Category: Manufacturing

Coupling & Crosstalk: Milking It!

Coupling & Crosstalk is my column in the MEPTEC Report. This column appears in the Fall 2018 edition on pages 8-9.

Electronic coupling is the transfer of energy from one circuit or medium to another. Sometimes it is intentional and sometimes not (crosstalk). I hope that this column, by mixing technology and general observations, is thought provoking and “couples” with your thinking. Most of the time I will stick to technology but occasional crosstalk diversions may deliver a message closer to home.

Milking It!

I observed recently two different companies “milking” their businesses for good and for ill. With the proper perspective, consumers can see how well an organization manages and cares for their products – tangible goods and services. Not just in the headline news which may be indicative outliers (airline mistreatment of passengers, anyone?) but in everyday interactions and purchases.

What does milking a business – be it cows or dishwashers – have to do with high technology? Continue reading “Coupling & Crosstalk: Milking It!”

Coupling & Crosstalk: Products or Services?

products-services-canstockphoto10272610-300x300Coupling & Crosstalk is my column in the MEPTEC Report. This column appears in the Spring 2015 edition on pages 10-11.

Electronic coupling is the transfer of energy from one circuit or medium to another. Sometimes it is intentional and sometimes not (crosstalk). I hope that this column, by mixing technology and general observations, is thought provoking and “couples” with your thinking. Most of the time I will stick to technology but occasional crosstalk diversions may deliver a message closer to home.

Products or Services?

“Paper or Plastic?” A simple grocery store inquiry? Think again: this decision has many layers of complexity as does the examination of products versus services. There have been endless discussions as to the benefits and downsides of paper, versus plastic, bags. Everything from environmental concerns, to reusability, to biodegradability, and much more has been deliberated. Just when we thought that the paper bag had Continue reading “Coupling & Crosstalk: Products or Services?”

Semiconductor Packaging: 2.5D, 3D, and Beyond!

MEPTEC's 2.5D, 3D and Beyond Packaging Conference

The MEPTEC “2.5D, 3D and Beyond – Bringing 3D Integration to Packaging Mainstream” conference was a mixed-bag. Yes, it is always exciting to hear about new suppliers and progress. But it is disconcerting to realize that the price of progress is an ongoing burden on our industry’s supply chain.

Subramanian Iyer (IBM) and Theresa Sze (Oracle) started with Continue reading “Semiconductor Packaging: 2.5D, 3D, and Beyond!”

How to re-FORM or refill a fab

Fill 'er Up To Make Money

I usually try to ignore items that are unattributed, however a recent blog posting in the ElectroIQ blog “How To Fix FORM” caught my attention. It is true that FormFactor’s current difficulties are being discussed widely. However, the simplistic analysis and suggestions of this unknown “industry insider” need a reality check. The writer gets some of the overall problems right but may be missing the boat on the solutions.

Here are the supposed anonymous industry insider’s suggested fixes:

Continue reading “How to re-FORM or refill a fab”

Beware the Cost of Complexity

Early in my career in Hewlett-Packard manufacturing, we did a study that showed that the greater the configuration options we put on a single product the higher the cost to produce every other product in the same factory. Known as “Cost of Complexity” this has been found in many different industries with examples from software coding, to network support to food production. Not to mention in our own products, companies, and everyday lives.

Continue reading “Beware the Cost of Complexity”

FIFO, LIFO or Fido? What to do first.

Which way to go?
When overwhelmed by production, “Test” or “Quality Control” must learn to think globally rather than just functionally. Historically most companies always test first-in, first-out (FIFO) but should be prepared to abandon that practice when facing a backlog. An analogy is a navigator letting the pilot know they are off course right now versus discussing history from three hundred miles ago and working their way up to the present.

