Growth in the semiconductor industry has aligned with Moore’s Law since the 1960s, with semiconductors becoming cheaper and easier to produce over time. Today, more complex and dense integration makes them increasingly challenging and costly to manufacture. Extending Moore’s Law into the future now requires a reimagining of the semiconductor manufacturing process itself. New tools and technologies like AI, machine learning, and data analytics are supporting this need for change but must be complemented by greater collaboration industrywide.
Comprehensive analytics data, an enormous amount of information gathered both before and during the high-volume manufacturing process, must be readily shared with stakeholders. This new approach to sharing data is in stark contrast to traditional operations where design, fabrication, and testing occur in silos with only distilled information shared. Data analytics companies for the semiconductor industry have emerged to help sanitize and standardize data, helping stakeholders glean useful information while protecting each company’s intellectual property.
Real change is already underway, exemplified by the SEMI’s Smart Data-AI Initiative, a framework for industry collaboration. As a member of the SEMI Smart Data-AI Initiative, Teradyne is working toward standardizing test data outputs through its Teradyne Archimedes analytics solution, an open development environment that delivers access to real-time testing data and encourages collaboration without fear of IP exposure or vendor lock-in.
Dr. Jeorge Hurtarte explores changes taking place in the semiconductor ecosystem, offering insight into the role of strategic collaboration in Data Standards in Semiconductor Test Will Keep Moore’s Law Alive, originally published in SEMI, January 2024
Dr. Jeorge S. Hurtarte is currently Senior Director of Product Marketing in the Semiconductor Test group at Teradyne. Jeorge has held various technical, management and executive positions at Teradyne, Lam Research, LitePoint, TranSwitch, and Rockwell Semiconductors. He is a voting member of the IEEE 802.11 Wi-Fi standards committee and serves as the secretary of the IEEE 802.11ay task group. Jeorge is currently the co-chair of the IEEE Heterogeneous Integration Roadmap (HIR) Test Working Group, and a visiting professor at the University of California, Santa Cruz and the University of Phoenix.