The FD-SOI technology platform is perfectly suited for mobile IC applications where power consumption has to be very low to maximize battery lifetime. GIORGIO CESANA, STMicroelectronics, Crolles, France and CARLOS MAZURE, Soitec, Bernin, France

A broadband polarized reflectometry measurement, utilizing RCWA analysis, can be used to obtain detailed trench profile results. FRANZ HEIDER, Infineon Technologies, Villach, Austria; JEFF ROBERTS, JENNIE HUANG, JOHN LAM and RAHIM FOROUHI, n&k Technology, San Jose, CA

New approaches can help improve cycle time and achieve higher purity inter-process wafer environmental control. MICHAEL BRAIN, MAY SU, ANTHONY BONORA, and DANIEL BABBS, Brooks Automation, Chelmsford, MA

The process flows applied today for real product manufacturing are quite different from the process flows initially proposed for a universal 3D IC. THORSTEN MATTHIAS and PAUL LINDNER, EV Group, St. Florian, Austria

TechXPOT speakers highlight the challenges ahead on the road to 14nm. Debra Vogler, SEMI, San Jose, CA

At press time, inflection points have been top of mind, as we get ready for The ConFab. I've been reviewing all the presentations and looking forward to a fantastic event.

The International Symposium on Electronic Packaging was held in Osaka the week of April 10th with keynote speakers, Dr. Subramanian S. Iyer of IBM, Dr. Takeshi Uenoyama of Panasonic, and Dr. Urmi Ray of Qualcomm.

After a functional A-sample prototype is built, it doesn't take long for a project to gain traction that has market pull.

Random process variations and layout-dependent effects are a fact of life for designers working at the more advanced process nodes and become critical at 45nm. Besides random and systematic variation effects, reliability effects, such as bias-temperature-instability (BTI), also become prevalent, introducing another dimension of variations that impact parametric yield.

The Advanced Technology Investment Company (ATIC) and the Semiconductor Research Corporation (SRC) last month launched the ATIC-SRC Center of Excellence for Energy Efficient Electronic Systems (ACE4S), to be hosted jointly in Abu Dhabi by Khalifa University of Science, Technology and Research, and Masdar Institute of Science and Technology.

At the 50th Design Automation Conference (DAC) in Austin, Texas, GLOBALFOUNDRIES unveiled a comprehensive set of certified design flows to support its most advanced manufacturing processes.

For the first time ever, no clear winner has emerged to claim top honors in the MEMS business for 2012, with Bosch of Germany and French-Italian STMicroelectronics ending up evenly splitting the title of No. 1 supplier for the year, according to a MEMS Competitive Analysis Report from information and analytics provider IHS.

Fab equipment spending will grow two percent year-over-year (US$ 32.5 billion) for 2013 and about 23 to 27 percent in 2014 ($41 billion), according to the May edition of the SEMI World Fab Forecast.