In 2022, the demand of semiconductor chips is facing an uncertain outlook, apart from the strong surge in orders of previous year. Especially in consumer electronics sectors, the market seems to be lessening demand and showing slowdown. But the power management IC (PMIC) and 5G radio frequency (RF) silicon chips are maintaining continuous strong growth. Driven by multiple applications such as automotive, industrial automation and control systems, PMIC remains high and continues with high attention. The demand for electric vehicle (EV) power charging stations, battery charging control and USB power transition are all relying on PMIC chips to provide the outstanding performance.Seeing the huge growth of electric cars and electric vehicle supply equipment (EVSE), the IC chip makers are looking for the innovative production solutions for pushing a quick ramp-up of the production scale. The fan out panel level packaging (FOPLP) technologies have the potential to ease the current chip shortage concerns with the key benefits of cost reduction and heat dissipation features. The technology and equipment suppliers for FOPLP continuously are becoming technically more demanding.Manz AG as one of the key players of wet chemistry and Cu plating process equipment showcases a major technical breakthrough of FOPLP RDL equipment in 2022 SEMICON Taiwan exhibition. The Re-Distribution Layers (RDL) of FOPLP processes do matter while the high volume production phases kick-in. And these solutions are rapidly transforming FOPLP as the prevailing technology in advanced package sectors.This interview with Robert Lin, General Manager of Manz Asia, takes a closer look at the new development of FOPLP technology and equipment. The current line width and spacing (L/S) specification is reaching to 10/10 to 25/25µm ranges, which is fully fitting the requirements of PMIC production in semiconductor industry. The previous demonstration of the process and equipment was welcomed by the global IDMs and quickly to set the mass production planning in 2023. At this moment before the end of 2022, Manz AG is scheduling to work on the process machinery moving into the customer's factory and fine tune the production parameters. This is a key milestone in a successful manufacturing of FOPLP technology.The IDMs are pushing the FOPLP volume production phase to address increasing chip manufacturing and boosting supply. On the other hand, Taiwan OSAT and major IC design vendors also keeping up the pace with verification testing and FOPLP adoption. Manz is incorporating with supply chain partners and material suppliers to make industry continuing its robust growth on improving the yield rate.Enabling supply chain collaboration to accelerate the adoption of FOPLPTalking the progress of FOPLP process development for PCB and panel makers, the major Taiwan display panel OEM/ODM manufacturer has announced starting to provide the FOPLP manufacturing services to customers. And there are several Taiwan OSAT vendors built the new production lines in the current fabs through Capex investment for preparation of volume production in 2023. This is encouraging for Manz FOPLP technology development and having an ambition to win the project, Lin highlights.Facing the diverse needs of the market, especially the trending heterogeneous integration has become one of the important solutions for the continuation of Moore's Law, Manz will actively expand the reach of its Total Production Solutions to help customers. The current Manz's roadmap is continuing to go to optimum production and provide solutions to overcome major issues such as warpage challenges with the integration of the process equipment form supply chain partners .In the SEMICON booth, Manz's demonstration is the state-of-the-art production design of 700 x 700mm in surface areas. There are several production samples in 340 x 340 mm using stainless steel substrates. The production process has been proven and delivered to customers for pre-production verification. Furthermore, the use of stainless steel substrates has convincing performance results to increase yields. This is a compelling evidence to reach the volume production for FOPLP technology.Targeting 700 x 700 mm process areas as an industrial production standardThere are currently three popular sized for the FOPLP process including 515 x 515, 600 x 600 and 700 x 700 mm. Considering the benefit of production efficiency, the process dimension of 700 x 700 mm is the bigger the better. It will produce the silicon die counts equal to four 12-inch wafers, or nine 8-inch wafers. This will help to achieve the goals of miniaturized packaging and lowering costs while the yields rise. Lin sees 700 x 700 mm in process dimension a great potential for the industrial standard.Manz has been investing FOPLP RDL technological innovations since 2016. The process verification is successfully verified by the precision adjustment of Cu-plating process applied in large area of redistribution layers and overcome the major technical challenges including uniformity of electroplating pattering, high resolution and high electrical connectivity. This development supports key customers to prepare the sample devices and obtains certifications of mass production. The coming actions for Manz will actively expand the reach of its Total Production Solutions to provide the services to build from single equipment to automated production lines with certified manufacturing processes. With the high performance of FOPLP RDL production systems, Manz is seizing the opportunities with continuous innovation in advanced packaging applications.Manz AG as one of the key players of wet chemistry and Cu plating process equipment showcases a major technical breakthrough of FOPLP RDL equipment in 2022 SEMICON Taiwan exhibition
