Continuing with our running theme of industry outlooks for 2010 and beyond, here are three viewpoints recently expressed: Bill McClean from IC Insights with strong optimism macroeconomically all the way down to semiconductors; Terry Brewer from Brewer Science outlining the opportunities for materials suppliers; and Craig Ramsey from CyberOptics Semiconductor, relating how his company withstood a tough 2009 and what it's doing to ensure 2010 growth.
Breaking down the quarterly numbers and forecasts from top chip spenders TSMC and Samsung, analysts determine the main thrust is that the anticipated spending cycle isn't peaking in 1H10 after all, and could instead become heavier in 2H10 and spill into 2011.
Healthy end-market demand in consumer electronics, and now signs of recovery in the corporate IT sector as well, bode well for chip sales as finally show emergence from the downturn and return to normal seasonal patters, according to the Semiconductor Industry Association (SIA).
A second window of opportunity to sell a controlling stake in Korea's Hynix Semiconductor has come and gone with no bidders coming forward, so the company's investors are looking at other ways to slough off their interest, according to multiple reports.
After slow adoption, 2009 became "the year of the e-reader." Semico Research's Michell Prunty breaks down the rise of e-readers and the technology inside them, and what new functionalities, content, and technology are next.
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Dual Channel Pulse Testing Simplifies RF Transistor Characterization
Device engineers and test managers are under tremendous pressure to make sure products get to market quickly and perform reliably. This is especially true of RF ... Sponsored By:
Keithley Instruments
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High Precision Ion Beam Milling with Time of Flight Compensation
Advanced circuit editing (CE) becomes more and more difficult as semiconductor structures shrink. Time of Flight (ToF) compensation noticeably extends the utility ... Sponsored By:
FEI Company
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Backside Circuit Edit on Full-Thickness Silicon Devices
Backside Circuit Edit (CE) techniques, in which a Focused Ion Beam (FIB) operator accesses critical circuitry through the substrate of an IC, are popular with processor ... Sponsored By:
FEI Company
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Recent Developments in TEM Applications for the IC Industry
Scaling ICs to the 45-nanometer node or beyond requires precise measurement of film thickness, interfacial roughness, and chemical distribution. At those nodes, ... Sponsored By:
FEI Company
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A New Method of Wafer-Level Plan-View TEM Sample Preparation by DualBeam
Transmission electron microscopy (TEM) is extremely important for obtaining high-resolution images with high materials contrast. Until now, plan-view TEM samples ... Sponsored By:
FEI Company
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