Blog

Nearly all microchips begin as slices of highly purified silicon.

The terms “fab” and “foundry” are often used interchangeably, but that’s technically incorrect. Knowing the difference is important so you can better understand the semiconductor ecosystem.

Lam Research has won a prestigious Edison Award for best new products in materials science. The bronze medal was awarded for our recently launched innovative suite of selective etch products...

Hong Shih is one of 10 employees within the company who has been elevated to Lam Fellow He has more than 40 years of experience in sciences and engineering with over 30 years working in the...

Gosia’s redirection in her studies resulted in a 20+ year long career in semiconductors A little bit of luck and a whole lot of talent got her to where she is today I sat down with Gosia...

SEMICON Korea 2023 kicked off with a keynote speech, “Accelerating Innovation – From Lab to Fab,” delivered by Pat Lord, EVP of the Customer Support Business Group and Global Operations. Pat...

Lam Research was the platinum sponsor of the 27th gathering of SEMICON Taiwan, held September 14 to 16. More than 45,000 attendees examined 2,450 exhibition booths showing the latest industry...

Calling all innovative entrepreneurs working on sustainability solutions The winner will be offered a $250,000 SAFE investment Theme is “Engineering a Greener Fab” Heatwaves such as the one...

The electronics supply chain recently gathered together at SEMICON Southeast Asia, a premier event that promotes growth of the semiconductor and microelectronics ecosystem in the region. Held June...

And yes, we’ve got a solution for that In the recent blog article Our wireless world – how Wi-Fi 6 will seamlessly integrate with 5G to keep us connected, David Haynes from our Customer...

Lam Research will join fellow industry leaders from the extended electronics supply chain in a range of talks at the SEMICON West 2022 hybrid conference later this month. During the 52nd annual...

Every few months, new and improved electronics are introduced. They’re typically smaller, smarter, faster, have more bandwidth, are more power-efficient, etc. – all thanks to a new generation...

It takes a lot of different types of process tools to make chips, from deposition, to lithographic to etch and to cleaning tools among others. Large scale production requires chipmakers to use...

David Haynes, vice president of Specialty Technologies for the Customer Support Business Group (CSBG) at Lam Research, discusses the introduction of Wi-Fi 6 and how, together with 5G, it will...

Once considered to be science fiction and fodder for Hollywood films, artificial intelligence (AI) has become a near-ubiquitous technology in our communities, homes and workplaces that is helping...

The ability to process data is foundational to our smart, connected world. Microprocessors, in turn, rely on memory chips to store the data they need while working. One of the most popular types...

As a materials engineer, I am very proud of the fact that key advances in human civilization have been driven by materials innovation. The stone age, bronze age and iron age were all essential...

There’s a lot of talk about the Internet of Things (IoT) and its impact on our day-to-day lives. From home security systems to smart watches, IoT is upgrading the technologies we rely on every...

We take microprocessors for granted. Most people who aren’t deeply involved in technology may have no idea all of the places where a microprocessor shows up in their lives. It’s not just their...

The excitement around the rollout of 5G technology could not be more palpable. We see this next-generation technology in news headlines and commercials, with promises to usher in the next wave of...

To kick-off the new year, we thought we’d share some of our favorite stories from 2020. While not exhaustive, this short list features articles that help put technology concepts into perspective...

The 22nd Electronics Packaging Technology Conference (EPTC) is going virtual this year. The flagship event of the IEEE Electronics Packaging Society (EPS) in Region 10 will highlight technical...

The movement of money has undergone substantial changes over the years. With the advent of financial technology, or FinTech, the financial services industry has transformed. Enabled by today’s...

Semiconductors can be considered as one of the most important inventions of all time. They are foundational to our ability to connect with each other; to collect, store and process information;...

Cities around the globe are experiencing software updates – swapping out antiquated data collection techniques for new technological initiatives to promote efficiency, transparency, and...

CMOS Image Sensor (CIS) technology has changed the way we interact with our devices and is expected to see significant growth in the market in the coming years. David Haynes, managing director of...

The semiconductor industry’s flagship event, SEMICON West, is going virtual this year. Celebrating its 50th year, the show promises a full exhibition experience, featuring high level keynotes,...

The medical space is constantly improving – experimenting and innovating to arrive at the most cutting-edge procedures. The past few decades have seen unprecedented advancements in medicine due...

Lam Chief Technology Officer Rick Gottscho sat down with Semiconductor Engineering to share his insights on memory and equipment scaling, new market demands, and changes in manufacturing being...

n 2019, 98.2 million viewers tuned in to watch the Superbowl, hailing the event as the “most viewed broadcast in America.” In recent years, a new player has emerged – eSports – bringing in...

Have you ever seen a lightning bolt? What about the northern lights or a neon sign? These things are made of plasma, the fourth state of matter that makes up nearly 99.9% of the universe. In the...

It’s pretty hard to talk about technology today without artificial intelligence, or AI, entering into the conversation. It seems to be everywhere… and growing. Businesses are using it to...