As electric vehicle and ADAS (Advanced Driver Assistance System) continue to penetrate the market, iCatch Technology also has been investing lots of resources in imaging-based ADAS technology and business development. How do you ensure that the driver is still paying attention to the road condition ahead when ADAS is activated becomes an important topic for both the car makers and the government. Therefore, Euro NCAP will include Driver Monitoring Systems (DMS) in its five-star safety assessment starting in 2023.By adding DMS that monitors driver's attentiveness and health status through multi-sensor fusion and AI edge computing, the system will alert the driver and even take over the control of the car when needed. Imaging is the core of DMS and iCatch's Intelligent Imaging SoC can support multiple imaging sensors simultaneously to meet car makers' requirements on image resolution, dynamic range and privacy protection. Moreover, iCatch has also been cooperating with leading algorithm providers in the DMS industry to provide total solution to potential customers worldwide.iCatch's AI Intelligent Imaging SoC has been selected by a leading European car maker as the core processor of its DMS and has already entered mass production.The cause of car accidents can be classified into two categories, violation of traffic rules and human error. According to the statistics of Euro NCAP and National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), 94~96% of accidents are actually caused by human error. Therefore, Euro NCAP has been enforcing the adoption of ADAS of all types to compensate for human error. For example, DMS will become one of the mandatory system in a vehicle to qualify a 5-Star safety rating in 2023. As automotive Tier-1s continue to enhance DMS solutions, iCatch has readied several DMS solutions which have already been deployed on multiple passenger and commercial vehicles.iCatch's Intelligent Imaging SoC has been selected by a leading European car maker as the core processor of its DMS and has already entered mass production. On the other hand, iCatch's SoC has also been powering the fleet management dash cam which combines DMS functions for driver coaching. This dash cam product has been adopted by a leading transportation and e-commerce company in the US. Ability Enterprise, a leading imaging ODM in Taiwan, is partnering with iCatch to provide ADAS and in-cabin monitoring camera modules to Japanese autonomous driving developers and to supply multi-camera AI dash cam with built-in ADAS and DMS features to US and Japan fleet management customers. Appro Photoelectron is an Elite Partner of Nvidia in Taiwan and has been providing automotive camera modules based on iCatch's solution to pair with Nvidia AI computing platforms for ADAS and DMS applications.iCatch's EVS-based intelligent vision sensing solution not only can it protects driver's privacy but also can track driver's gaze and alertness with the embedded deep learning accelerator.iCatch's Intelligent Imaging SoC includes industry-leading image signal processor and AI deep learning accelerator to support multiple sensor technologies, including Global Shutter, RGBIR color filter, and Event-based sensing in order to fulfill various smart cabin applications, such as DMS, Occupant Monitoring System (OMS) and Face Recognition. With RGBIR sensor, a single camera can produce color and monochrome IR images for driver and occupant monitoring as well as in-cabin video conferencing. Event-based Vision Sensor (EVS) is a new type of sensor technology that only captures the outline of moving objects and significantly reduce the amount of output data with extremely high response rate for AI processing. iCatch has co-developed EVS-based intelligent vision processing system with Sony Semiconductor Solutions (SSS) and Prophesee. When this solution is applied to DMS application, not only can it track driver's gaze and alertness with high accuracy and fast response rate using the embedded deep learning accelerator but also can protect driver's privacy.A DMS device must adapt to the continuously changing lighting conditions in the cabin and provide reliable alert even if the driver might be wearing glasses or sunglasses to improve driving safety. iCatch's latest Intelligent Imaging SoC is able to process sensor fusion and provide a complete and robust solution to customers. With drivers' and road users' safety as the 1st priority, iCatch Technology will continue to invest in resource to improve image signal processing and AI deep learning technologies using advanced process nodes.
