semiconductor materials needed to manufacture display screens in stock

Technology trends in backplane technology are driving higher gas demand in display manufacturing. Specific gas requirements of process blocks are discussed, and various supply modes are reviewed.

Since its initial communalization in the 1990s, active matrix thin-film-transistor (TFT) displays have become an essential and indispensable part of modern living. They are much more than just televisions and smartphones; they are the primary communication and information portals for our day-to- day life: watches (wearables), appliances, advertising, signage, automobiles and more.

There are many similarities in the display TFT manufacturing and semiconductor device manufacturing such as the process steps (deposition, etch, cleaning, and doping), the type of gases used in these steps, and the fact that both display and semiconductor manufacturing both heavily use gases.

However, there are technology drivers and manufacturing challenges that differentiate the two. For semiconductor device manufacturing, there are technology limitations in making the device increasingly smaller. For display manufacturing, the challenge is primarily maintaining the uniformity of glass as consumers drive the demand for larger and thinner displays.

While semiconductor wafer size has maxed because of the challenges of making smaller features uniformly across the surface of the wafer, the size of the display mother glass has grown from 0.1m x 0.1m with 1.1mm thickness to 3m x 3m with 0.5mm thickness over the past 20 years due to consumer demands for larger, lighter, and more cost-effective devices.

As the display mother glass area gets bigger and bigger,so does the equipment used in the display manufacturing process and the volume of gases required. In addition, the consumer’s desire for a better viewing experience such as more vivid color, higher resolution, and lower power consumption has also driven display manufacturers to develop and commercialize active matrix organic light emitting displays (AMOLED).

In general, there are two types of displays in the market today: active matrix liquid crystal display (AMLCD) and AMOLED. In its simplicity, the fundamental components required to make up the display are the same for AMLCD and AMOLED. There are four layers of a display device (FIGURE 1): a light source, switches that are the thin-film-transistor and where the gases are mainly used, a shutter to control the color selection, and the RGB (red, green, blue) color filter.

The thin-film-transistors used for display are 2D transitional transistors, which are similar to bulk CMOS before FinFET. For the active matrix display, there is one transistor for each pixel to drive the individual RGB within the pixel. As the resolution of the display grows, the transistor size also reduces, but not to the sub-micron scale of semiconductor devices. For the 325 PPI density, the transistor size is approximately 0.0001 mm2 and for the 4K TV with 80 PPI density, the transistor size is approximately 0.001 mm2.

Technology trends TFT-LCD (thin-film-transistor liquid-crystal display) is the baseline technology. MO / White OLED (organic light emitting diode) is used for larger screens. LTPS / AMOLED is used for small / medium screens. The challenges for OLED are the effect of < 1 micron particles on yield, much higher cost compared to a-Si due to increased mask steps, and moisture impact to yield for the OLED step.

Mobility limitation (FIGURE 2) is one of the key reasons for the shift to MO and LTPS to enable better viewing experience from higher resolution, etc.

The challenge to MO is the oxidation after IGZO metalization / moisture prevention after OLED step, which decreases yield. A large volume of N2O (nitrous oxide) is required for manufacturing, which means a shift in the traditional supply mode might need to be considered.

Although AMLCD displays are still dominant in the market today, AMOLED displays are growing quickly. Currently about 25% of smartphones are made with AMOLED displays and this is expected to grow to ~40% by 2021. OLED televisions are also growing rapidly, enjoying double digit growth rate year over year. Based on IHS data, the revenue for display panels with AMOLED technol- ogies is expected to have a CAGR of 18.9% in the next five years while the AMLCD display revenue will have a -2.8% CAGR for the same period with the total display panel revenue CAGR of 2.5%. With the rapid growth of AMOLED display panels, the panel makers have accel- erated their investment in the equipment to produce AMOLED panels.

There are three types of thin-film-transistor devices for display: amorphous silicon (a-Si), low temperature polysilicon (LTPS), and metal oxide (MO), also known as transparent amorphous oxide semiconductor (TAOS). AMLCD panels typically use a-Si for lower-resolution displays and TVs while high-resolution displays use LTPS transistors, but this use is mainly limited to small and medium displays due to its higher costs and scalability limitations. AMOLED panels use LTPS and MO transistors where MO devices are typically used for TV and large displays (FIGURE 3).

This shift in technology also requires a change in the gases used in production of AMOLED panels as compared with the AMLCD panels. As shown in FIGURE 4, display manufacturing today uses a wide variety of gases.

These gases can be categorized into two types: Electronic Specialty gases (ESGs) and Electronic Bulk gases (EBGs) (FIGURE 5). Electronic Specialty gases such as silane, nitrogen trifluoride, fluorine (on-site generation), sulfur hexafluoride, ammonia, and phosphine mixtures make up 52% of the gases used in the manufacture of the displays while the Electronic Bulk gases–nitrogen, hydrogen, helium, oxygen, carbon dioxide, and argon – make up the remaining 48% of the gases used in the display manufacturing.

The key ga susage driver in the manufacturing of displays is PECVD (plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition), which accounts for 75% of the ESG spending, while dry etch is driving helium usage. LTPS and MO transistor production is driving nitrous oxide usage. The ESG usage for MO transistor production differs from what is shown in FIGURE 4: nitrous oxide makes up 63% of gas spend, nitrogen trifluoride 26%, silane 7%, and sulfur hexafluoride and ammonia together around 4%. Laser gases are used not only for lithography, but also for excimer laser annealing application in LTPS.

Silane: SiH4 is one of the most critical molecules in display manufacturing. It is used in conjunction with ammonia (NH3) to create the silicon nitride layer for a-Si transistor, with nitrogen (N2) to form the pre excimer laser anneal a-Si for the LTPS transistor, or with nitrous oxide (N2O) to form the silicon oxide layer of MO transistor.

Nitrogen trifluoride: NF3 is the single largest electronic material from spend and volume standpoint for a-Si and LTPS display production while being surpassed by N2O for MO production. NF3 is used for cleaning the PECVD chambers. This gas requires scalability to get the cost advantage necessary for the highly competitive market.

