Scientists Devise New Technique to Increase Chip Yield from Semiconductor Wafer

Scientists from the Korea Institute of Machinery & Materials (KIMM, President Sang Jin Park) under the Ministry of Science and ICT, and the Nanyang Technological University, Singapore (NTU Singapore, President Subra Suresh) have developed a technique to create a highly uniform and scalable semiconductor wafer, paving the way to higher cup yield, more cost-efficient semiconductors and mitigating the global chip shortage. Semiconductor chips commonly found in smart phones and computers are difficult and complex to make, requiring highly advanced machines and special environments to manufacture. Their fabrication is typically done on silicon wafers and then diced into the small chips that are used in devices. However, the process is imperfect and not all chips from the same wafer work or operate as desired. These defective chips are discarded, lowering semiconductor yield while increasing production cost.