ADATA Technology, a leading manufacturer of industrial-grade DRAM modules and NAND Flash products, is pleased to announce that it will be at Global Gaming Expo (G2E), the largest gathering of global, commercial and tribal gaming professionals in North America. The show will be held in Las Vegas from October 11-13, 2022. At the show, ADATA will be showcasing its latest industrial-grade solutions for gaming applications, including 112-layer (BiCS5) 3D TLC flash storage products and high-performance DDR5 DRAM modules. Visit ADATA at Venetian Expo, Las Vegas, booth 2826 in Taiwan Pavilions. At G2E 2022, visitors will be able to see ADATA's latest 112-layer (BiCS5) 3D TLC NAND flash storage devices equipped with KIOXIA and WDC ICs and featuring various form factors, including 2.5-inch, M.2 2280/2242 solid state drives, as well as CFast and microSD memory cards. In addition to SATA III SSDs, ADATA will showcase two PCIe Gen4x4 M.2 2280 SSDs that deliver read/write performance up to 7000/6500 MB/s, high capacities up to 4TB, and 3K P/E cycle ratings for greater product longevity. As for data security and integrity, the BiCS5 SSDs support LDPC ECC (error correcting) technology, End-to-End (E2E) data path protection, as well as A+ Security data security technologies, such as AES 256-bit encryption and TCG OPAL 2.0. What's more, with ADATA's proprietary A+ OPAL software, customers can easily activate TCG OPAL function for all their ADATA industrial-grade NVMe and SATA III SSDs that support TCG OPAL to protect data.For enhanced reliability and extending product life of gaming applications, ADATA provides customized services, including its exclusive A+ SLC technology, which can simulate SLC performance on MLC and 3D TLC NAND Flash by customized NAND Flash firmware. And Power Loss Protection (PLP) technology is able to significantly minimize the risk of data loss by sensitive voltage monitors with banks of power-retaining Tantalum polymer capacitors. In case of power failure, ADATA's PLP technology supplies SSDs with enough power to continue buffered read-write operations until completion.To better understand ADATA's new products and proprietary technologies, welcome to visit G2E 2022 at the Venetian Expo, Las Vegas from October 11-13, booth 2826. Please contact ADATA representatives to schedule a guided tour of the ADATA booth.For more details, please visit ADATA's website: https://industrial.adata.com/en/edm/G2E_2022 or ADATA's Profile Page at G2E: https://www.globalgamingexpo.com/en-us/show-info/exhibitor-list/exhibitor-details.org-a8191759-87b0-4165-9e11-17ef6f1cd60c.html#/ADATA will showcase PCIe Gen4 and DDR5 solutions at G2E 2022
The 2022 Taiwan Innotech Expo press conference announced that this year's event will be held during October 13-15 at the First Exhibition Hall of the Taipei World Trade Center, where 520 breakthrough innovations in multiple technology applications will compete for awards.It will be a free admission event, which is expected to see 50,000 people attending, reaching the level before the pandemic. Local companies participating in the event include TSMC, ASE, Compal Electronics, etc. Foreign companies and organizations such as Fujifilm, Siemens, Cisco, Merck, INNOPA of Indonesia as well as NRCT from Thailand have also signed up to attend.At the pre-event press conference, Sherry Shu-min Hong, director general of the Intellectual Property Office under the Ministry of Economic Affairs said, "The Innotech Expo started in 2005, so this will be our 18th year to host this event. It is a great opportunity to demonstrate the innovation capabilities of Taiwan, and also a great platform for innovators to commercialize their inventions and spot new opportunities."There will be around 1,200 innovations demonstrated in this year's Innotech Expo, and the number of companies signing up to attend the event has reached 460, using 948 booths.A total of 35 innovation technology seminars and business matchmaking sessions are planned during the 2022 Taiwan Innotech Expo, hoping to create business opportunities for buyers and innovators.At the venue, there will be an innovation award competition/exhibition area and three theme pavilions including "Future Technology", "Sustainability", and "Innovation Pilot".The Future Tech Pavilion will focus on innovations in the space of health tech, advanced materials, artificial intelligence (AI), the internet of things (IoT) applications, and sports tech. There will be exhibitions demonstrating "future hospital" and "future sports" for visitors to experience in person.The Sustainability Pavilion will show more than 100 innovative works, including applications in the circular economy, decarbonization, green energy, and recycling technology.The Innovation Pilot Pavilion will show the latest breakthroughs in semiconductors, precision medicine, advanced manufacturing, smart living, aerospace and cryptography cybersecurity, etc.As for the innovation award exhibition area, there will be 520 innovative works to compete for this year's innovation awards, and award-winning products in previous years will also be exhibited in this area.For those who are not able to attend the expo in person, there will also be a virtual expo during October 11-20, which can be accessed at Https:\\www.inventaipei.com.twSherry Hong, Director General of the Intellectual Property Office under the Ministry of Economic Affairs (center) at the pre-event presser. Credit: DIGITIMESCompal Electronics staff demonstrated their MR glasses at the pre-event presser. The products are already implemented in ASE's 5G Smart Factory. Credit: DIGITIMES
