Semiconductor device fabrication is the process used to manufacture semiconductor devices, typically integrated circuits (ICs) such as microprocessors, microcontrollers, and memories. It is a multiple-step photolithographic and physico-chemical process during which electronic circuits are gradually created on a wafer, typically made of pure single-crystal semiconducting material. Silicon is almost always used, but various compound semiconductors are used for specialized applications.
In electronics, a wafer is a thin slice of semiconductor, such as a crystalline silicon, used for the fabrication of integrated circuits and, in photovoltaics, to manufacture solar cells.
STMicroelectronics NV is a European multinational semiconductor contract manufacturing and design company. It is the largest of such companies in Europe. It was founded in 1987 from the merger of two state-owned semiconductor corporations: Thomson Semiconducteurs of France and SGS Microelettronica of Italy. The company is incorporated in the Netherlands and headquartered in Plan-les-Ouates, Switzerland. Its shares are traded on Euronext Paris, the Borsa Italiana and the New York Stock Exchange.
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company Limited is a Taiwanese multinational semiconductor contract manufacturing and design company. It is the world's most valuable semiconductor company, the world's largest dedicated independent ("pure-play") semiconductor foundry, and Taiwan's largest company, with headquarters and main operations located in the Hsinchu Science Park in Hsinchu, Taiwan. Although the central government of Taiwan is the largest individual shareholder, the majority of TSMC is owned by foreign investors. In 2023, the company was ranked 44th in the Forbes Global 2000. Taiwan's exports of integrated circuits amounted to $184 billion in 2022, accounted for nearly 25 percent of Taiwan's GDP. TSMC constitutes about 30 percent of the Taiwan Stock Exchange's main index.
Applied Materials, Inc. is an American corporation that supplies equipment, services and software for the manufacture of semiconductor chips for electronics, flat panel displays for computers, smartphones, televisions, and solar products. The company also supplies equipment to produce coatings for flexible electronics, packaging and other applications. The company is headquartered in Santa Clara, California, and is the second largest supplier of semiconductor equipment in the world based on revenue behind Dutch company ASML.
Fabless manufacturing is the design and sale of hardware devices and semiconductor chips while outsourcing their fabrication to a specialized manufacturer called a semiconductor foundry. These foundries are typically, but not exclusively, located in the United States, mainland China, and Taiwan. Fabless companies can benefit from lower capital costs while concentrating their research and development resources on the end market. Some fabless companies and pure play foundries may offer integrated-circuit design services to third parties.
Silicon Glen is the nickname given to the high tech sector of Scotland, the name inspired by Silicon Valley in California. It is applied to the Central Belt triangle between Dundee, Inverclyde and Edinburgh, which includes Fife, Glasgow and Stirling; although electronics facilities outside this area may also be included in the term. The term has been in use since the 1980s. It does not technically represent a glen as it covers a much wider area than just one valley.
United Microelectronics Corporation is a Taiwanese company based in Hsinchu, Taiwan. It was founded as Taiwan's first semiconductor company in 1980 as a spin-off of the government-sponsored Industrial Technology Research Institute (ITRI).
Maxim Integrated Products, Inc., was an American semiconductor company that designed, manufactured, and sold analog and mixed-signal integrated circuits for the automotive, industrial, communications, consumer, and computing markets. Maxim's product portfolio included power and battery management ICs, sensors, analog ICs, interface ICs, communications solutions, digital ICs, embedded security, and microcontrollers. The company is headquartered in San Jose, California, and has design centers, manufacturing facilities, and sales offices worldwide. In 2021, the company was acquired by Analog Devices.
Siltronic AG is a manufacturer of wafers made of hyperpure silicon, the basis for modern micro- and nanotechnology. The Munich-based company is one of the world's leading manufacturers of wafers for the semiconductor industry.
The X-FAB Silicon Foundries is a group of semiconductor foundries. The group specializes in the fabrication of analog and mixed-signal integrated circuits for fabless semiconductor companies, as well as MEMS and solutions for high voltage applications. The holding company named "X-FAB Silicon Foundries SE" is based in Tessenderlo, Belgium while its headquarters is located in Erfurt, Germany.
Systems on Silicon Manufacturing Company Pte. Ltd. is a Singaporean semiconductor fabrication company located in Pasir Ris Wafer Fab Park. It was incorporated in 1999 and is a joint venture between NXP Semiconductors and TSMC. Founded by Philips and EDB Investments, the plant was completed in 2000.
The Ferdinand-Braun-Institut, Leibniz-Institut für Höchstfrequenztechnik (FBH) is a research institute, which is a member of the Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz Scientific Community. The institute is located in Berlin at the Wissenschafts- und Wirtschaftsstandort Adlershof (WISTA), its research activity is applied science in the fields of III-V electronics, photonics, integrated quantum technology and III-V technology
GlobalFoundries Inc. is a multinational semiconductor contract manufacturing and design company incorporated in the Cayman Islands and headquartered in Malta, New York. Created by the divestiture of the manufacturing arm of AMD, the company was privately owned by Mubadala Investment Company, a sovereign wealth fund of the United Arab Emirates, until an initial public offering (IPO) in October 2021.
The Inmos microprocessor factory, also known as the Inmos factory, previously known as Newport Wafer Fab, now known as Nexperia Newport, is a semiconductor fabrication plant for Inmos built in Newport, Wales, UK in 1980. It has gone through numerous changes in ownership. Since March 2024, the factory has been owned by Vishay Intertechnology.
Diodes Incorporated is a global manufacturer and supplier of application specific standard products within the discrete, logic, analog, and mixed-signal semiconductor markets. Diodes serves the consumer electronics, computing, communications, industrial, and automotive markets.
SVTC Technologies was a technology services company that provided development and commercialization services for semiconductor process-based technologies and products. SVTC operated from 2004 to October 2012.
Tower Semiconductor Ltd. is an Israeli company that manufactures integrated circuits using specialty process technologies, including SiGe, BiCMOS, Silicon Photonics, SOI, mixed-signal and RFCMOS, CMOS image sensors, non-imaging sensors, power management (BCD), and non-volatile memory (NVM) as well as MEMS capabilities. Tower Semiconductor also owns 51% of TPSCo, an enterprise with Nuvoton Technology Corporation Japan (NTCJ).
Zhang Rujing, alternatively known as Richard Chang Ru-gin, is a Taiwanese businessman and entrepreneur known for founding the largest contract chip manufacturer in mainland China, the Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corporation (SMIC). In mainland China, Zhang is known as "the father of China's foundry industry" and China's "godfather of semiconductors".
