Fifteen years ago fabless companies flourished because production became somewhat routine and foundries could provide more than adequate manufacturing capacity. Many IDMs also realized they no longer needed to invest in internally developed, proprietary technology. Marketing and product development was the way to gain market share. After reviewing the technology announcements and presentations from DAC and the VLSI Symposium over the past two weeks it hit me. Manufacturing is once again becoming a differentiator.
The ITRS (International Technology Roadmap for Semiconductors) has outlined a transition path for us that was adopted by a majority of manufacturers. Most advanced logic products use copper, and now high-k, metal gate. A majority of companies with advanced manufacturing capabilities have moved to immersion lithography. Many processes and materials had a way of becoming accepted as standard.
Moving into the next generation process technology, semiconductor manufacturers, both fabless and IDM, have to make a number of significant manufacturing decisions which could impact their product’s market applications and the ability to deliver timely, future products. The semiconductor manufacturing decision involves more than just a process node or cost of ownership. Manufacturing technology is becoming a major decision point with numerous options.