"Taiwan's ICT companies have a longtime focus on hardware advancement, capable of agile and flexible development to adapt to unprecedented circumstances. For example, the services and system integration providers can team up with Taiwan ICT suppliers to develop 5G services targeting different industries vertically such as smart cities, transportation, banking, and smart manufacturing, then sky will be the limit for the global 5G application growth," said Roger Huang, director of DIGITIMES Research.According to GSA (Global mobile Suppliers Association), only 218 telecom operators from 87 countries have successfully launched 5G services to their customers, in comparison with 4G LTE, which has a drastic difference of 760 operators. "There are still 2/3 worldwide operators looking to invest in the 5G market," said Huang.Statistics from Ericsson, one of the world's leading ICT companies, indicated that 4G services have accumulated 4.91 billion subscribers at the end of 2021 and will reach their all-time peak of five billion users at the end of 2022. For now, there are only 555 million 5G users with a 6.85% penetration rate. It is still at the starting point for the 5G service life cycle."5G users are growing rapidly worldwide, reaching 690 million users as of June and could possibly exceed one billion by the end of 2022," said Huang. It is expected by 2027, 5G users will hit a penetration rate of 48.3% accumulating over 4.37 billion users while overtaking LTE users. Telecom operators, services providers, and system integrators are optimistic about the current inclination; however, the one that can provide the well-suited product for the constantly growing market wins the 5G battle in the long run.Huang pointed out that companies including Aewin, Askey, Alpha Network, Arcadyan, Foxconn, Pegatron and Tmytek are the major suppliers for 5G customer premise equipment (CPE), small-cell all-in-ones, as well as Open-RAN radio units (RU), distributed units (DU), central units (CU) and transport networks.These companies mainly devote themselves to the development of small cells which is especially relevant for 5G private networks, one of the most crucial 5G use cases with the potential to reach US$4,719 million over the next five years, growing at a CAGR of 39.2%, according to sources from ResearchAndMarkets. "The demand for digital transformation for enterprises has rapidly increased every year, driving the growth for small cells," said Huang.Huang will join telecom industry experts on October 12 to discuss how top network equipment vendors and telecom operators can fully utilize Taiwan's flexibility and agility solutions. Join Key Solutions to Advancing Global Telecommunication webinar now to secure your spot!Webinar AgendaGMT+8TOPICSPEAKER10:30~11:00Log on 11:00~11:05OpeningRoger HuangDirector of DIGITIMES Research11:05~11:25The Vibrant Taiwan 5G IndustryRoger HuangDirector of DIGITIMES Research11:25~11:455G Open RAN and MEC Enable Intelligent ApplicationsTiana ShaoProduct Marketer of AEWIN Tech11:45~12:055G FWA Opportunity and SolutionLance LiuSenior Director of Askey12:05~12:25The Challenges to Designing mmWave Systems for 5G/B5GSu-Wei ChangFounder & CEO of TMYTEK12:25~12:30End of Program
Taiwan's central bank issued a statement on the evening of September 28 to clarify a local media report quoting Governor Chin-long Yang's reply to a Legislative Yuan discussion. The central bank denied that Yang had said it is planning to impose currency control on capital outflows in the case of foreign investors remitting massive capital, such as more than US$100 billion, in a short period of time.The central bank points out that Taiwan enjoys US$549 billion in foreign reserves and US$691.4 billion of foreign currency liquidity, not to mention that Taiwan is a net creditor, with US$280 billion of foreign currency-denominated deposits held by local residents and with net overseas assets of more than US$800 billion. "Taiwan had safely gone through the 1997 Asian Financial Crisis, 2008 global financial tsunami, and 2012 European debt crisis," the statement emphasized that the central bank has always adopted dynamic and effective foreign exchange management measures to maintain the stability of the financial market.Foreign investors have sold their Taiwan stocks and registered massive capital outflows in response to the fall of international stock markets amid aggressive interest rate hikes by the US Federal Reserve since the beginning of 2022, but the foreign exchange market in Taiwan remains stable. "If further interest-rate hikes of the US are to trigger another wave of capital outflow, we have sufficient capabilities to take actions in response to the volatility of the market," said the central bank.Taking examples from the history of cross-strait tensions, the central bank statement pointed out that "Taiwan has never imposed foreign currency controls even in the time during Beijing's military threatening in 1995 and in early August of 2022 (after US House of Representative speaker Nancy Pelosi's visit), we trust we are capable to maintain financial market stability through our foreign exchange management measures."The central bank insisted that when legislators questioned what would the central bank do in the event of cross-strait tension or a significant US interest-rate rise to trigger foreign investors to send massive capital overseas in a short period of time, the Governor's answer was, "We WILL NOT impose foreign control measures."
