Semiconductor Shortage: Oh, the places we’ll go!
Semiconductors are an integral part of the technological goals we face for the next decade and beyond. As we begin the early phases of breakthroughs in 5G, AR/VR, EV and the internet of things. It’s not hard to see why there has been much ado about the apparent crisis of semiconductor shortages.
What caused it?
The 2020 pandemic had unleashed no shortage of disruptions to life as we know it and one of those disruptions came in the form of semiconductor companies curtailing production as the uncertainty of the economic landscape and their client’s demand gave them pause.
A semiconductor is a microchip wafer made of silicon that is responsible for the computing power of a computer. It’s kind of like a computer’s brain.
Production of these small yet complex devices is incredibly complicated and expensive. It takes years of research to design the architecture of the chip itself. But, the manufacturing process is delicate and demanding. On average, it can take up to 26 weeks to get a finished product ready for delivery.
“semiconductor purity was not as big of an issue as it is today in device manufacturing. As devices become more integrated, cleanrooms must become even cleaner. Today, fabrication plants are pressurized with filtered air to remove even the smallest particles, which could come to rest on the wafers and contribute to defects. The ceilings of semiconductor cleanrooms have fan filter units (FFUs) at regular intervals to constantly replace and filter the air in the cleanroom; semiconductor capital equipment may also have their own FFUs. The FFUs, combined with raised floors with grills, help ensure a laminar air flow, to ensure that particles are immediately brought down to the floor and do not stay suspended in the air due to turbulence. The workers in a semiconductor fabrication facility are required to wear cleanroom suits to protect the devices from human contamination. To prevent oxidation and to increase yield, FOUPs and semiconductor capital equipment may have a hermetically sealed pure nitrogen environment with ISO class 1 level of dust.” (Semiconductor device fabrication, Wikipedia, August 4, 2021, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Semiconductor_device_fabricati, par 4)
So the idea of a shortage may be a bit misleading or at least overblown. The recent news that the federal government is looking to subsidize the production of semiconductors in the U.S. to decrease the reliance on foreign companies is both arrogant and nationalistic. According to the semiconductor industry association, semiconductors are the #1 electronic export in the U.S. as well as the 3rd largest export behind planes and automobiles. Falun Yinug(2015, August). Made In America: The Facts about Semiconductor Manufacturing. Semiconductor Industry Association. SIA-White-Paper-Made-in-America.pdf (semiconductors.org).
This is not to say that the U.S. semiconductor manufacturing industry should rest on its laurels. Now, more than ever, it is high to time to push technological innovation.
Google, Apple, Amazon and Tesla have been working for years to design their own semis in house. This is not necessarily to address a shortage in semiconductors. They are all looking to capitalize on a huge market that’s still in its early days.
Of the three mentioned all have a legitimate shot at executing their ambitions with Apple already having proven so with its M1 chip design. As for Tesla, I’m not sure. They are still a newcomer to automotive industry and they lack the deep cash reserves of the companies just mentioned. Not only will Tesla have to compete with the best automakers in the world but they will also need to compete with the best chipmakers in the world. Add to that, it ‘dipping its toes in every market’ approach of space exploration, tunnel-digging, solar roof-making, and now laughingly robot- making. Click here for guffaw. And that could be biting off more than it could chew.
In addition to design innovation, there are companies leading manufacturing innovation as well.
Enter Atomera and mears-silicon technology. They developed a form of crystallized silicon that is applied, in layman’s terms, like a sticker over an existing microchip. This crystallized silicon helps to create a current flow for excessive heat to flow out from one side of the chip to the other. This is a problem that has plagued semiconductor manufacturers for quite some time as they try to decrease the die size of the microchip nodes and increase the computational power of the chip. The excessive heating and the reduced surface area can cause chip and device failures.
While this may not seem like a big deal it is addressing the concept of Moore’s law which is a manufacturing law that states that technological innovation should increase about every two years in order to maintain demand. However, over the last decade semiconductors have decreased in size and reached a point where they can no longer handle the amount of heat they are producing while remaining a viable product.
While this exciting technology remains unproven, it’s currently in beta testing and moving into trial production phases with several unnamed companies as they are unable to disclose their names. If successful, and they assume a 1-2 year timeframe to move into production, they will be releasing this technology at just about the same time that semiconductor manufacturers have reached the limit for their technological output.
In short, there is a lot of huffing and puffing over a little bit of nothing. The federal government continues to misunderstand the biggest economic sector of the country. The technological needs of our society are being developed as necessity deems.
And if you’re a developer, this means your skills are needed now more than ever. No matter what side you take on the “shortage crisis”, it’s going to be developers that are applying the power of semiconductors to the devices they run on.
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