Nanotechnology Now - Press Release: Major Semiconductor Companies Join SEMATECH’s 3D Enablement Center to Accelerate Adoption of 3D TSV Technologies: ASE, Altera, ADI, LSI, ON Semiconductor, and Qualcomm collaborate to develop standards and technical specifications for 3D ICs

Home > Press > Major Semiconductor Companies Join SEMATECH’s 3D Enablement Center to Accelerate Adoption of 3D TSV Technologies: ASE, Altera, ADI, LSI, ON Semiconductor, and Qualcomm collaborate to develop standards and technical specifications for 3D ICs

Abstract:
SEMATECH announced today that Advanced Semiconductor Engineering (ASE) Incorporated, Altera Corporation, Analog Devices Inc. (ADI), LSI Corporation, ON Semiconductor Corporation, and Qualcomm Incorporated have joined SEMATECH's 3D Enablement program based at the College of Nanoscale Science and Engineering (CNSE) of the University at Albany. These leading semiconductor companies will join CNSE, GlobalFoundries, Hewlett Packard, Hynix, IBM, Intel, Samsung, and UMC to extend the program's position as a broad, cohesive initiative and to enable industry-wide ecosystem readiness for cost effective TSV-based 3D stacked IC solutions.

Major Semiconductor Companies Join SEMATECH’s 3D Enablement Center to Accelerate Adoption of 3D TSV Technologies: ASE, Altera, ADI, LSI, ON Semiconductor, and Qualcomm collaborate to develop standards and technical specifications for 3D ICs

Albany, NY | Posted on April 25th, 2011

As members, these program participants will work with SEMATECH researchers to contribute to the overall vision of the Enablement Center, which includes identification of critical needs for 3D technologies, and the development of path finding capabilities, EDA tools, and appropriate test vehicles.

"Research on 3D technologies has been ongoing for many years, and the initiative that SEMATECH has spearheaded is working to find solutions to the challenges faced by lack of standardization. We're pleased to see this partnership expand and grow," said Dan Armbrust, president and CEO of SEMATECH. "Thanks to these new members and our supplier partners, the 3D Enablement program truly has the potential to bring down the barriers to integrating chips for adoption of 3D technologies in high volume manufacturing."

The tremendous advantages of 3D integration including higher performance, increased functionality, lower cost, and smaller chip size have drawn considerable attention from a wide variety of companies across the semiconductor industry. Despite its high potential, a lack of uniform standards and a limited maturity of key processes have prevented 3D technologies from being used for mainstream production.

In December 2010, SEMATECH, along with the Semiconductor Industry Association (SIA) and the Semiconductor Research Corporation (SRC), launched a new 3D Enablement program to drive industry standardization efforts and technical specifications for heterogeneous 3D integration. As a first-of-its-kind effort, the 3D Enablement program aims to establish the infrastructure necessary for the entire industry to leverage 3D packaging technology for innovative new applications. The primary focus is on developing technologies and specifications necessary for establishing standards in critical areas such as inspection, metrology, microbumping, bonding and thin wafer, and die handling.

Membership is open to international fabless, fab-lite and IDM companies, outsourced semiconductor assembly and test (OSAT) suppliers, and EDA process tool and materials suppliers. In addition, the program and its members are collaborating with a broad network of companies, consortia, universities, national laboratories, and associations from around the world.

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About SEMATECH
For over 20 years, SEMATECH® (www.sematech.org), the international consortium of leading semiconductor manufacturers, has set global direction, enabled flexible collaboration, and bridged strategic R&D to manufacturing. Today, we continue accelerating the next technology revolution with our nanoelectronics and emerging technology partners.

About Altera Corporation:

Altera® Corporation (NASDAQ: ALTR) is the pioneer and leader in programmable logic solutions, delivering innovative technologies that focus on developing leading edge products that meet our customers unique design requirements. Altera offers the industry’s most advanced FPGAs, CPLDs, and HardCopy® ASICs. Headquartered in San Jose, Calif; Altera serves customers worldwide and employs people in 19 countries. Find out more about Altera's FPGA, CPLD and ASIC devices at www.altera.com.

About Analog Devices Inc.

Innovation, performance, and excellence are the cultural pillars on which Analog Devices has built one of the longest standing, highest growth companies within the technology sector. Acknowledged industry-wide as the world leader in data conversion and signal conditioning technology, Analog Devices serves over 60,000 customers, representing virtually all types of electronic equipment. Celebrating over 45 years as a leading global manufacturer of high-performance integrated circuits used in analog and digital signal processing applications, Analog Devices is headquartered in Norwood, Massachusetts, with design and manufacturing facilities throughout the world. Analog Devices' common stock is listed on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker “ADI” and is included in the S&P 500 Index. For more information, visit www.analog.com.

About ASE Group:

The ASE Group is the world's largest provider of independent semiconductor manufacturing services in assembly and test. As a global leader geared towards meeting the industry’s ever growing needs for faster, smaller and higher performance chips, the Group develops and offers a wide portfolio of technology and solutions including IC test program design, front-end engineering test, wafer probe, wafer bump, substrate design and supply, wafer level package, flip chip, system-in-package, final test and electronic manufacturing services through Universal Scientific Industrial Co Ltd, a member of the ASE Group. The Group generated sales revenues of $4.0 billion in 2010 and employs over 34,000 people worldwide. For more information about the ASE Group, visit www.aseglobal.com.

About LSI:

LSI Corporation (NYSE: LSI) is a leading provider of innovative silicon, systems and software technologies that enable products which seamlessly bring people, information and digital content together. The company offers a broad portfolio of capabilities and services including custom and standard product ICs, adapters, systems and software that are trusted by the world's best known brands to power leading solutions in the Storage and Networking markets. More information is available at www.lsi.com.

About ON Semiconductor:

ON Semiconductor (Nasdaq: ONNN) is a premier supplier of high performance silicon solutions for energy efficient electronics. The company's broad portfolio of power and signal management, logic, discrete and custom devices helps customers efficiently solve their design challenges in automotive, communications, computing, consumer, industrial, LED lighting, medical, military/aerospace and power applications. ON Semiconductor operates a world-class, value-added supply chain and a network of manufacturing facilities, sales offices and design centers in key markets throughout North America, Europe, and the Asia Pacific regions. For more information, visit www.onsemi.com.

About Qualcomm:
Qualcomm Incorporated (NASDAQ: QCOM) is a world leader in 3G and next-generation mobile technologies. For 25 years, Qualcomm ideas and inventions have driven the evolution of wireless communications, connecting people more closely to information, entertainment and each other. Today, Qualcomm technologies are powering the convergence of mobile communications and consumer electronics, making wireless devices and services more personal, affordable and accessible to people everywhere. For more information, visit Qualcomm around the Web:
www.qualcomm.com
Corporate Blog: www.qualcomm.com/blog
Twitter: www.twitter.com/qualcomm
Facebook: www.facebook.com/qualcomm