Investing in chips and in the TSA-Commentary: Complex semiconductors could change industry

BERKELEY, Calif. (MarketWatch) — Over the past week or two, a number of articles appeared about a so-called laser device that could scan a whole airport for explosive devices, lessening the need for invasive body checks at airports. It would all be done by some sort of modern terahertz scanner.

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Curiously, this is kind of possible. Terahertz technology is considered by many to be the holy grail of scanning.

The problem is being able to build anything that can generate and detect a terahertz wave. This is a frequency similar to that used by the millimeter-wave machines found at some airports.

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Generally speaking, the spectrum for these waves goes from 300 GHz to 3,000 GHz. It is nonionizing, meaning it does not irradiate you but can pass through clothes, wood, bricks, plastic. It cannot penetrate water or metal.

If you could see this spectrum, everyone would be naked — a dream come true for the Transportation Security Administration.

Such technology is extremely complex and normal semiconductor technology cannot easily make any circuits for it. You need all the rare-earth, wild semiconductors that are hard to build, and consequently are very expensive. The materials required include indium phosphide, indium gallium arsenide and even zirconium dioxide, among other odd blends.

You can be sure companies like Intel Corp. INTC -1.84%  are always playing with these designs, and if any of the specialty semiconductor companies finds a breakthrough circuit or process, they will be gobbled up overnight at a healthy premium.

There are a couple of these companies worth tracking. All work with various rare semiconductor structures to develop the kind of high-speed chip needed for terahertz technologies.

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A security official demonstrates a full-body scanner in Hamburg, Germany.

The first and one of the most famous is Vitesse Semiconductor VTSS -3.41% . Once upon a time, the stock was well more than $1,500 a share. It’s still in the game, although it actually makes networking gear for a living.

Broadcom Corp. BRCM -2.39%  also plays in this game and always has to be considered. It’s probably less of a buyout candidate if the company ever hit the home run with a high-speed breakthrough. It’s a more conservative bet and a perpetually overlooked winner.

Now if you want to look at a rank OTC speculation, then check out SMG Indium Resources Ltd. SMGI -7.27% , a mineral company involved in stockpiling indium, which has many uses other than exotic semiconductors.

Most semiconductor firms keep their eye on the possibilities for a superfast breakthrough, but the industry as a whole stays within the confines of the CMOS process, which is the manufacturing technology that dominates the sector. This process limits chip makers on what designs can be made.

Everyone does know that someday this has to change. It may be because of the great desire to develop the fascinating terahertz technologies.

Here’s looking at you. 

TeraView cash call to fuel global growth after Intel alliance

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http://www.businessweekly.co.uk/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=38141:teraview-cash-call-to-fuel-global-growth-after-intel-alliance&catid=291:technology&Itemid=1036
TeraView in Cambridge is raising £2 million to exploit a game-changing opportunity in multi-billion dollar mobile phone and tablet personal computer markets identified through an alliance with Intel.

TeraView specialises in 3D imaging and spectroscopic systems that exploit the properties of terahertz technology.

The company is set to hire key sales staff in Cambridge and Asia and long-term will be opening global offices to leverage the opportunity created through the Intel collaboration on a new inspection tool for the semiconductor industry.

In an exclusive interview with Business Weekly, CEO Don Arnone revealed how Intel’s approach for a specific solution had acted as a catalyst for a twin-headed attack by TeraView on the semiconductor segment and also the solar cell inspection market, although that may be a longer-term play.

He expects the new paradigm to help TeraView double or even triple revenues in the not-too-distant future.

Arnone told me: “The new fundraising is a direct result of the Intel alliance. It’s great that such exciting opportunities have opened up as a direct result of a customer coming to us for a solution to a problem; it’s a whole new dynamic.

“Intel and ourselves co-developed a next generation high resolution terahertz time domain reflectometry unit designed for studying package interconnects. It answers the need in the mobile and tablet segments for more power and functionality within integrated circuits.

“The unit currently offers sub 10 micron resolution, which is an order of magnitude better than the current millimetre wave systems. Options exists to improve the resolution further. Customers want one micron or below. We’re working on it. There’s much more headroom in our technology development.

“Intel was an early identifier of the capabilities of Terahertz and built a roadmap around the new tool; now we are talking to non-Intel customers. There has been a lot of interest in taking the tool – notably from the Far East.

“We are in discussions with a lot of the major semiconductor players globally and are talking to existing and new investors to raise the capital to strengthen our technical and commercial teams in Cambridge as well as the far East and US.

“We have a product and now we need to improve our sales capabilities to maximise the opportunity. That applies here in Cambridge and also in Asia in the short term – further afield in the longer term.

“We have adopted an extremely focused model for growth. Taiwan represents the biggest single opportunity as it has the majority of companies involved in integrated circuit manufacture. Then we will target China, Korea and Japan – probably in that order.