Recently a colleague was concerned that his company’s test capacity was insufficient to test all their output in a timely manner. (They manufacture integrated circuits with several hundred devices on each wafer produced.) In fact, the backlog of parts to be tested was approaching six weeks since additional test cells were not ready. After he explained the multitude of reasons why the additional test cells were not ready and that production could not be slowed to match the available test capacity, I asked how they were handling the backlog. He appeared perplexed by my question and wanted to know why it wasn’t obvious that they would simply test them in FIFO order as they had always done.
Continue reading “FIFO, LIFO or Fido? What to do first.”

IEEE Nanotechnology Symposium – Session 5 – Nano-Processes


Here are the highlights from Session 5 – Nano-Processes from day two of the IEEE San Francisco Bay Area Nanotechnology Council 6th Annual Symposium“Nanotechnology: State of the Art & Applications”

Note: I will post the the link for the slides once it becomes available.

Dr. Hans Stork, VP and CTO Applied Materials, “Nanotechnology in Semiconductor Industry.”

IEEE Nanotechnology Symposium – Session 4 – Nano Materials

Here are the highlights from Session 4 – Nano Materials from day two of the IEEE San Francisco Bay Area Nanotechnology Council 6th Annual Symposium“Nanotechnology: State of the Art & Applications”

Presentation archive for talks not linked below. Updated as the council receives the presentations.

Eric Granstrom, General Manager and V.P. of R&D, Cima NanoTech – “Self Aligning Nano Technology for Electronics.”

  • First product Self Aligning Nano Technology for Transparent Electronics (SANTE) is transparent conductive film produced by self aligning silver nanoparticles.
  • For the same transparency, it has 1/10 the resistance of Indium Tin Oxide (ITO).  Also doesn’t yellow shift the color.
  • Based upon current consumption, it is projected that there is only a 7 year supply of ITO.  China controls 80% of this supply.
  • Largest initial market is displays which have one or more (LCDs have two) conductive films.

    • Continue reading “IEEE Nanotechnology Symposium – Session 4 – Nano Materials”

Pass or Fail? The Limits of Integrated Circuit Testing

Balancing test coverage versus test cost. What does a test failure mean? Value of yield increase

… and how it impacts your bottom line!

A poorly implemented semiconductor test cell may pass integrated circuit (IC) parts that are either defective or have marginal performance. They can cause the electronic devices in which they will be assembled to either malfunction or completely fail. However, two other conditions require evaluation. Having false negative test “escapes” is expensive in terms of final product test failures, warranty costs, customer dissatisfaction, etc. In turn, the false positive test escapes needs to be balanced against the cost of false negative failures where otherwise good parts fail the tests and are discarded. Test engineers, product managers, quality engineers, and operational managers needs to make either implicit or explicit decisions as to the proper balance in adjusting the test limits. The goal is to cost effectively approach “zero defects” without “throwing out the baby with the bath water”.

A test process generally categorizes the item or device being tested as “pass” or “fail”. Sometimes passing devices are graded (typically by speed or other desired quality) and failing devices are often grouped by failure mode. “Coverage” is how well a particular test process measures the functionality and specifications of a given device. If every feature and specification is tested then it is said to have 100% test coverage. However, exhaustive testing is usually expensive due to long test times which translates in to operational costs including the depreciation of the test system and greater test setup complexity (equipment and development cost). Sometimes complete coverage is not possible or practical so there needs to be a trade-off between coverage and cost.

Continue reading “Pass or Fail? The Limits of Integrated Circuit Testing”

Richard Elkus – Winner Take All

US is losing its competitiveness due to financial issues and off-shoring of production.

Tonight I attended an excellent presentation by Richard Elkus, Jr. at the IEEE Components, Packaging, and Manufacturing Technology Society (CPMT) Santa Clara Valley Chapter monthly meeting. He spoke about how the United States is losing its global competitiveness due to our financial issues and our inability to manufacture technology domestically.

Early in his career at Ampex he did the product planning for and led the team that introduced the VCR. In 1970, they partnered with Toshiba to manufacturer the units. He then illustrated with multiple examples,  how we lost our ability to innovate and to remain competitive when we “off shored” the production of a given technology. This is also the subject of his book Winner Take All: How Competitiveness Shapes the Fate of Nations.