IMS, SEMICON West see IoT emphasis
Apart from being significant events highlighting their respective technologies and industries, the International Microwave Symposium (IMS) and SEMICON West may seem to have little in common. The latter emphasizes the equipment and materials that enable the semiconductor technologies that underlie today’s world while IMS focuses on RF, wireless, microwave, and millimeter wave technologies—with an obvious assist from the organizations that can fabricate the necessary semiconductor and other components. Yet the Internet of Things (IoT) was a key focus of speakers at both events.
It’s personal
At IMS, Dr. Vida Ilderem, Intel Labs vice president and director of Integrated Computing Research (ICR), said in a keynote address that personalization is fueling the demand for innovation. Possibilities, she said, extend beyond email and social networking to embrace DNA sequencing and the proliferation of sensors. She cited the evolution of print media to the point where we now can edit and distribute our own data and even provide animation—that capability is leading to a new realm of digital storytelling. We now are dealing with two types of data—personal social data and fixed IoT sensor data, she said.
Speaking at Test Vision 2020 held in conjunction with SEMICON West, Michael Campbell, senior vice president at Qualcomm Technologies, elaborated on IoT, noting that the IoT promises vast opportunities and challenges. Nevertheless, he said of the IoT, “I hate that phrase.” It’s not just an Internet of things, he said, “It’s the Internet of things we need the services of. This is personal.” In that regard, he echoed the views of Ilderem at IMS, who also stressed the importance of putting data in context.
Enabling the IoT
At both events, technologies that will enable the IoT and other applications abounded. Michel Villemain, head of Presto Engineering, highlighted his firm’s “RF/microwave capabilities from datasheet to volume,” with emphasis on test engineering and production test for RF as well as K, V, and E band applications. The company, he said in an interview on the show floor, “focuses on probe cards and load boards, test program development, characterization and industrialization, and turnkey assembly and test.”
In other news at IMS, Anritsu debuted the new ShockLine RF vector network analyzer designed to meet the price/performance considerations required for testing passive devices. Agilent (now Keysight) Technologies and Cascade Microtech announced a strategic alliance to provide fully configured and validated wafer-measurement capabilities.
SEMICON West sees products and platforms
A generic MEMS platform was one focus of CEA-Leti at SEMICON West. Philippe Robert, MEMS department director, said the organization is working seven days per week and 24 hours per day on sensors, actuators, RF components, packaging (including interposers), and characterization and reliability. More than 200 people work on MEMS technology, he said.
Leti, Robert said in an interview at the show, has more than 30 years background on MEMS sensors and has developed thin-film, bulk, surface, and nanoscale technology. Successful implementations have ranged from a weight sensor (Terraillon) in 1980 to a nine-axis M&NEMS platform in 2013, which, he said, is being transferred to Tronics. Tronics’ goals are to implement a 6-DOF system on a 4-mm2 die in 2014-2015 and a 9-DOF version in 2015-2016.
Representatives of the Evans Analytical Group were on hand at SEMICON West to highlight their company’s capabilities. Aram Sarkissian noted that EAG has three divisions with about 700 employees serving more than 5,500 customers in the industrial, aerospace, LED, solar, biomed, pharma, chemical, consumer, and technology end markets. Sarkissian’s primary focus at SEMICON West was the Microelectronics, Test, and Engineering (MTE) division, which provides outsourced testing and failure-analysis services to semiconductor companies and for which he serves as general manager.
KLA-Tencor chose SEMICON West to announce four new systems—the 2920 Series, the Puma 9850, the Surfscan SP5, and the eDR-7110. The systems are designed to address IC manufacturing challenges at the 1X-nm design node, according to Brian Trafas, Ph.D., chief marketing officer at the company. Those challenges, he said, relate to double- and quadruple-patterning, increased variability, 3-D devices, and novel materials, among others.
And Advantest at SEMICON West demonstrated that it is supporting both its T2000 and V93000 test platforms. For the latter, the company introduced the PVI8 floating power source, and for the T2000, it introduced a 1.6-Gb/s digital module and an enhanced device power supply.
A key focus at SEMICON West centered on collaboration and partnerships. Precompetitive collaboration will be the key to innovation in the semiconductor industry as consolidation leads to fewer companies available to share costs and risks to their mutual benefit, according to Luc Van den hove, president and CEO of imec. And SEMICON West keynoter Mark Adams, president of Micron, said partnerships are the key to furthering the success of the semiconductor industry.
Read more about both events at my blog: http://bit.ly/N8rmKm.