Nitrous oxide: Used in both LTPS and MO display production, N2O has surpassed NF3 to become the largest electronic material from spend and volume standpoint for MO production. N2O is a regional and localized product due to its low cost, making long supply chains with high logistic costs unfeasible. Averaging approximately 2 kg per 5.5 m2 of mother glass area, it requires around 240 tons per month for a typical 120K per month capacity generation 8.5 MO display production. The largest N2O compressed gas trailer can only deliver six tons of N2O each time and thus it becomes both costly and risky

Nitrogen: For a typical large display fab, N2 demand can be as high as 50,000 Nm3/hour, so an on-site generator, such as the Linde SPECTRA-N® 50,000, is a cost-effective solution that has the added benefit of an 8% reduction in CO2 (carbon dioxide) footprint over conventional nitrogen plants.

Helium: H2 is used for cooling the glass during and after processing. Manufacturers are looking at ways to decrease the usage of helium because of cost and availability issues due it being a non-renewable gas.

N2 On-site generators: Nitrogen is the largest consumed gas at the fab, and is required to be available before the first tools are brought to the fab. Like major semiconductor fabs, large display fabs require very large amounts of nitrogen, which can only be economically supplied by on-site plants.

Individual packages: Specialty gases are supplied in individual packages. For higher volume materials like silane and nitrogen trifluoride, these can be supplied in large ISO packages holding up to 10 tons. Materials with smaller requirements are packaged in standard gas cylinders.

Blended gases: Laser gases and dopants are supplied as blends of several different gases. Both the accuracy and precision of the blended products are important to maintain the display device fabrication operating within acceptable parameters.

In-fab distribution: Gas supply does not end with the delivery or production of the material of the fab. Rather, the materials are further regulated with additional filtration, purification, and on-line analysis before delivery to individual production tools.

The consumer demand for displays that offer increas- ingly vivid color, higher resolution, and lower power consumption will challenge display makers to step up the technologies they employ and to develop newer displays such as flexible and transparent displays. The transistors to support these new displays will either be LTPS and / or MO, which means the gases currently being used in these processes will continue to grow. Considering the current a-Si display production, the gas consumption per area of the glass will increase by 25% for LTPS and ~ 50% for MO productions.

To facilitate these increasing demands, display manufacturers must partner with gas suppliers to identify which can meet their technology needs, globally source electronic materials to provide customers with stable and cost- effective gas solutions, develop local sources of electronic materials, improve productivity, reduce carbon footprint, and increase energy efficiency through on-site gas plants. This is particularly true for the burgeoning China display manufacturing market, which will benefit from investing in on-site bulk gas plants and collaboration with global materials suppliers with local production facilities for high-purity gas and chemical manufacturing.

The technology that me and my colleagues have chosen to examine as a possible semiconductor recycling project is the LCD PC monitor. We have chosen Dell

The process of which the hydrogenated amorphous silicon is deposited onto a substrate is called plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition (PECVD). This process uses silane gas which enters the chemical vapor deposition chamber and dissociates into a cloud of plasma. This plasma is induced by a radio frequency power generator; the chamber that holds this process must be in a vacuum to eliminate any impurities in the process. Similiar to an electron beam deposition process,the silicon and hydrogen atoms condense on a substrate, in LCD monitors this would be the glass, and make the thin layer of hydrogenated amorphous silicon. The setup of this process is shown in Figure 2.

The production of PC LCD monitors on the worldwide market shows Dell, Samsung, and LGE at the top of the market selling most for the 12 Brands selling from as low as 10 million units in a month to nearly 15 million units a month for 2010. Dell was ranked number one in the production of LCD for 2010. We were capable of determining the amount of units sold by Dell, which is estimated at 22.5 million units in 2010.

The growth for the production of LCD screens is expected to slowdown in the next two years. The growth in production of LCD panels for LCD has decreased, by the slow economic recovery, which is causing consumers to buy less and is predicted to slow down further for the next few years.

Recycling LCD monitors is easy if you do not have to go through the process yourself. There are multiple companies that allow you to send in your monitors for free, for a price or you can even drop them off at specific locations and they will handle it all for you. Some of these companies include Apple, Staples and Dell. Michigan Technological University allows people to drop off their monitors and the Apple store will recycle it all. If you want to go straight through Apple, their recycling process is to purchase any Apple computer or monitor and receive free recycling of your old computer and monitor no matter what the brand is.

Computers consist of valuable resources, such as precious metals, copper, and engineered plastics. Recycling computers enables us to collect and reuse these valuable resources. For example, by recycling 100 million cell phones, about 7,500 pounds of gold could be recovered. Recovering this gold, instead of mining it, would prevent 12,000,000,000 pounds of loose soil, sand, and rock from having to be moved, mined, and processed.

Electronic waste isn"t just waste. It contains contaminants, such as mercury, lead, cadmium, arsenic, and beryllium. When these contaminants are burned at low temperatures they create more toxins and are released into the air. The toxic materials in electronics can cause cancer, reproductive disorders, endocrine failures and many other health problems if the waste is not properly disposed of. An estimated 70-80% of the electronic waste is exported to third-world countries. Once there the toxins are released into water sources and the land.

Scientists have found that by separating the panels in LCD screens, they can remove the polyvinyl-alcohol (PVA) and then produce a disinfectant. This substance is able to kill harmful bacteria including E-coli.

Andrew Hunt of the University of York says, "We can add significant value to this waste...that has great potential for use in biomedicine. Now we have gone a step further by enhancing its anti-microbial properties through the addition of silver nanoparticles, with the result being that it can destroy bacterial infections."

The amount of hydrogenated amorphous silicon is all dependable on the thickness of the thin film layer. These layers can range from nanometers to micrometers, and for the LCD monitors an average between the two will be used to determine the thickness.

1. Supercritical Carbon Dioxide Fluid Technology extracts the liquid crystals from the glass. This method uses iso-thermal and a depressurization method to remove the liquid crystal from the glass panel, by converting carbon dioxide gas to its supercritical fluid state, thus dissolving the liquid crystal. Then the temperature is dropped, the carbon dioxide reverts back to gas, leaving the liquid crystal

This process involves the use of a base, usually quaternary ammonium hydroxide, a surfactant and a high boiling solvent (di- or tri- propylene glycol alkyl ether.) to strip the silicon.

