Features

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August 2008

Oxide materials for III–V MOSFET gate stacks
New incentive to find suitable ‘gate oxides’ for III–Vs could lead to early adoption of III–Vs into mainstream logic, reports Dr Mike Cooke.

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(1.3 MB)

Other articles in this issue include: PbSe research resurrects nanocrystal avalanche hopes. For this and much more, subscribe for free

June/July 2008

Flash fast forward to quantum dot memory
NAND Flash is driving silicon industry development, but the technology can only continue through adaptation. Dr Mike Cooke looks at how III-V quantum dots offer the prospect of faster non-volatile memory.

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May 2008

Wide-bandgap RF devices: a $100m market by 2010
Yole Développement's Philippe Roussel asks what can displace the LDMOS monopoly.

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(520 KB)

Other articles in this issue include: CS-MANTECH 2008 conference report. For this and much more, subscribe for free

April 2008

Infinera targeting PICs of 4Tb/s within 10 years
Infinera outlines its roadmap to integrating more components and wavelengths into InP-based photonic integrated circuits.

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(601 KB)

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March 2008

CMOS reaches for 60GHz+ applications?
Dr Mike Cooke looks at the prospects for using CMOS at frequencies of 60GHz and 77GHz.

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(1.39 MB)

Other articles in this issue include: 100Gb/s or bust... and Semiconductor choices for wireless access. For this and much more, subscribe for free

February 2008

Lighting up CIGS PVs
Dr Mike Cooke reports on developments in producing lower-cost solar energy based on compounds of the elements copper, indium, gallium and selenium.

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(1.28 MB)

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December 2007/January 2008

Are silicon technologies poised to displace GaAs?
GaAs remains cost competitive in high-volume markets, says Asif Anwar.

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(1.11 MB)

Graphene opens up to new possibilities on SiC
A positive bandgap has been found for graphene on SiC, pushing it into the semiconductor domain, reports Mike Cooke.

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(724 KB)

Other articles in this issue include: MMICs making gains in terahertz range. For this and much more, subscribe for free

November 2007

Towards low-cost high power density devices
GaN power electronics are now ready to address a $3.5bn market, reckons Philippe Roussel of market research firm Yole Développement.

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(560 KB)

Other articles in this issue include: Seeking workable low-cost silicon carbide. For this and much more, subscribe for free

October 2007

Antimonides - Electromagnetic alchemy
Applications beckon for antimony compounds in high-speed electronics, and for the detection and manipulation of infrared light and magnetic behavior, says Dr Mike Cooke.

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(1.35 MB)

Other articles in this issue include: ICNS-7 Conference Report. For this and much more, subscribe for free

September 2007

Narrow focus, wide scope
Both basic research and applications ranging from gas sensing to tomorrow’s high-speed computer chips use and characterize semiconductor materials with narrow energy bandgaps. Dr Mike Cooke reports on such opportunities as described at the Narrow Gap Semiconductor conference.

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(1.12 MB)

Other articles in this issue include: Substrates challenged by raw material prices. For this and much more, subscribe for free

July/August 2007

GaAs industry back in equilibrium
The CS MANTECH 2007 conference in Austin, Texas evidenced much optimism about GaAs market growth (despite glitches with Motorola’s handset business), as well as progress in GaN HEMT performance and reliability, reports Mark Telford.

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June 2007

SiC power devices: if only we had a switch...
With 4" diameter substrates and zero-micropipe technology now introduced, Dr Philippe Roussel of market research firm Yole Développement considers what else remains in the path of SiC power device market development.

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May 2007

Charting routes to zinc oxide applications
A wide bandgap and piezoelectric properties make zinc oxide an interesting material for research into producing and detecting light (up to ultraviolet) and for electromechanical systems. Dr Mike Cooke looks at progress in producing p-type doping, allowing light emission from p–n junctions, and new ideas for mechanical coupling and photodetection from nanowires.

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(1.26 MB)

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April 2007

Eliminating bowing in blue LED and laser epi
LayTec and Ferdinand-Braun-Institut describe new in-situ technology for optimizing the growth of blue LEDs and laser diodes by reducing wafer bowing during epitaxial growth.

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(844 KB)

Other articles in this issue include: Blue laser output boost; Coherent emission from room-temperature excition-polariton; and Restructuring the cascade for Bloch gain. For this and much more, subscribe for free

March 2007

Channel surfing
Nanoelectronics developers are aiming to boost channel properties in metal-oxide-semiconductor field-effect transistors (MOSFETs) as used in mainstream complementary MOSFET (CMOS = nMOS + pMOS) silicon technology. Dr Mike Cooke reports.

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(1.50 MB)

Other articles in this issue include: InGaAs HEMTs challenge Si, and Company profile: AXT Inc. For this and much more, subscribe for free

February 2007

Filling the THz gap with new applications
New imaging opportunities for medical and security applications may launch terahertz technology into the public domain. Semiconductor technology is key to many of these developments, says Dr Mike Cooke.

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(1.37 MB)

Other articles in this issue include: CIGS PV cells progress. For this and much more, subscribe for free

December 2006/January 2007

Resonant tunneling barriers in nitrides
The widening applications for nitrides, from LEDs through lasers to high-power HEMTs, has led to work on advanced devices. Dr Mike Cooke reports on GaN/AlN quantum-well-based resonant tunneling diodes.

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(1.29 MB)

Other articles in this issue include: CSIC Conference report - Optimizing technologies. For this and much more, subscribe for free

Nov/Dec 2006

SiC driving interest for power semiconductors
Mark Telford reports on ECSCRM 2006: SiC has formerly been the preserve of niche industrial applications such as power generation and control, but is now attracting interest from major silicon power semiconductor manufacturers.

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(1.2 MB)

Other articles in this issue include: IMEC - Stress control for GaN HEMTs on 150mm Si and Finisar - Doubling fab capacity. For these articles and much more, subscribe for free now.

Oct/Nov 2006

Silicon shortage opens window for CIGS PVs
The shortage of polysilicon is constraining uptake of solar power, driving some recent large investments to speed less costly thin-film copper indium gallium diselenide (CIGS) solar cells on flexible substrates into production.

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(1.1 MB)

Other articles in this issue include: Taiwan's LED makers consolidate and grow, and Emcore refocuses. For these articles and much more, subscribe for free now.

September 2006

Transending frequency and integration limits
Dr Mike Cooke reports on how indium phosphide enables higher-frequency transistors and large scale integration of optical communication components.

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(252 KB)

Other articles in this issue include: Strained SOI, Silicon lasers, and BluGlass company profile. For these articles and much more, subscribe for free now.

August 2006

The wide blue yonder
Dr Mike Cooke looks at blue laser developments in the light of the recent market introduction of HD-DVD and Blu-ray optical storage disks, and surveys future applications and prospects for improvements in the technology.

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(6.7 MB)

Other articles in this issue include: Microsemi profile, and ICMOVPE XIII conference report. For these articles and much more, subscribe for free now.

July 2006

Enhanced BiFET boosts wireless integration
Skyworks' Ravi Ramanathan and colleagues detail how the BiFET process is integrated into a high-volume GaAs HBT manufacturing facility, allowing integration of external bias control circuitry into wireless power amplifier die.

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(3.3 MB)

Other articles in this issue include: Beaten-up industry turns upbeat, Nitride substrates bridging the gap, and Fab tools enabling opto device integration. For these articles and much more, subscribe for free now.