Smoltek Nanotech Holding AB (Smoltek) announces that the group company Smoltek Semi AB (Smoltek Semi) has entered into a Joint Development Agreement (JDA) with a subsidiary of YAGEO Group (YAGEO), a global electronic component company, to commercialize a silicon based Carbon Nanofiber (CNF) discrete capacitor. The capacitors are based on Smoltek's patented CNF-MIM technology and will be fabricated using a proprietary nano-fiber synthesis machine and industrial silicon foundry processes.The initial target application is a decoupling capacitor for microprocessor landside mounting. The target thickness for this discrete capacitor is 40 microns. Landside decoupling for microprocessors is an increasing area of interest for miniaturization within the semiconductor industry.The JDA constitutes the next step in accordance with the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) previously signed by the parties. In conjunction with the signing of the JDA, Smoltek Semi will receive 1.5 MUSD to be used for development activities within the framework of the partnership with YAGEO.Dr. Philip Lessner, Senior Vice President of YAGEO Group states, "This partnership is an excellent opportunity to commercialize a new technology that will be used in capacitors for applications where space is at a premium and high capacitance density is required".Hakan Persson, CEO of Smoltek Nanotech Holding says, "We are excited to partner with a major passive component manufacturer to commercialize a product that is based on our core Carbon Nanofiber technology. We now have a perfect partner in place to complete a competitive product and industrial mass production process for our ultra-thin CNF-MIM capacitors".Portrait photo of Hakan Persson, CEO of Smoltek (Smoltek Nanotech Holding AB)Photo of two Smoltek R&D engineers at MC2-laboratory
In response to the outbreak of COVID-19, many businesses resorted to the work-from-home (WFH) model as a way to maintain both normal operation and employee health. McKinsey Global Institute's 2021 report "The future of work after COVID-19" suggests that the pandemic has accelerated three sets of trends—remote work, e-commerce and automation. In Singapore, one of Asia's vital economies, the vacancy rate of office space climbed 2.4pp fourth-quarter 2019 through third-quarter 2021 to 12.9%. Furthermore, according to Singapore's Ministry of Manpower, 49% of the country's employed residents worked remotely in 2020. This indicates that Singapore's shared space and space management markets are embracing rapidly growing demand.With the hybrid work model becoming the new normal and employees having the flexibility of choosing where they prefer to work, employers are now reexamining the arrangement and planning of their existing workspace. For example, they may re-do their office floor plan and offer online reservations for desks and meeting rooms. This not only allows more flexible use of office space but also makes it easier for employers to comply with COVID-related restrictions on occupancy capacity. They can even sublease unused office space and adopt the co-working model to save on rent. More than 80% of Singapore's citizens live in public housing. To the citizens that need to work or learn from home during the pandemic, environmental noise and cramped space make it difficult for them to stay focused. This gives rise to the demand for shared space in the neighborhood that allows them to balance work/school and life. In view of such needs, Great Connection System (GCS) joins forces with partners to co-create smart space management solutions.According to Jason Wang, VP, solution business group, GCS, in Singapore, employers pay high salaries so the Singapore government encourages the country's industries to leverage IoT solutions to raise operating efficiency and lower operating costs as part of its smart country planning. Driven by the government's smart city policies, shared space solutions are closely interconnected with IoT implementations in Singapore. GCS has abundant experiences and superior capabilities in IoT product development and heterogeneous system integration as well as data analytics. Its G-Pod, a smart shared space management solution working in connection with partners' IoT equipment, satisfies wide-ranging application scenarios and needs. Aside from shared space management, it can also be used in a diversity of applications including smart campus, smart sports as well as data acquisition and analysis.Collaborating with local firms in Singapore to capture smart space management opportunitiesIn the post pandemic era, people in Singapore and the rest of the world adopt a new way of working and learning, giving rise to tremendous demand for shared space management solutions. In view of this, GCS, with a proven track record in IoT system integration services, has formed a smart commerce alliance with partners including Xian Shun, Li Jie Technology Hardware, Jida Computer, GSPRO, Yu Sheng Technology, Prime Electronics and Holycow Design. Under the assistance of the 2022 project to drive international expansions of SME digital innovations headed by Small and Medium Enterprise Administration, Ministry of Economic Affairs, the alliance exerts all-out efforts to promote smart commerce solutions to Singapore and further to the rest of the Southeast Asian markets.The smart commerce alliance aims to create a quiet and comfortable environment where local citizens can engage in everyday work or learning activities. Collaborating with a work pod provider in Singapore, the alliance recently built an unmanned workspace solution (smart pod) featuring friendly costs and simple reservations that allow easy and quick access by local residents. For mid-to-long term objectives, GCS will expand the success of the unmanned workspace solution in Singapore to additional business applications and create more diversified compound business environments. Joining forces with Taiwan's leading IoT solution providers, GCS will foray into Southeast Asian markets."Space management has traditionally been achieved by controlling the lock using a light current system. Traditional space management solutions lack reservation systems, user interactions as well as sensors and data systems that collect various space information so they are unable to stay on top of space usage, user habits, environmental parameters, etc.