The cured silicon can be exposed to tetrabutyammonium fluoride reagent (TBAF) in non-hydroxylic aprotic solvent. This causes a disintegration of the polymer matrix, thus removing the silicon into the solvent.

Some computer monitors that use liquid crystal display (LCD) technology contaisn mercury, a highly toxic metal that can cause serious damage if ingested. The mercury in monitors is there to produce light when it is electrically energized. When the laptop monitors are tilted, mercury flows to one end cutting off the circuit and opening it on the opposite end. This is often function of an on and off switch.

At Stena Innovative Recycling, they clean units by separating it into iron, metals, plastics, circuit boards and glass with liquid crystals. The whole process works in a closed and controlled environment and during the process the levels of mercury are controlled, so Stena can be sure that all the mercury is removed from the material that will be recycled. The units that are contaminated with mercury are then sent to a hazardous waste treatment center.

The most efficient waste treatment process is to separate the backlight lamps from the panel. If the lamp is not taken out before, the whole display is deemed hazardous waste. Many treatment processes were explored, such as water-jet cutting, laser cutting and circular sawing, but the most efficient way is by manual dismantling. Costs per unit and the assessment quality were variables in the processes explored.

The purity of silane is 99.9999 percent. Electronically active impurities, such as boron, phosphorus, and arsenic are controlled to less than 10 parts per trillion. Silane is one of the purest materials on Earth.

The manufacturing process of silane that is used by REC produces consistent, pure silane by converting metallurgical grade silicon into trichlorosilane and redistributiing and distilling to silane. The constant flow process, recycles all hydrogen and chloride to initial reactors, while constant distillation steps purify the gas. This process is environmentally friendly.

In the most simple way to describe the production of silane, silicon is turned into a gas by grinding it down to a fine, sand-like consistency and heating it with hydrogen and silicon tetrachloride. After this is done it is then put through a series of reactions, as seen below, and silane and pure polysilicon are made.

Industrially, silane is produced from silicon in a two-step process. In the first step, powdered silicon reacts with hydrogen chloride at 300 °C to produce trichlorosilane, HSiCl3, along with hydrogen gas.

Another way to process silane is to start with metallurgical grade silicon, hydrogen, and silicon tetrachloride and let them go through a series of redistribution reactions and distillations as seen below:

In comparison to our characterization methods to purify our material, the in-situ analysis can be adapted by looking at the comparison of what our purity level is compared to the purity level found in nature.

As this figure is unknown, we can still determine what the cost per kg of recycling of the monitor must be less than in order to be a practical recycling process.

Alternatively instead of straight recycling only the silane recovered from the LCD PC monitors back into new monitors, we can also collect and extract the silane from other electronic devices that contain silane. The silane can also be put in other electronics devices with LCD screens. The silane can be used in the production solar panels, LCD TVs, smartphones, and other electronic devices which either have a LCD screen or need the silane to connect the glass to the polymer matrix in these devices.

One of the alternatives to straight cycling of the Silane is down-cycling it into titanium implants, so the biologically inert material in the implant can attach to the titanium implant. The recovered Silane can also be used as water repellent and masonry protection. The Silane can also be used for initiating the combustion for ramjets, reaction engines and liquid fuel rockets that have carbon dioxide in it.

As with any form of alternative recycling such as downcycling there are goods things and there are bad things. The good thing about downcycling is the silane is reused instead of extracting the silane from the Earth and having to go through the process of purification, which all require labor, energy, and other expenses. The bad thing about downcycling the silane is the loss in value of the silane. When the high quality silane extracted from the LCD PC monitor is downcycled into water repellent, then there is a tremendous loss in value of the silane.

-Amerimade designs a quartz bath specifically for use with semiconductor materials. It can also be heated to desirable tempertures. It is a great machine for the first step.

-This bath is made from quartz and can be heated to desirable tempertures. This particular bath was designed specifically for use with semiconductor materials. It is the same piece of equipment as step one, however it is a great fit for step two as well.

-Jinan Bakr Ultrasonic Technology Co., Ltd. makes an industrial cleaner that runs on electric power and can be heated, although it is not necessary for this particular step. It is a great machine to use for the isopropyl alcohol rinse because it"s also an ultrasonic cleaner.

-This industrial cleaner runs on electric power and can be heated, although it is not necessary for this particular step. It is a great machine to use for the deionized water rinse because it"s also an ultrasonic cleaner.

-This industrial cleaner runs on electric power and can be heated, although it is not necessary for this particular step. It is a great machine to use for the anhydrous IPA rinse because it"s also an ultrasonic cleaner.

-Gulf Coast Environmental makes industrial ovens engineered to your specific needs. These ovens will dry the substrate of any unwanted remaining chemicals so it will be able to be used in other applications.

Eye protection must be worn at all times throughout the plant, ear protection is encourage, closed toe boots are recommended, and proper clothing made of non-synthetic material should always be worn. Over-head showers and eye washing stations will be found near the exits as well as the middle of most work stations. Fire extinguishers will be within 20 feet of every machine. Emergency exits will be thoroughly outlined on the maps as you enter each room. Although the facility is ventilated, there will be fume heads located toward the more hazardous chemicals will be dealt with as well as emergency fans nearest the windows. Hazardous waste disposal bins will be located near fume hoods. OSHA regulations will be strictly reinforced.

Silane is flammable and will ignite on contact with air. It is irritating to the eyes and skin. In case of emergency and silane comes into contact with the skin, wash the affected area with soap and water. In case of contact with eyes, flush with water for 15 minutes. In case of deep inhalation, seek medical attention immediately. When handling, avoid air contact and make sure that there is no source of ignition anywhere near. Electrical equipment needs to be explosion proof. Neoprene, butyl rubber or polyethylene gloves should be warn when handling. To store silane, keep away from bases such as halogens and other oxidizing agents. Disposal of silane must be done in a compressed gas distributor when no longer in use.

