💻 iAtlas Semiconductor #6 | 📘 Manufacturing → Etching Introduction Plasma etching transforms the patterns created by photolithography into physical structures on a semiconductor wafer. Photolithography determines where a feature should be formed. Etching determines where material should be removed. This distinction is fundamental to semiconductor manufacturing. After a photoresist pattern is created on the…
Why the AI Memory Boom Is Turning Into a Long-Term Manufacturing Race 📰 iAtlas Daily #30 | August 2026 📰 What Happened? SK hynix has approved one of its largest semiconductor manufacturing investments to date. On August 7, the company announced plans to invest approximately ₩54 trillion in two new semiconductor fabrication facilities in South…
💻 iAtlas Semiconductor #5 | 📘 Manufacturing → Photolithography Introduction Every modern semiconductor chip contains millions—or even billions—of microscopic transistors. Creating these tiny structures requires an extraordinary level of precision. Features measuring only a few nanometers must be transferred accurately onto a silicon wafer, layer after layer, without deviation. The manufacturing process responsible for transferring…
💻 iAtlas Semiconductor #3 | 📘 Fundamentals → Crystal Growth Introduction Every semiconductor chip begins with silicon, but not just any silicon. Modern integrated circuits require an extremely pure and perfectly ordered crystal structure capable of supporting billions of microscopic transistors. Before a silicon wafer can enter photolithography, etching, or deposition, it must first be…
💻 iAtlas Semiconductor #2 | 📘 Fundamentals → Silicon Wafer Introduction Before a semiconductor chip can contain billions of transistors, it needs a physical foundation capable of supporting hundreds of highly precise manufacturing steps. That foundation is the silicon wafer. A silicon wafer may appear to be a simple circular disc, but its crystal quality,…
Why AI Demand Is Creating the Next Manufacturing Bottleneck 📰 iAtlas Daily #23 | July 30, 2026 TSMC Advanced Packaging Explained TSMC Advanced Packaging is becoming one of the most important competitive advantages in AI semiconductor manufacturing. TSMC has continued expanding its advanced packaging facilities to support the growing demand for AI accelerators from customers…
💻 iAtlas Semiconductor #1 | 📘 Fundamentals → Manufacturing Overview Introduction Semiconductor manufacturing is the highly advanced process of transforming a silicon wafer into thousands of integrated circuits (ICs) through hundreds of precisely controlled fabrication steps. Every smartphone, AI server, electric vehicle, medical device, and industrial robot relies on semiconductor chips produced using this manufacturing…