…" said Wang. He added "In contrast, not only can G-Pod gather environmental data on site, but it also performs cross analysis of user data, thereby properly managing and monitoring the unmanned space and its surroundings. On top of ensuring user safety and upholding user interests, G-Pod also reduces energy waste and achieves environmentally friendly objectives."Taiwan can learn from Singapore and expand IoT application scopeThe smart unmanned space management solution jointly presented by GCS and its fellow smart commerce alliance members can effectively lower staffing costs. Most important of all, it gathers user characteristics, environmental parameters and site information. Then, it performs big data analytics at the backend for feature extraction to allow the space manager to gain insight into potential needs of specific user groups and thereby strategize marketing plans targeting different user groups. With the solution, the space manager will be able to minimize the idle time and design a suitable and precise marketing plan based on when specific user groups use the space. Moreover, the solution can take into consideration various site requirements and arrange the needed frontend features as well as the backend management systems. While satisfying user needs, the solution also maximizes the management efficacy of the unmanned space for the space manager, achieving a win-win situation.Unlike Singapore, Taiwan's shared space market is only at the budding stage. Unmanned space management in particular is still in early development. As such, the solutions currently on the market are primarily standalone light current electronics systems. In light of this, GCS led the industry in launching the smart unmanned space management solution G-Pod. By interconnecting and integrating heterogenous systems comprising various hardware and software into an all-in-one management solution, GCS enables significant cost reduction when different types of devices and systems have to work together. A great number of interested parties have approached GCS to inquire on G-Pod.Wang pointed out that although Taiwan boasts of a well developed ICT industry, when most businesses evaluate the adoption of IoT solutions, they often take a wait-and-see and conservative attitude because they will have to replace existing hardware systems or lack in-house capability to develop integrated systems. After GCS sales reached out to businesses, took an in-depth look into their needs and introduced G-Pod features in detail, many businesses expressed interest in G-Pod's high level of hardware software integration capability and began talks with GCS about further development. For example, a slew of colleges in Taiwan are actively advancing toward smart campus. Many colleges have approached GCS for smart campus solutions. They look to introduce G-Pod to help create a variety of smart spaces to meet students' diverse learning needs.As part of its current-stage planning, GCS joins forces with its smart commerce alliance partners and together make all-out efforts to expand into Singapore. Furthermore, it will strive to replicate the success with Singapore to Southeast Asia and Taiwan, aiming to create whole-new digital economy opportunities for the industries with G-Pod.An end-to-end application for a smart (unmanned) space management system
MaaS (Mobility-as-a-Service), which combines cloud computing, AI, big data, and other technologies, is regarded by national governments and businesses as necessary for realizing a future with smart transportation. Taiwan's MaaS project, which will go online in 2022, integrates various transportation services into a single, convenient platform. The development of this platform was led by Dr. Yi-Chang Chiu, the Founder, and CEO of Metropia. He believes that MaaS needs to aggregate and compute a large amount of information and provide various innovative functions that can quickly respond to user demand. To meet these requirements, Metropia adopted AWS cloud services with the assistance of CKmates.Metropia was founded in the U.S. by a primarily academic team nearly ten years ago when Dr. Chiu was teaching at the University of Arizona. Its core innovation was the creation of a MaaS smart transportation platform that combined mathematical models and modern artificial intelligence (AI) algorithms. They set out to help plan operating models for system integrators, and as such, Metropia has robust technical ability in the field of smart transportation. Since its establishment in 2012, Metropia has been devoted to R&D. In 2015, the first version of Metropia's behavior engine was launched, upon which the company was ranked in the Top 100 Government Technology companies by GovTech in the United States. After a decade, Metropia has expanded to many cities in the United States and was invited by the Taiwanese Ministry of Transportation and Communications to return and assist in planning and constructing a smart transportation platform. Currently, its MaaS platform is the largest such platform in the United States and Taiwan.Dr. Chiu further explained how a MaaS platform works. The platform will integrate various traffic data into a single location. If users want to travel to a certain destination, they are presented with information regarding driving, cycling, public transportation, walking, and other modes of transportation. The platform also considers transfer times and the tradeoffs between time and money. While this concept sounds relatively simple, building a service that can accurately and efficiently fulfill this design is incredibly complex and difficult. For example, Dr. Chiu provided an example of a group of students that wanted to travel with a small budget but plenty of time. The platform would provide them with options that mostly included public transportation, such as the Taiwan