Graphene—the 2D hexagonal lattice of carbon—has been under investigation as a new material for electronics applications due to it’s high mobility and other unique properties. At IEDM this year, an entire session (#23) was devoted to showcasing graphene devices, and to sharing the latest processing tricks to grow and (sometimes) transfer the single-atomic-layer of carbon […]

The IEEE’s International Electron Devices Meeting (IEDM) is still the place to see the latest micro- and nano-electronics research targeting commercial markets. On December 8, 2009, French researchers from Leti/Minatec showed “3D sequential CMOS integration” as <600°C processing of PFETs using a (110) orientation FDSOI layer that was transferred on top of NFETs made using […]

Nanometrics today announced the release of Version 2.0 of its NanoCD Suite of solutions for optical critical dimension (OCD) metrology, just one year after V1 was released. OCD (a.k.a., “scatterometry”) has been used to successfully control fab processes for many years. The major known limitation of the technique is model building from reference metrology data, […]

Metrosol has joined SEMATECH’s Front End Process Technologies Program at the College of Nanoscale Science and Engineering (CNSE) of the University at Albany to address metrology and data-analysis solutions for 45nm node and beyond IC fabs. The joint partnership will expand on current work to develop inline metrology techniques to monitor the thickness and composition […]

On January 6, 2009, ASM International and SAFC Hitech (a business segment within SAFC, a member of the Sigma-Aldrich Group) announced that they have entered into a certified manufacturer and partnership agreement for ALD precursors for barium- and strontium-based high-k insulators.  The agreement includes certification criteria, a license to certain ASM ALD patents, and a […]