Lam Executive Vice President and Chief Technology Officer, Richard A. Gottscho, gave a keynote at the SEMI Industry Strategy Symposium (ISS), the annual executive conference for the semiconductor...

Augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR) have unlocked incredible possibilities in education – bringing tomorrow’s technology into today’s learning. The influence of AR and VR...

2019 was quite a year for the Lam Blog. From sharing an inside peek at our favorite day of the year, Bring Our Children to Work Day, to showcasing our innovative technology and productivity...

The IoT and automotive markets use devices fabricated at a wide range of technology nodes. Taking advances made at 300 mm and applying them via upgrades to 200 mm equipment is a cost appropriate...

For those of us in the semiconductor industry, the periodic table is more than just a poster on a science classroom wall: it’s a valuable resource that we use to create new logic and memory...

Atomic layer etching and deposition processes offer atomic scale control through the use of self-limiting reactions. Yang Pan, corporate vice president of advanced technology development, shares...

You don’t have to look very far in the semiconductor world before you see the word “scaling.” Perhaps you read an industry news article headline about transistor scaling – how those nearly...

At an industry and investor event held during the August 2019 Flash Memory Summit, Lam management made the case for why semiconductor innovation needs to accelerate in the 5G era and how Lam is...

Richard Gottscho, executive vice president and CTO of Lam Research, sat down with Semiconductor Engineering to talk about how to utilize more data from sensors in manufacturing equipment, the...

Every industry has its unique lingo and the semiconductor industry is no different. Here, chips mean something a little different from our favorite snack and the word “fab” isn’t just used...

More than most industries, ours is identified with a single element, silicon. Consider the self-adopted naming conventions of all the places that want to be recognized as members of the...

New sensing and actuating technologies for cars are introducing a new generation of 200 mm tools. Michelle Bourke, strategic marketing director in the customer support group, shares her thoughts...

Sensing technology, computing, and artificial intelligence (AI) are revolutionizing the skies. In recent years, the military has been applying drone technology to pave the way for the pilotless...

Welcome back to the Lam Blog! To help start the new year, we want to share some of our favorite stories from 2018. Some of these articles highlight the driving forces in our industry, such as...

This month, we celebrate the 60th anniversary of the integrated circuit (IC). On September 12, 1958, Jack Kilby produced a circuit containing both active and passive components fabricated from...

Generations of humans have used varying methods to predict the weather. In the past, farmers thought rain was coming if their cows were lying down in the pasture. Today, things are a little more...

Now that our time at SEMICON West 2018 is over, we’d like to reflect on some of the sound-bites overheard last week. As always, the three-day conference and expo gave us insights into today’s...

This month, copper interconnects turned 20. That’s probably something like 200 in “technology years” considering the pace of innovation today. Yet even after 20 years of advances in...

It was more than 130 years ago in 1885 when Gottlieb Daimler invented the first prototype for the modern gas engine, and in 1886 Karl Benz patented his three-wheel Benz Motor Car, Model No. 1. Yet...

As consumers, we see evidence of the Internet of Things (IoT) all around us. A growing number of everyday objects in our homes and cars are now digitally connected in a way that allows us to...

From breakfast meetings to takeout or holiday potlucks to celebratory dinners, many of us take the ability to eat what we like, when we like, for granted. For others, grabbing that lunchtime wrap...

Whether or not you know the difference between an Italian Caravaggio and a Jackson Pollock painting, you’ve likely visited a museum or old church at some point and run across art that “just...

From PCRAM and MRAM to RRAM and more, there’s a whole new alphabet soup of memory technologies making their way to the fab. Fueling this development are technology advances in gaming and mobile...

Fields of wind turbines and homes with shiny solar panels on their roofs have become part of the natural landscape in many areas today, but the notion of harnessing renewable sources of energy...

Among the hot topics in our industry today, connectivity and big data analytics provide wide-ranging application possibilities, so it’s no surprise to find their use in mobile products,...

Once the domain of the military and hobbyists, the market for unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), or drones, now encompasses a wide range of commercial applications and is expected to hit more than...

Looking ahead into the new year in technology often proves quite interesting and educational. For 2018, one well-established market – automotive – is gaining the attention of many technology...

According to IBM, we send 294 billion emails, post more than 230 million tweets, and conduct over a billion Google searches every day, while trillions of sensors populate the Internet of Things...

New semiconductor applications are ever changing and improving our lives, from new smartphones and wearables to healthcare, factory automation, and artificial intelligence. The humble memory chip...

Who hasn’t heard of Pokémon GO? Since its launch in 2016, the mobile augmented reality (AR) game has exploded in popularity worldwide. More importantly, it has been attributed to being the...

“You cannot be serious!” On June 22, 1981, on Wimbledon No. 1 Court, John McEnroe, former tennis champion and 1999 International Tennis Hall of Fame inductee, took issue with a debatable line...

From discovering the circulatory system in 1616 to performing the first heart transplant in 1967, the world of medicine has long been one of experimentation and innovation. Today, it is also a...

