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Non-Tech : Kirk's Market Thoughts -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Kirk © who wrote (216)	6/6/2013 1:12:21 PM
From: GROUND ZERO™	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 26587

That is incredible, if true... and with no thanks to the current administration who is against our own oil production... GZ

To: Kirk © who wrote (216)	7/9/2013 12:48:31 PM
From: Kirk ©	1 Recommendation Recommended By Hawkmoon Respond to of 26587

Good article about one of my ATM machines, Lam Research Lam Eyes Next $1B Opportunity Rick Merritt - 7/8/2013 12:30 PM EDT SANTA CLARA, Calif. -- At 70, David K. Lam is as excited as ever about the future of the semiconductor industry and what he says is his billion-dollar opportunity to nudge it forward for the second time. Thirty years ago, Lam helped establish the plasma etcher that became a workhorse tool for cutting fine lines in chips. By fielding a reliable, automated version of the tool, the company that bore his name became the first founded by an Asian American to go public on NASDAQ. Today he has a new venture he thinks could give the industry a lift at a time when it's getting hard to keep making chips faster, smaller, and cheaper. This time Lam is taking what many have seen as a rival technology -- direct electron-beam lithography -- and bringing it into the conventional process flow. "In the old days most new semiconductor technologies were disruptive now they have to be complementary -- you have to find ways to use what you have," said Lam. ... UV doesn't come in time for the next generation at 14 nm they may have to use four passes, a.k.a. quad patterning, for some critical layers. Intel has said it sees a path to using quad patterning cost effectively even down to 10nm, but others shudder at the thought. "When you go to quad or more patterns, the cost are astronomical," said Lam. "It's not just the mask costs but cycle times, time-to-market and the complexity of the process that really effects yield -- we lump it all these together in total costs." Lam shows estimates (above) of lithography rising from 25 percent of the costs of making a chip in 1984 to 70 percent today. "By 2018 if we don't have EUV and have to go to quad or octal patterning, it will drive costs through the roof -- it's unsustainable," Lam said. ..... aha! moment was predicated on another insight. Chip makers had quietly moved from etching lines in chips in two dimensions to just one dimension, opening the door for e-beam as a new etching tool. Evidence from third-party analysis of Intel chips showed the CPU maker shifted from 2D etching at 65nm (above) to 1D etching with its 45nm process in 2007 (below). Others followed later. .... A matter of money Lam faces a heady job turning e-beam into an etching tool for advanced immersion processes. One source says the company is seeking an additional $30 million in investment to fund a proof of concept. Lam says that figure is not accurate but declines to talk about his funding situation. Others say it's ironic the industry is reluctant to spend a few million on Multibeam's plan after pumping $5 bilion to 10 billion on EUV with still no guarantee it will ever work. "Our cost of development is a very big trade secret, but it's much less than the costs for EUV," Lam said. The costs are more than offset by what Lam estimates could be a billion-dollar opportunity for e-beam -- even if EUV is successfully deployed at the 10nm node as some currently hope. But even with his costs covered, it could still take Lam's team three years to finish a working system, although he hopes to hit significant milestones before that time. The next few pages show illustrations of how Multibeam's so-called Complementary E-Beam Lithography (CEBL) approach would work and efforts on it to date. eetimes.com