This is the optimal flow for the theoretical process of recycling the semiconductor and other materials in LCD PC Monitors. There are two ways of the recycling center receiving the monitors, either by customer drop off or shipment to the center. This process is optimal because it recycles all of the material in the monitors. Also, the process of removing the semiconductor from the substrate has been laboratory approved to efficiently and easily remove the material.

"LCD Monitor Production Will Continue to Soar." TechEye. N.p., 07 June 2010. Web. 29 Sept. 2012.

"LCD Monthly Desktop Monitor Production Rate Highest Since Mid-2008 - DisplaySearch." LCD Monthly Desktop Monitor Production Rate Highest Since Mid-2008 - DisplaySearch. N.p., 01 Feb. 2010. Web. 29 Sept. 2012.

"LCD Monitors recycling." B.W Recycling Inc.. B.W. Recycling, Inc, 1 Sept. 2012. Web. 20 Sept. 2012.

"Recovery of Valuable Material from Waste Liquid Display Panel" Sciencedirect.com N.p., 7 Jul. 2009. Web. 29 Sept. 2012.

"Recovery of Valuable Material from Waste Liquid Display Panel" Sciencedirect.com N.p., 7 Jul. 2009. Web. 29 Sept. 2012.

"Recycling Liquid Crystal Displays (LCD)" voices.yahoo.com N.p., 11 Sept. 2006. Web. 29 Sept. 2012.

Falkenberg, Hedvig. "LCD RECYCLING." Stena Innovative Recycling. Stena, n.d. Web. 5 Oct. 2012. .

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Right after the pandemic hit, I bought a new vacuum cleaner. I wanted to step up my housecleaning skills since I knew I’d be home a lot more. I was able to buy mine right away, but friends who wanted new appliances weren’t so lucky. My relatives had to wait months for their new refrigerator to arrive. And it wasn’t just appliances. New cars were absent from dealership lots, while used cars commanded a premium. What do all these things have in common? Semiconductor chips.

The pandemic disrupted the global supply chain, and semiconductor chips were particularly vulnerable. The chip shortage delivered a wakeup call for our country to make our supply chain more resilient and increase domestic manufacturing of chips, which are omnipresent in modern life.

“To an astonishing degree, the products and services we encounter every day are powered by semiconductor chips,” says Mike Molnar, director of NIST’s Office of Advanced Manufacturing.

Think about your kitchen. Dishwashers have chips that sense how dirty your loads are and precisely time their cleaning cycles to reduce your energy and water bills. Some rice cookers use chips with “fuzzy logic” to judge how long to cook rice. Many toasters now have chips that make sure your bread is perfectly browned.

We commonly think of chips as the “brains” that crunch numbers, and that is certainly true for the CPUs in computers, but chips do all sorts of useful things. Memory chips store data. Digital cameras contain chips that detect light and turn it into an image. Modern TVs produce their colorful displays with arrays of light emitting diodes (LEDs) on chips. Phones send and receive Wi-Fi and cellular signals thanks to semiconductor chips inside them. Chips also abound on the exteriors of homes, inside everything from security cameras to solar panels.

The average car can have upward of 1,200 chips in it, and you can’t make a new car unless you have all of them. “Today’s cars are computers on wheels,” an auto mechanic said to me a few years ago, and his words were never more on point than during the height of the pandemic. In 2021, the chip shortage was estimated to have caused a loss of $110 billion in new vehicle sales worldwide.

The chips in today’s cars are a combination of low-tech, mature chips and high-tech, state-of-the-art processors (which you’ll especially find in electric vehicles and those that have autonomous driving capabilities).

Whether mature or cutting-edge, chips typically need to go through a dizzying series of steps — and different suppliers — before they become finished products. And most of this work is currently done outside this country. The U.S., once a leader in chip manufacturing, currently only has about a 12% share in the market.

To reestablish our nation’s leadership in chip manufacturing, Congress recently passed, and President Joe Biden recently signed into law, the CHIPS Act. The CHIPS Act aims to help U.S. manufacturers grow an ecosystem in which they produce both mature and state-of-the-art chips at all stages of the manufacturing process and supply chain, and NIST is going to play a big role in this effort.

Silicon is the most frequently used raw material for chips, and one of the most abundant atomic elements on Earth. To give you a sense of its abundance, silicon and oxygen are the main ingredients of most beach sand, and a major component of glass, rocks and soil (which means that you can also find it in actual, not just metaphorical, dirt).

Silicon is a type of material known as a semiconductor. Electricity flows through semiconductors better than it does through insulators (such as rubber and cotton), but not quite as well as it does through conductors (such as metals and water).

But that’s a good thing. In semiconductors, you can control electric current precisely — and without any moving parts. By applying a small voltage to them, you can either cause current to flow or to stop — making the semiconductor (or a small region within it) act like a conductor or insulator depending on what you want to do.

The first step for making a chip is to start with a thin slice of a semiconductor material, known as a “wafer,” often round in shape. On top of the wafer, manufacturers then create complex miniature electric circuits, commonly called “integrated circuits” (ICs) because they are embedded as one piece on the wafer. A typical IC today contains billions of tiny on-off switches known as transistors that enable a chip to perform a wide range of complex tasks from sending signals to processing information. Increasingly, these circuits also have “photonic” components in which light travels alongside electricity.

Manufacturers typically mass-produce dozens of ICs on a single semiconductor wafer and then dice the wafer to separate the individual pieces. When each of them is packaged as a self-contained device, you have a “chip,” which can then be placed in smartphones, computers and so many other products.

Though silicon is the most commonly used raw material for chips, other semiconductors are used depending on the application. For example, gallium nitride is resistant to damage from cosmic rays and other radiation in space, so it’s commonly the material of choice for electronic devices in satellites. Gallium arsenide is frequently employed to make LEDs, because silicon typically produces heat instead of light if you try to make an LED with it.

Non-silicon semiconductors are used in the growing field of “power electronics” in vehicles and energy systems such as wind and solar. Silicon carbide can handle larger amounts of electricity and voltage than other materials, so it has been used in chips for electric vehicles to perform functions such as converting DC battery power into the AC power delivered to the motors.

Diamonds are semiconductors too — and they have the greatest ability to conduct heat of any known material. Artificial diamonds are currently used as the semiconductors in chips for aerospace applications, as they can draw heat away from the power loads generated in those chips.

