental work utilizes DNA to foment self assembled scaffolding on which nano structures may be patterned, eliminating traditional, complex photoresist/lithography fabrication techniques.

While attending the Semicon West 2010 Executive Summit, I had the opportunity to talk with Dr. Bernard Meyerson, IBM’s Chief Technology Officer. He had just completed a presentation which included a review of current, state of the art semiconductor technology and provided an overview of on-going research being conducted on carbon nano tubes, graphene, germanium/silicon and other promising approaches to future device engineering challenges. Interestingly the continuing acceleration of research has infused the periodic table with a new family of materials which provide the current and future building blocks for next generation semiconductor technologies. In addition to IBM’s research, the contributions of SEMATECH and SEMI member consortiums add to the mix of research effort which helps distribute and offset the enormous investment required in a capital intensive industry.

Recently we have witnessed activities in the semiconductor industry which underscore the necessity of the consortiums. EUV lithography systems required for targeted 14 nanometer geometries are dependent upon the successful on time delivery of ASML’s 13.5 nanometer wavelength EUV technology. The lithography and required precision are on target. However, power output and MTBF (Mean Time Between Failure) issues must be satisfactorily resolved. To ensure this critical puzzle piece falls into place, Intel, Samsung, TSMC and others fell into line and invested billions in ASML. ASML in turn proceeded to purchase Cymer, the manufacturer of a high power laser, a key component in the EUV plasma source. A recent You Tube video produced by ASML features animation depicting the new EUV production facility. The production floor can accommodate as many as eight EUV lithography systems and with a price tag of $125 Million each, a single full production run can represent $1 Billion in inventory. Research and development in self assembling semiconductor devices hold promise for the future. In the shorter term we are witnessing the evolution and self assembly of the next generation semiconductor industry.

Thomas D. Jay
Semiconductor Industry Consultant
Thomas.Dale.Jay@gmail.com
www.linkedin.com/pub/thomas-d-jay/26/aa3/499