Railways or passenger transport, with low fares but longer travel times. Conversely, the options would focus on High-Speed Rail and ride-hailing for business professionals with larger budgets but tighter time requirements. In addition, Metropia's MaaS AI engine can learn from its users' travel histories, recommend suitable modes of transportation, and meet travelers' on-the-road payment needs via the integration of third-party cash services and mobile payment platforms.A powerful MaaS platform that integrates food, accommodation, travel, shopping, and transportation can create diverse business models. For example, lifestyle MaaS operators understand users' travel behavior, meaning their data can be used to recommend more accurate products and greatly increase transaction rates. Tourist-type MaaS operators can offer packaged itineraries that combine transportation plans with meals/accommodations/travel/shopping/etc. By working with overseas travel companies, this platform can greatly expand the foreign tourist market and boost revenue.Integrating these technologies has many more applications, such as understanding consumer travel behavior and instantly pushing discounts to consumers for food, accommodation, travel, shopping, and travel. In its latest report, the market research organization Juniper Research predicted that MaaS platform providers would bring in US$53 billion in revenue by 2027, which shows that the appetite for MaaS will only continue to grow.Dr. Chiu pointed out that a fully functional MaaS platform must integrate a large amount of continually updated traffic data and execute AI algorithms that typically require many computing resources. At the same time, the service has to be able to connect with third-party platforms. This all involves very high requirements for IT system performance. In its early days, Metropia's US office used AWS cloud services to deal with rapidly increasing traffic data volume and the computing needs of MaaS. The Taiwan office was originally set up with an onsite backend system. In order to smoothly connect with the US branch, AWS was later imported with the assistance of CKmates.Metropia chose to use AWS mainly due to its focus on diverse services and scalability. Dr. Chiu pointed out that MaaS uses a huge amount of real-time traffic data that can change rapidly. Therefore, it requires an IT system with sufficient storage and computational resources. Building an independent system that can operate smoothly would require a hefty investment of both time and money. Organizing a professional team to develop various functionalities and upgrades and maintaining the software and hardware is quite burdensome for new startups. It is in these very circumstances that AWS helps tremendously.Since AWS already has its own hardware resources and various functional modules, Metropia only needed to select the appropriate software and hardware according to its current needs, which could be immediately brought online. If the user load changes in the future, the service could be increased or decreased accordingly. This feature helped optimize the IT budget efficiency of Metropia, allowing them to expand their IT system according to demand flexibly. Dr. Chiu mentioned that Metropia frequently used the AWS Auto Scaling expansion plan. This function allowed Metropia to automatically search for relevant resources and set expansion plans within a short period of time. This functionality would take a lot of time for an onsite system to develop. The AWS platform comes completely ready to use. In addition, the stability and information security offered by AWS is virtually unmatched.Dr. Chiu advised how to start using AWS based on his experience introducing it to Metropia. He said that with AWS' many functions, it is inevitable that first-time users may be overwhelmed by the many choices. He suggested that businesses cooperate with vendors with professional experience in this area. Metropia sought out CKmates, a business familiar with AWS with long-term experience coaching enterprises to build IT systems. They assisted Metropia in choosing suitable software and hardware services to maximize ROI.With the assistance of CKmates, Metropia has been able to make good use of the various cloud services provided by AWS. Ever since it has focused its enterprise resources on its core business. For future planning, Dr. Chiu revealed that he would continue using AWS's power to improve Taiwan's MaaS platform and provide a convenient and smart transportation service for the people of Taiwan.If you want to know more about metropia, please click the link. https://www.metropia.com/Metropia's Director of Mobility System Jeff Lin (left), Metropia's Technical Director Sibu Wang (middle) and CKmates' Senior Sales Representative Chun-Cheng Zhao (right)
In 2022, as global inflation has been revised up and with the threats of the conflict in Eastern Europe, the world economy is facing an increasingly challenging and uncertain outlook. Although the market seems to be lessening demand for PCs and consumer electronics, the demand for leading-edge process nodes seems to remain high and continues with high attention because this technology powers high performance computing, 5G/6G, advanced servers, and mobile phones in our pockets.According to the SEMI survey report published on July 12th, 2022, titled "GLOBAL TOTAL SEMICONDUCTOR EQUIPMENT SALES ON TRACK TO RECORD $118 BILLION IN 2022", Global sales of total semiconductor manufacturing equipment are forecast to reach a record US$117.5 billion in 2022, rising 14.7% from the previous industry high of $102.5 billion in 2021, and increase to $120.8 billion in 2023.This interview with Peter Karl Loewenhardt, Senior Vice President at Tokyo Electron Taiwan (TEL in Taiwan), takes a closer look at the new development of leading-edge nodes and how TEL is fulfilling their customers' demand. For example, the industry has moved towards more three-dimensional transistor structures such as the upcoming introduction of Gate-All-Around (GAA) or Nanosheet FET technologies for producing logic chips of the 3nm or 2nm