Measurement science plays a key role in up to 50% of semiconductor manufacturing steps, according to a recent NIST report. Good measurements enable manufacturers to mass-produce high-quality, high-performance chips.

NIST has the measurement science and technical standards expertise that is needed by the U.S. chip industry, and our programs to advance manufacturing and support manufacturing networks across the U.S. mean we can partner with industry to find out what they need and deliver on it.

NIST researchers already work on semiconductor materials for many reasons. For example, researchers have developed new ways to measure semiconductor materials in order to detect defects (such as a stray aluminum atom in silicon) that could cause chips to malfunction. As electronic components get smaller, chips need to be increasingly free of such defects.

“Modern chips may contain over 100 billion complex nanodevices that are less than 50 atoms across — all must work nearly identically for the chip to function,” the NIST report points out.

NIST researchers also measure the properties of new materials that could be useful for future inventions. All of the semiconductor materials I mentioned above are brittle and can’t be bent. But devices with chips — from pacemakers to blood pressure monitors to defibrillators — are increasingly being made with flexible materials so they can be “wearable” and you can attach them comfortably to the contours of your body. NIST researchers have been at the forefront of the work to develop these “flexible” chips.

Researchers are also studying materials that could serve as “printable” chips that would be cheaper and more environmentally friendly. Instead of going through the complicated multistep process of making chips in a factory, we are developing ways to print circuits directly onto materials such as paper using technology that’s similar to ink-jet printers.

And while we’ve lost a lot of overall chip manufacturing share, U.S. companies still make many of the machines that carry out the individual steps for fabricating chips, such as those that deposit ultrathin layers of material on top of semiconductors. But what if, instead of these machines being shipped abroad, more domestic manufacturers developed expertise in using them?

To support this effort, NIST researchers are planning to perform measurements with these very machines in their labs. They will study materials that these machines use and the manufacturing processes associated with them. The information from the NIST work could help more domestic manufacturers develop the know-how for making chips. This work can help create an ecosystem with many domestic chip manufacturers, not just a few, leading to a more resilient supply chain.

“Reliance on only one supplier is problematic, as we saw with the recent shortage in baby formula,” NIST"s Jyoti Malhotra pointed out to me. Malhotra serves on the senior leadership team of the NIST Manufacturing Extension Partnership (MEP). MEP has been connecting NIST labs to the U.S. suppliers and manufacturers who produce materials, components, devices and equipment enabling U.S. chip manufacturing.

Last but not least, an area of major excitement at NIST is “advanced packaging.” No, we don’t mean the work of those expert gift-wrappers you may find at stores during the holiday season. When we talk about chip packaging, we’re referring to everything that goes around a chip to protect it from damage and connect it to the rest of the device. Advanced packaging takes things to the next level: It uses ingenious techniques during the chipmaking process to connect multiple chips to each other and the rest of the device in as tiny a space as possible.

But it’s more about just making a smartphone that fits in your pocket. Advanced packaging enables our devices to be faster and more energy-efficient because information can be exchanged between chips over shorter distances and this in turn reduces energy consumption.

One great byproduct of advanced packaging’s innovations can be found on my wrist — namely, the smartwatch I wear for my long-distance runs. My watch uses GPS to measure how far I ran. It also measures my heart rate, and after my workouts, it uploads my running data wirelessly to my phone. Its battery lasts for days; it had plenty of juice left even after I ran a full marathon last month.

Twenty years ago, running watches were big and clunky, with much less functionality. My friends and I had a particular model with a huge face and a bulky slab that fit over the insides of our wrists. When a friend and I opened up his watch to replace his battery, we saw that the GPS receiver was on a completely separate circuit board from the rest of the watch electronics.

Under the small and thin face of my current watch you will find all its electronics, including a GPS sensor, battery, heart-rate monitor, wireless communications device and so many other things.

Further development of advanced packaging could produce even more powerful devices for monitoring a patient’s vitals, measuring pollutants in the environment, and increasing situational awareness for soldiers in the field.

Advanced packaging is also a potential niche for domestic manufacturers to grow global market share (currently at 3% for this part of the chipmaking process). Chips are becoming so complex that design and manufacturing processes, once separate steps, are now increasingly intertwined — and the U.S. remains a world leader in chip design. NIST’s measurements to support advanced packaging in chips and standards for the packaging process could give domestic manufacturers a decisive edge in this area.

All the NIST experts I’ve spoken to talk about a future in which chip manufacturers work increasingly closely with their customers, such as automakers. The benefit of closer relationships would mean that customers could collaborate with manufacturers to create more customized chips that bring about completely new products.

And as we’ve seen, incorporating chips into existing products tends to make them “smart,” whether it’s an appliance figuring out how long to bake the bread, or solar panels that maximize electricity production by coordinating the power output from individual panels. With more domestic manufacturers on the scene, there are more opportunities to incorporate chips into products — that could also be manufactured in the U.S.A.

I first encountered semiconductor chips in the 1970s, when the U.S. was a dominant force in chip manufacturing. Inside a department store with my mom, I saw pocket calculators on display, and they fascinated me. You could punch their number keys and they would instantly solve any addition or multiplication problem. As a 6-year-old, I thought that they had little brains in them!

Since then, semiconductor chips have been a big part of my life. And after the pandemic, I realize I can’t take them for granted. I’m glad to be part of an agency that is working to create a more resilient supply chain — and bring back chip manufacturing in this country.

Transistor: Simple switch, made with a semiconductor material, that turns on or off depending on changes in voltage and can combine with other transistors to create complex devices

Chip: Self-contained piece including the semiconductor surface and integrated circuit, independently packaged for use in electronics such as cellphones or computers

A semiconductor chip is an electric circuit with many components such as transistors and wiring formed on a semiconductor wafer. An electronic device comprising numerous these components is called “integrated circuit (IC)”. The layout of the components is patterned on a photomask (reticle) by computer and projected onto a semiconductor wafer in the manufacturing processes described below.

The thin film is coated with photoresist. The circuit pattern of the photomask (reticle) is then projected onto the photoresist using Photolithography technology.

