New materials — new business model?:As industry grows, new business models needed

摘要

Ever since IBM introduced copper interconnects in 1997, suppliers and chipmakers alike have been keenly aware that device scaling cannot continue without materials innovation. That's why the industry plunged headfirst into low-k materials development. Yet most suppliers who invested in low-k early have not seen any revenue, and even those who have seen some return have not recovered their investments in full. The low-k experience is just the first example of the business challenge facing the industry; the International Technology Roadmap for Semiconductors now calls for the introduction of one to two materials per technology node for the foreseeable future.