For many students, technology is shaping a significantly different kind of learning environment than the one their parents experienced. Devices like smartphones are not only being used to...

From Star Trek’s Data to Star Wars’ C-3PO, the idea of humanoid robots has fascinated people for years. Back in the real world, robots build automobiles in factories, mow lawns, and even...

We often hear that advanced chips contain billions of transistors – an incredible, mind-blowing fact to be sure – but did you know that large-scale integrated chips (that are the size of a...

“Data is giving rise to a new economy” – The Economist (2017). This compelling reality makes the continued development of high-capacity data storage technologies like 3D NAND ever more...

This year marks the 50th anniversary of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), which promotes multilateral cooperation, economic growth, and social progress. Now entering its second...

Wired communications can be traced back to 1844, when Samuel Morse (creator of the code of dots and dashes that bears his name) sent the first telegraph message from the U.S. Supreme Court...

We use technology to improve nearly every area of life, and doting on our pets’ well-being is no exception. In fact, many pet stores now have “tech centers” that offer the latest gadgets for...

In Ancient Egypt, shoes denoted social status, even distinguishing commoners and nobility by the color and length of their footwear. Recreated ruby slippers commemorating the 50th anniversary of...

From smart grids to smart buildings, the Internet of Things (IoT) has swept across Asia. Going well beyond consumer wearables, today’s city planners are leveraging IoT-enabled technologies to...

“Mr. Watson, come here. I want to see you,” are the familiar words of Alexander Graham Bell to his assistant during the world’s very first phone call on March 10, 1876. Shortly after this...

Imagine being able to deposit a film of material just a few atomic layers at a time. As impossible as that sounds, atomic layer deposition (ALD) is a reality. In fact, it’s being used in an...

Household kitchens have been revolutionized by chips (we’re talking the non-edible kind). Some of us may bask in fond memories of “low-tech” cooking like toasting marshmallows over an open...

This year, more than a billion people from over 193 countries are expected to participate in Earth Day activities. Marking its 47th anniversary on Saturday, April 22, 2017, Earth Day is an annual...

Panel-level fan-out chip manufacturing – using large square or rectangular substrates instead of wafers – is being developed as a means to lower the cost of back-end processes for some...

User experience designers around the world recognize that a screen isn’t always the most logical interface for every task or every person. Currently, much of our time is dominated by screens. At...

Ever open the body of your smartphone (perhaps unintentionally) and see small, black rectangles stuck on a circuit board? Those black rectangles are packaged chips. The external chip structure...

The next major trend in consumer wearables may be smart fashion. For years, high fashion designers and celebrities have been incorporating smart technology into their clothing for visual effects....

Did you know that different patterns require different types of multiple patterning? Today’s advanced chips are more complex than ever before, with transistors and other structures that are...

Greek philosopher Democritus (460-370 BC) first proposed the existence of an ultimate particle, which he described as “atomos.” He probably never dreamed that one day there would be devices so...

The lines between science fiction and reality continue to blur thanks to technological advances in devices like thermal imaging equipment, 3D printing, and even neural implants. Technology –...

From smartphones to televisions to refrigerators, it is hard to go more than a few hours without using a semiconductor-enabled device. In fact, since the mid-20th century, semiconductors have been...

Transistors are at the heart of our cherished electronics. Millions, or even billions, of these tiny switches go to work for us when we check our mobile phones, use our computers, start our...

Multiple patterning is an innovative approach to scaling semiconductors, but it also poses significant challenges controlling process variations. Lam’s Rick Gottscho, executive vice president of...

The semiconductor industry uses so many unique terms, it practically has its own language. To keep up on the latest developments, knowing that “language” can be really helpful. For instance,...

From the earliest chips to the latest technologies, silicon has long played a major role in semiconductor manufacturing as the substrates (wafers) on which devices are built. Yet silicon wasn’t...

Dave Hemker, CTO at Lam Research, sat down with Semiconductor Engineering to look at some of the key issues on the process and manufacturing side, and some of the key developments that will...

“‘There’s a law about Moore’s law,’ jokes Peter Lee, a vice-president at Microsoft Research: ‘The number of people predicting the death of Moore’s law doubles every two years.’”...

Since its introduction in the 1980s, NAND flash memory has radically changed how we store our digital data. Remember ordering duplicate photos when getting camera film developed or burning your...

When it comes to aspect ratios – how tall an object is vs. how wide it is – even the tallest buildings in the world hardly compare to the extreme dimensions in the semiconductor industry,...

We often hear the word “inflection” used in the semiconductor industry, but what does it mean? In general, inflection refers to a point of change. In mathematics, for instance, an inflection...

One of the most astounding aspects of semiconductor chips is their incredibly small scale. Practically measured in atoms, some feature dimensions are on the order of nanometers (nm) – that’s...

With the new year underway, you may be wondering what lies ahead for the semiconductor world. Once again, Solid State Technology has checked in with industry leaders for their thoughts on the...