With this, one layer of the circuit is formed. The transistors are formed on the lowest layer. Similar process is then repeated, and many layers of circuits are formed on top of one another.

In the process of the integrated circuit creation, there are inspection and measurement steps to check whether or not the patterns are fabricated as designed. If defects are found, the fabrication will be interrupted to remove the defects from the process and to make small changes in the fabrication conditions for correction purposes. More than one hundred semiconductor dies are fabricated on a single wafer. At present, the largest silicon wafer is 300mm in diameter. Semiconductor manufacturers are looking into 450mm diameter silicon wafers for use in the future.

Semiconductor devices are completed through the front-end process (wafer processing operation) and the back-end process (assembly process) described below.

The finished semiconductor devices have been used in a variety of products such as personal computers, smartphones and cars in everyday life (see also “Semiconductors in everyday life”).

We are actively applying our extensive experience and capabilities to advance development of new technologies and products for cleaning, resist coating, developing, annealing and other surface processing systems, as well as products for the new 200 mm-and-smaller market.

A semiconductor is a material product usually comprised of silicon, which conducts electricity more than an insulator, such as glass, but less than a pure conductor, such as copper or aluminum. Their conductivity and other properties can be altered with the introduction of impurities, called doping, to meet the specific needs of the electronic component in which it resides.

Also known as semis, or chips, semiconductors can be found in thousands of products such as computers, smartphones, appliances, gaming hardware, and medical equipment.

Found in thousands of electronic products, a semiconductor is a material that conducts electricity more than an insulator but less than a pure conductor.

Aside from investing in specific companies that manufacture semiconductors, there are also ETFs, index funds, and indices that break the sector down to chip makers and chip equipment makers.

Semiconductor devices can display a range of useful properties such as showing variable resistance, passing current more easily in one direction than the other, and reacting to light and heat. Their actual function includes the amplification of signals, switching, and energy conversion.

Therefore, they find widespread use in almost all industries, and the companies that manufacture and test them are considered to be excellent indicators of the health of the overall economy.

The semiconductor industry is a hugely important sector for both the U.S. and world economies, with semiconductor components found in a wide range of consumer and commercial products from vehicles to computers to mobile devices and personal electronics.

Semiconductors come in two main types based on the elements that are included alongside silicon, a process known as "doping." These "impurities" are introduced to the crystalline silicon to alter the properties of the finished semiconductor:

A p-type semiconductor has dopants with five electrons in its valence layer. Phosphorus is commonly used for this purpose, as well as  arsenic, or antimony.

Memory chips serve as temporary storehouses of data and pass information to and from computer devices" brains. The consolidation of the memory market continues, driving memory prices so low that only a few giants like Toshiba, Samsung, and NEC can afford to stay in the game.

These are central processing units that contain the basic logic to perform tasks. Intel"s domination of the microprocessor segment has forced nearly every other competitor, with the exception of Advanced Micro Devices, out of the mainstream market and into smaller niches or different segments altogether.

Sometimes called "standard chips", these are produced in huge batches for routine processing purposes. Dominated by very large Asian chip manufacturers, this segment offers razor-thin profit margins that only the biggest semiconductor companies can compete for.

"System on a Chip" is essentially all about the creation of an integrated circuit chip with an entire system"s capability on it. The market revolves around the growing demand for consumer products that combine new features and lower prices. With the doors to the memory, microprocessor, and commodity integrated circuit markets tightly shut, the SOC segment is arguably the only one left with enough opportunity to attract a wide range of companies.

Success in the semiconductor industry depends on creating smaller, faster, and cheaper products. The benefit of being tiny is that more power can be placed on the same chip. The more transistors on a chip, the faster it can do its work. This creates fierce competition in the industry and new technologies lower the cost of production per chip.

This gave rise to the observations calledMoore"s Law, which states that the number of transistors in a dense integrated circuit doubles approximately every two years. The observation is named after Gordon Moore, the co-founder of Fairchild Semiconductor and Intel, who wrote a paper describing it in 1965. Nowadays, the doubling period is often quoted as 18 months—the figure cited by Intel executive David House.

As a result, there is constant pressure on chipmakers to come up with something better and even cheaper than what was defined as state-of-the-art only a few months beforehand. Therefore, semiconductor companies need to maintain large research and development budgets. The semiconductor market research association IC Insights reported semiconductor companies are expected to increase the research and development budgets by 9% in 2022. They also forecasted the compound annual growth rate (CAGR) will also grow by about 5.5% between 2022 and 2026.

Traditionally, semiconductor companies controlled the entire production process, from design to manufacture. Yet many chip makers are now delegating more and more production to others in the industry. Foundry companies, whose sole business is manufacturing, have recently come to the fore, providing attractive outsourcing options. In addition to foundries, the ranks of increasingly specialized designers and chip testers are starting to swell. Chip companies are emerging leaner and more efficient. Chip production now resembles a gourmet restaurant kitchen, where chefs line up to add just the right spice to the mix.

In the 1980s, chip makers lived with yields (number of operational devices out of all manufactured) of 10-30%. Chip makers now shoot for yields (number of operational devices out of all manufactured) no less than 90%. This requires very expensive manufacturing processes.

As a result, many semiconductor companies carry out design and marketing but choose to outsource some or all of the manufacturing. Known as fabless chip makers, these companies have high growth potential because they are not burdened by the overhead associated with manufacturing, or "fabrication."

Aside from investing in individual companies, there are several ways to monitor the investment performance of the overall sector. These include the benchmark PHLX Semiconductor Index, known as the SOX, as well as its derivative forms in exchange-traded funds. There are also indices that break the sector down to chip makers and chip equipment makers. The latter develops and sells machinery and other products used to design and test semiconductors.

In addition, certain markets overseas, such as Taiwan, South Korea, and to a lesser extent Japan, are highly dependent on semiconductors and therefore their indices also provide clues to the health of the global industry.

If semiconductor investors can remember one thing, it should be that the semiconductor industry is highly cyclical. Semiconductor makers often see "boom and bust" cycles based on the underlying demand for chip-based products. When times are good, profit margins can run very high for chipmakers; when demand falls through, however, chip prices can fall dramatically and have a major effect on many industries" supply chains.

