Department of Materials Science and
Engineering (MSE), CityU organized a webinar named “Introduction of
Semiconductor Industry” on 11th Dec, 2020. Prof. Louie Liu (MSE,
CityU) was the guest speaker who has 27 years of experience in the semiconductor
DRAM/LOGIC industry, 23 years of which were associated with TSMC (Taiwan
Semiconductor Mfg. Co.) in Taiwan (from 130nm to 5nm technologies).
In the beginning, Prof. Louie Liu introduced
TSMC background included largest IC, Fabs, Capacity and their Business. Then he briefed 7nm Fab in which produced
130K wafers per month and employed 400 staff.
He said this foundry is fully automatic and achieved industry 4.0
operation. The first EUV (13.5nm wavelength)
is installed here. (EUV - Extreme ultraviolet lithography)
Then Prof. Liu
mentioned the newest TSMC Fab for 5nm and 3nm would be built soon. The groundbreaking
was on 24th Nov 2020.
After that
Prof. Liu briefed some background of semiconductor included its physical properties
and materials. The base of semiconductor
transistor like a switch.
And then he
introduced the semiconductor industry and briefed the whole supply chain from
IC Design to Mask to Manufacturing to Assembly and to Testing.
Prof. Liu also
mentioned the 5nm technology which employed in iPhone12 in which has 15B
transistors near double to iPhone 11 (8.5B).
Finally, Prof.
Liu briefed five future application included Cloud Computing, Smart Car, Smart
Home, Mobile Communication and Medical Technology.
Prof. Liu introduced
the 3rd generation of semiconductor using SiC and GaN and described their
physical properties.
Lastly, Prof.
Liu mentioned some challenges especially on photolithography (EUV) that 13.5
wavelength light source generated by energizing the 30um tin droplet by CO2
laser. Photo Overlay Control was also discussed
and it could control down to 2nm in position.
He concluded that new technology, application, opportunity, market and
business in semiconductor are coming.
Q&A:
I asked how to
ensure the reliability of 5nm chip and what is critical component? Prof. Liu said they needed to design the test
program included temperature and extra high voltage to determine the life time
of device. In order to ensure reliability,
they using multiple chips (backup system) in the same device for guarantee the operation
safety.
Reference:
MSE CityU - https://www.cityu.edu.hk/mse/
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