Ensights

The automotive supply chain is transforming with the development of autonomous vehicles. The rise of electronic systems leads designers and manufacturers to seek collaboration partnerships. Antoine Amade, senior director EMEA/NA sales, was recently interviewed by SEMI to discuss the zero-defect challenges facing semiconductor fabs and the expansion of the GAAC (Global Automotive Advisory Council).

Ensuring Purity and Safety Purity requirements continue to tighten as the semiconductor manufacturers continue to pursue advanced technology nodes. Of all the industries that rely on a consistent supply of both raw and specialty chemical, the semiconductor industry sets the highest bar.

During the semiconductor manufacturing process, contamination can be introduced from the air, equipment, cleanroom personnel, process water, process chemicals, and process gases.1 Careful identification of the contaminant source is required to best identify mitigation strategies that utilize filtration. Installing a filter can reduce defectivity, but this mitigation strategy will not indefinitely protect a gas stream from contamination.

The desire for ever more computing power in a smaller footprint requires transistors that perform faster while consuming less power. However, new materials and architectures developed with these goals in mind are not easy to transfer from research and development to full-scale, high-volume production.

Dewetting and non-dewetting are not common terms used every day, yet are vital to the functionality of liquid filters.

Entegris Highlights 2019 2019 was a year of exciting change and significant accomplishments for Entegris including strategic acquisitions, supplier awards, footprint expansions and technology center openings, sustained Five+ Sigma quality levels, hundreds of issued technology patents, and so much more!

Wetting the membrane is an important first step in preparing your filter. Wetting the membrane pores eliminates dry pathways where contaminants, like particles, gels, or bubbles could pass through, resulting in high defect levels in your process. Polymer membranes are natively hydrophobic or hydrophilic.

What should you look for in a materials supplier to ensure quality, reliability and safety? Listen as Entegris' Sandrine Felix, senior manager, solutions marketing, interviews Neil Richards, senior VP, global operations & supply chain, to get his perspective on what it takes to be a world-class specialty materials supplier.

Technologies like AI, IoT, and virtual reality are changing the way people live across the globe. To achieve the performance for these technologies, manufacturers have adopted new, more complex chip designs. These changes have increased the demands on the materials used in all steps of semiconductor processing.

Q2 was full of celebrations with the Anniversary of Moore’s Law and Global Internet of Things (IoT) Day. Check out more of Q2’s highlights and join us as we continue to fuel the Fourth Industrial Revolution and travel down the road to “smart everything.”

Buyer beware Today’s fast-paced semiconductor manufacturing industry is dynamic, and competition is stronger than ever. To stay competitive, suppliers and manufacturers seek to reduce costs wherever possible. Be careful those cost saving initiatives do not lead to buying products that compromise safety and performance in semiconductor manufacturing.

Take a look at what we were up to during SEMICON West 2019. From our CEO's appointment as chairman of SEMI, to the launch of our interactive well-managed fab app, we had a busy couple of days.