Through-wafer insulation has been used to develop technologies such as Sil-Via TSV and Zero-Crosstalk. PETER HIMES, Silex Microsystems AB, Järfälla SWEDEN

BTS, BTI, soft errors, dielectric breakdown and other reliability challenges will be addressed at the upcoming International Reliability Physics Symposium.PETE SINGER, Editor-in-Chief.

The impact of high-mobility channel materials and novel device architectures on the low-frequency noise behavior of 22nm and below CMOS transistors is reviewed. EDDY SIMOEN, imec, Leuven, Belgium

A look at the impact of back side particles on front side defectivity.Rebecca Howland, Ph.D. and Marc Filzen, KLA-Tencor, Milpitas, CA.

A fully automated RDS inspection system that replaces human inspectors is a game changer. Christopher Eric Brannon, Texas Instruments, Inc., Dallas, TX

At press time, the sessions for The ConFab 2013 (www.theconfab.com) are being finalized.

LED component revenue for lighting applications reached $3.11 billion in 2012, narrowly dethroning the large area display backlight segment at $3.06 billion. The worldwide market for LED components was $13.7 billion and is expected to grow to $15 billion in 2017, for a CAGR of 1.8%.

While the drivers for 3D ICs remain performance and form factor, the time line for its adoption keeps shifting out into the future. Several technical challenges and infrastructure issues such are delaying high volume manufacturing of TSV technology for 3D ICs. Until these issues can be resolved, alternative packages will continue to be used.

The weakness in economic growth spills into end products containing semiconductors in 2012 and early 2013, according to a new report from Linx Consulting.

GaN has turned out to be the choice for most of the power semiconductor applications and is quickly replacing the existing silicon technology, according to a new report from Research and Markets.

Ten product categories, led by tablet MPUs and cellphone application MPUs, are forecast to exceed the 6% growth rate forecast for the total IC market this year, according to IC Insights' 2013 McClean Report.

Packaging and assembly are key segments of the growing semiconductor supply chain in China.

MEMS devices are shaping the competitive landscape in the global medical device industry.

SEMI, in collaboration with strategic investing groups throughout the global semiconductor industry, has announced the Silicon Innovation Forum, or SIF, to bridge funding gaps for new and early-stage companies with valuable semiconductor manufacturing and technology solutions.

Tronics launched a new large-scale MEMS project to industrialize CEA-Leti's breakthrough M&NEMS, or Micro and Nano Electro-Mechanical Systems, technology.

Process variations are becoming one of the biggest challenges that both process development engineers and circuit designers must deal with in advanced process nodes.