technology generations.Manufacturability and cost become the key to EUV technologyAs extreme ultraviolet (EUV) lithography has moved into the mainstream in advanced semiconductor production, the technologies surrounding it such as spin-on resist and post-exposure development continuously are becoming technically more demanding. The industry is developing advanced exposure technologies for the next process nodes. As one keeps moving down the technology process nodes, EUV patterning becomes more and more critical. The leading foundries have moved EUV lithography into production starting at versions of the 7nm node. Nowadays, the 3nm process node is transitioning into the manufacturing stage. The technology is employing further EUV layers to print smaller features and to reduce masks. In fact, High NA is also on the horizon, and TEL should be able to support this effort well as we have our Coater/Developer equipment installed in imec with their high NA EUV tool.There are many challenges for EUV patterning. For example, resist application and pre-treatments as well as the development after exposure are particularly challenging processes that need to be developed very carefully. The process involves many steps before and after EUV exposure that must be done the right way to solve the technical concerns. Additionally, upstream and downstream technologies like vertical etch, deposition and wet cleaning are essential. Furthermore, there has been a growing need for improvements in the trade-off between photoresist sensitivity, resolution, and line edge roughness. With the exploration of upcoming Metal Oxide Resists (MOR), many performance considerations such as EUV dose, line wiggling/roughness, pattern collapse, bridging defects, etc. present opportunities for further EUV performance improvements. TEL has a very good market position for EUV patterning tools including deposition, Coater/Developer, etch, and cleaning systems and continually invests in improvements in both technology and manufacturability.One must not only deliver leading-edge process technology but also excellent manufacturability to be able to have repeatable performance in every manufacturing process. Additionally, for any technology added to the EUV patterning process, the cost is a major factor that must take significant priority. "With respect to manufacturability, focal areas are how to maximize the output of production, minimize the cycle time, and reduce cost. These are all areas where TEL is focusing," he adds.Meanwhile, there is a growing importance of Advanced Packaging and System Integration. 3nm process node can be integrated with other chips manufactured using different technology nodes, continually advancing on-chip technologies. Heterogeneous integration of different dies together in 3D can help continue the density increase in a more economically feasible way. This approach will make future chips more affordable, which will benefit the chip industry and does make it very exciting. This momentum will continue to next process nodes.Continuing ESG initiatives aimed at continuous corporate value enhancementSemiconductor Fabs consume large amounts of electricity, water, and chemicals. While foundries are getting pushed for improving the performance of EUV lithography in the advanced nodes, there are many photoresist materials and specially designed chemicals to be used for solving stochastics defects as a significant concern to enable yield improvement. As a leading equipment manufacturer, TEL contributes by focusing on leading-edge semiconductor production equipment that can solve difficult technical problems and manufacture devices with a continual focus on reducing the impact on the global environment. This way at TEL we can continue to provide differentiated solutions to customers.In the current technological evolution, one of the notable ESG initiatives is focused on the development of EUV lithography in high-volume manufacturing. There are several areas of focus, particularly in the areas of working with various organic photoresist materials and reducing the doses of EUV exposure. These improvements could be very beneficial, most notably shortening the EUV scanning cycle time and maximizing the EUV production output.EUV scanners are especially expensive. Improved usage of EUV scanners is very valuable for customers. TEL helps customers to increase EUV output performance through technical innovation. Technologies such as ESPERT are enablers for driving down EUV related costs and carbon footprint.Future generations of EUV lithography are expected, and there are several challenges to be overcome. The optimization of the many steps of applying photoresist to wafers (including treatments, etc.) with the optimization of the many steps in post-exposure development focus on improving these challenges, improving yield, etc. Additionally the new technologies could potentially reduce chemical and electricity usage to increase environmental performance through the collaboration of supply chains.With sustainable investments becoming more mainstream, in addition to medium-term environmental goals for 2030, TEL set a long-term environmental goal of reducing greenhouse gas emissions to net zero by 2050 to take the lead in achieving Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in industry-wide. For example TEL's Digital Design Square located in Sapporo city in Japan, is a new base for further digital transformation activities enabling various Artificial Intelligence technologies that have demonstrated reduced resource usage in R&D.TEL will continue to strive to fulfilling its sustainability roles and drive SDGs throughout the efforts to match the targets for improving both technical performance and the environmental performance. At SEMICON Taiwan 2022 Forum events, Loewenhardt is an invited speaker to talk about the EUV patterning technologies and performance improvement. The audience could join the event through the registration of SEMICON Taiwan websites at https://www.semicontaiwan.org/zh/node/4671Peter Karl Loewenhardt, Senior Vice President at Tokyo Electron Taiwan