Demand typically tracks end-market demand for personal computers, cell phones, and other electronic equipment. When times are good, companies like Intel and Toshiba can"t produce microchips quickly enough to meet demand. When times are tough, they can be downright brutal. Slow PC sales, for instance, can send the industry—and its share prices—into a tailspin.

At the same time, it doesn"t make sense to speak of the "chip cycle" as if it were an event of singular nature. While semiconductors are still a commodity business at heart, its end markets are so numerous—PCs, communications infrastructure, automotive, consumer products, etc.— that it is unlikely that excess capacity in one area will bring the whole house down.

Surprisingly, the cyclicality of the industry can provide a degree of comfort for investors. In some other technology sectors, like telecom equipment, one can never be entirely sure whether fortunes are cyclical or secular. By contrast, investors can be almost certain that the market will turn at some point in the not-so-distant future.

While cyclicality offers some comfort, it also creates a risk for investors. Chipmakers must routinely take part in high-stakes gambling. The big risk comes from the fact that it can take many months, or even years, after a major development project for companies to find out whether they"ve hit the jackpot, or blown it all. One cause of the delay is the intertwined but fragmented structure of the industry: Different sectors peak and bottom out at different times.

For instance, the low point for foundries frequently arrives much sooner than it does for chip designers. Another reason is the industry"s long lead time: It takes years to develop a chip or build a foundry, and even longer before the products make money.

Semiconductor companies are faced with the classic conundrum of whether it"s the technology that drives the market or the market that drives the technology. Investors should recognize that both have validity for the semiconductor industry.

Because companies spend a large amount of revenue on research and development that can take several months or even years to pay off—and sometimes not even then if the technology is faulty—investors should be wary of statements made by companies who claim to have the latest and greatest technology in the semiconductor industry.

A semiconductor essentially functions as a hybrid of a conductor and an insulator. Whereas conductors are materials with high conductivity that allow the flow of charge when applied with a voltage, and insulators do not allow current flow, semiconductors alternately act as an insulator and conductor where necessary.

A p-type semiconductor is a type of extrinsic semiconductor that contains trivalent impurities such as boron and aluminum which increases the level of conductivity of a normal semiconductor made purely of silicon.

An intrinsic or pure semiconductor is a semiconductor that does not have any impurities or dopants added to it, as in the case of p-type and n-type semiconductors. In intrinsic semiconductors, the number of excited electrons and the number of holes are equal: n = p.

Semiconductors literally make the world go "round these days. Without semiconductors, we wouldn"t have computers, the internet, mobile phones, or flat-screen TVs. It is no surprise then that the semiconductor industry plays a prominent role in the global economy. The sector also remains a hub of innovation, as Moore"s law continues to work its magic, producing more powerful microchips that are cheaper to produce over time.

Since 1967, Applied Materials (NASDAQ:AMAT) has been a semiconductor equipment supplier. The company entered the flat panel display market when Applied Komatsu Technology was formed in September 1993 as a 50-50 joint venture between Applied Materials and Komatsu. The remaining 50% was acquired in 1999.

Applied Materials is facing strong tailwinds in the Display segment as new 10.5G plants outfit equipment for production of LCD panels TV manufacturing. The uptick in plant construction is a result of demand for 65- and 75-inch LCD TVs.

For example, a 10.5G glass substrate is 1.8 times an 8.5G one in area and can be cut into six 75-inch panels. In comparison, a 7.5G glass substrate can be cut into two 75-inch TV panels.

1. AMAT’s deposition tools are used to form the backplane for LCD displays. The company’s deposition tools are the only ones capable of uniform coating of panels this size, which measure 3370mm x 2940mm. AMAT’s equipment can deposit amorphous silicon, LTPS (Low Temperature Polysilicon), and IGZO (Indium Gallium Zinc Oxide). AMAT issued a press release on November 16, 2017, that its PVD and CVD deposition tools were purchased by China’s BOE Technology Group in the first 10.5G LCD plant.

2. There are a total of seven 10.5 fabs that are now under construction or planned, and the total capex (plant construction and equipment) could surpass $50 billion over the next few years. These are listed in the table below. BOE Technology B9 China

I noted the day after the earnings report in a November 17 Seeking Alpha article entitled “Applied Materials In Danger Of Losing Top Semiconductor Equipment Ranking,” that while revenues dropped 4.0% in Q3, main deposition-etch competitor Lam Research (LRCX) increased 5.7% and metrology/inspection competitor KLA-Tencor (KLAC) increased 3.2%.

Show in the table below is an expanded version of the table in the above article, showing that unlike its display segment, AMAT lost share in the semiconductor equipment market, for Q3 revenue (AMAT FYQ4).

What I’ve done in this chart is to convert all revenues to dollars. Thus, the data in the YTD column for three quarters clearly show how revenues from ASML (ASML) and LRCX are catching up to AMAT when compared to CY 2016 revenues in the first data column.

I also added a final column to the table showing the percentage of equipment. Most companies include in their equipment revenues service and spare parts. Applied Materials does not. Instead, service and spare parts are included in its Global Services segment, and so its equipment revenues are 100%. Only 67% of ASML’s reported revenues are “equipment only.” Therefore, to be completely fair, revenues of AMAT’s competitors must be multiplied by these factors. Note that revenues for CY2016 in the first data column are "equipment only."

In addition to AMAT’s headwinds with respect to losing market share to competitors, the overall semiconductor equipment industry growth is slowing down.

Shown in Figure 1 are semiconductor equipment billings for U.S. manufactures. The top line shows that 2017 MoM revenue growth has been decreasing since reaching a high in June.

In both cases the trend may be a seasonal phenomenon. YoY billings for U.S. and Japanese manufacturers are up 26.9% and 39.0%, respectively, compared to the same period in 2016.

On the negative side, while these Figures may be seasonal, they still indicate that CYQ4 revenues by individual equipment manufacturers should be impacted.

On the positive side, there is still upside in equipment purchases for memory chips. I discussed these issues in a November 15, 2017, Seeking Alpha article entitled “Micron Technology Needs To Pull Out All Stops To Remain Competitive In 3D NAND.”

Applied Materials demonstrated strong revenue growth in its Display segment in its recent quarterly disclosure. Its encapsulation technology for flexible OLED devices is being supplanted by better ALD technology, and Coherent’s (COHR) laser anneal has proven a better technology for LTPS backplanes for smartphone panels. However, a dramatic rise in large 10.5G plant capex will be a positive for AMAT, a clear winner in PCD and CVD equipment for these larger panels.

For its Semiconductor segment, AMAT has consistently been underperforming competitors, particularly Lam Research (LRCX) for the much-heralded 3D NAND business. While there is continued upside potential in the memory segment, there are several factors that can provide future headwinds for the company, namely the erosion of market share to LRCX, the move by Samsung to EUV lithography, the rise of Korean equipment manufacturers, and the seasonal drop in equipment revenues as demonstrated by U.S. and Japanese suppliers.

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At the time of writing, the Direxion 3x leveraged semiconductors ETF (NYSEARCA:SOXL) is the best performing ETF in the last five years, with a total return of 1527% during that time. Even the non-leveraged fund (NASDAQ:SOXX) ranks 16th with a 355% return; very respectable considering that it"s competing against leveraged funds in a raging bull market.

Clearly, semiconductor stocks have performed very well lately. In fact, the industry has grown by an average of 5% per year for the past 20 years. This performance is driven in part by digitization trends that won"t be going away any time soon, so investors would be wise to learn about this red hot industry and potentially invest in it.

Unlike many investment opportunities in these spaces, semiconductor companies are generally mature. This means that they"re highly profitable, return cash to shareholders, and have a long operating history, which in many ways makes them safer investments than emerging growth stocks. Even so, there are some very real risks that will be discussed later.

This article provides an overview of the semiconductor industry and the companies that comprise it. It will discuss how semiconductors work and the best investment opportunities that are available in the space. The companies discussed include: ASML (NASDAQ:ASML), Applied Materials (NASDAQ:AMAT), Lam Research (NASDAQ:LRCX), Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (NYSE:TSM), Samsung (OTCPK:SSNLF), Intel (NASDAQ:INTC), NVIDIA (NASDAQ:NVDA), AMD (NASDAQ:AMD), Micron (NASDAQ:MU), Texas Instruments (NASDAQ:TXN), Broadcom (NASDAQ:AVGO), QUALCOMM (NASDAQ:QCOM) and many more.

The article is loosely organized around these subtypes of semiconductors: CPUs and GPUs: These chips are found in computing devices like computers and phones. They quickly execute arbitrary computer code like apps.

Memory: These chips are also found in computers and phones. They store data, and some memory chips will persist their state even if the device is turned off.

Basic/Standard Chips: These chips typically serve one simple purpose like reading a barcode, unlike CPUs and GPUs which can be reprogrammed to execute any code. These are not covered because they"re highly commoditized.

Analog: These chips read input from real world sources like a thermometer and turn it into digital 0s and 1s, unlike the above types which use digital 0s and 1s as both input and output.

Semiconductors are physical devices, so they require raw materials. These materials include silicon, tin, tungsten, and gold. They"re sourced from thousands of suppliers all over the globe. Most of these companies aren"t direct investment opportunities in semiconductors since the materials" prices are impacted by more than semiconductors. For example, gold is also used as a store of value.

To manufacture semiconductors, companies use equipment that embeds integrated circuits onto silicon chips. These circuits store and process all of the 0s and 1s that make up the logic and data in computer programs.

The manufacturing process involves multiple stages. One of the most important stages in cutting edge chips is lithography, which embeds semiconductor designs on a silicon chip. Lithography equipment is produced by three companies: ASML, Canon (NYSE:CAJ), and Nikon (OTCPK:NINOF).

Prior to 2017, deep ultraviolet (DUV) technology was used to manufacture semiconductors. But shortly after ASML"s public listing in 1995, the company made a bet that extreme ultraviolet (EUV) technology would be the future of the industry. This technology uses a wavelength nearly 15x smaller than DUV.

The practical difference between DUV and EUV is the size of the chips manufactured. For decades, the size of semiconductor chips has halved roughly every two years. This rate is known as Moore"s Law. Today the cutting edge is an incomprehensibly tiny 3 nanometers (3nm), but 5nm, 7nm, and even 10nm+ chips are still used in most devices. Over time, more devices will start using smaller chips as they become readily available because smaller chips enable more modern/advanced applications. While DUV can be used to create 5 nm and 7 nm chips, it produces lower yield than EUV. It"s also likely that EUV will be the preferred approach - if not completely necessary - for 3 nm and smaller chips.

ASML spent years working on EUV and planned to release their first EUV machine in 2007. They did in fact create EUV machines starting in 2006, but it took years to work out the kinks, and they weren"t mass produced for commercial clients until over a decade later in 2017.

Canon and Nikon never attempted to develop EUV technology, so this makes ASML the world"s only producer of EUV equipment. If you want an indicator of how important EUV technology is, look no further than the governments of the USA and Netherlands, which are blocking ASML from sending machines containing the technology to China citing national security. Per Malcolm Penn, it would take a Chinese company - or any other potential competitor - a decade or more to catch up to ASML"s tech, just as it took ASML decades to create this technology in the first place.

It may be an understatement to say that ASML is a monopoly with a wide moat. And wide moat companies tend to beat the market over time. But just because ASML dominates the EUV space doesn"t mean that it will dominate the entire industry. Demand for DUV will likely remain strong for years, and the two technologies can to some extent be used together. ASML also offers support services for its machines and it competes in this segment with a couple companies including Applied Materials.

Even so, there"s no denying that EUV is the future and has a stronger growth trajectory than DUV. It"s already used in the manufacturing process for many high end chips like those in Apple"s (NASDAQ:AAPL) latest iPhone. ASML"s growth should be quite strong this decade as more devices switch to smaller chips; it expects revenues to increase 85% by 2025 and an 11% CAGR through 2030.

While ASML dominates the lithography stage, the deposition and etch stages have three main competitors: Applied Materials, Lam Research, and Tokyo Electron (OTCPK:TOELY). Mea