“A few opportunities have presented themselves in different markets that we decided not to target because we didn’t want to scatter-gun.”

Still only around 20 people in Cambridge, TeraView clarly has the potential to double headcount in quickfire time. Its investment model is also interesting.

The company is in dialogue with with existing investors and new backers – but these are not just VCs. “We are also talking to companies and customers of ours who recognise the potential of this product. You’ve just seen Samsung set up a London office and it is no coincidence that a lot of big American technology players are in Cambridge and the UK looking at corporate venturing opportunities.

“There are a lot of US corporates out there at the moment with big cash stockpiles.”

Arnone said TeraView appreciated emerging in the commercial sunshine after a difficult transition since spinning out of Cambridge University.

He said: “It’s been difficult. But we have developed a core business that turns over good recurrent revenue and is growing at 10-15 per cent a year. Our commercial focus is good.”

TeraView’s imaging technology has also achieved success in analytics and defence markets. It could also lead to increased efficiency of controlled release pharmaceuticals.

One of its imaging machines is being used for ongoing research in the university’s Department of Chemical Engineering and Biotechnology.

Dr Axel Zeitler, a lecturer in the Department who focuses on terahertz spectroscopy and imaging, will use TeraView’s tablet imaging system to further his research in the area of terahertz radiation and how it can be used to develop better processes and products, with a particular interest in pharmaceutical manufacturing.

Terahertz radiation is the ‘last frontier’ of the electromagnetic spectrum, occupying frequencies between microwaves and infrared. The equipment developed by TeraView uses terahertz radiation to produce highly detailed three-dimensional images, which are useful across a wide range of fields, including the semiconductor, solar, intelligence and pharmaceutical industries.

In the pharmaceutical industry, terahertz radiation is used to produce highly detailed images of pills and capsules and provides clear advantages over existing methods, as x-ray and infrared frequently lack the sensitivity to produce the same quality of images without destroying the tablet itself.

The images produced using TeraView’s equipment enable researchers to detect minute cracks and defects present in the coating of the tablets, especially important in sustained or controlled release versions where a lack of uniformity in the coating can lead to serious problems in both safety and efficacy.

The method developed by TeraView is unique in that it can map both tablet coating thickness and density, which when measured together form a more accurate indication of a tablet’s dissolution characteristics.

TeraView is now active in 16 countries and sells equipment and expertise to more than 40 industrial users, academic institutions and government agencies, particularly in the United States, as well as partners in the pharmaceutical, security, semiconductor and solar industries.

It recently entered into a major collaboration with Ohio State University, assisting in the development of products and supplying equipment to the university’s researchers.

TeraView has also recently extended the technology and its equipment is now being sold to leading semiconductor companies as a vital part of the assembly and testing of advanced semiconductor chips.

TeraView was spun-out from Toshiba Research Europe in 2001 by Sir Michael Pepper, Emeritus Professor of Physics, and Dr Don Arnone to exploit the intellectual property and expertise developed in sourcing and detecting terahertz radiation, using innovative semiconductor technologies.

The company has an ongoing relationship with the University of Cambridge, in particular the Cavendish Laboratory, as well as with other University departments. 

Fast Fault Isolation and Analysis in Advanced Semiconductor Packages now possible with Terahertz Time Domain Reflectometry

Image by Getty Images via @daylife

TeraView Cambridge, United Kingdom – 14th July 2010

TeraView (http://www.teraview.com/), working with the Intel Corporation, has developed a next generation Terahertz (THz) Time Domain Reflectometry (TDR) Failure Analysis (FA) tool to enable high resolution fault isolation in Advanced and 3D semiconductor packages. Intel refers to the new technique as Electro Optical Terahertz Pulse Reflectometry, or EOTPR. The technique was pioneered by Yongming Cai, Zhiyong Wang, Rajen Dias, and Deepak Goyal at Intel’s ATD QR Laboratory.

The technique, which utilises TeraView’s proprietary Terahertz Pulse technology (TPITM), isolates faults on interconnects to within 10 microns, enabling production and quality issues to be rapidly identified and addressed. The tool reduces failure analysis times from days to minutes and enables fault isolation in packages where conventional FA tools have failed.

The need for Advanced and 3D semiconductor packaging is being driven by the requirements of the mobile phone and consumer electronics industries, which aim to overcome limitations in integrated circuit form, functionality, and speed associated with conventional packaging. TeraView’s tool provides a unique capability which aids in the design and production of current and future generations of advanced packages, including complex wire-bonded, flip chip, and 3D packages as well as those utilizing new techniques such as Through Silicon Vias (TSVs).

Intel said in a recent paper presented at the ECTC Conference in Las Vegas

‘With such a revolutionary concept, innovative design and superior performance, EOTPR will become an essential tool for microelectronic package fault isolation and failure analysis. By integrating EOTPR with other techniques such as 3D X-Ray in the FA flow, FA TPT and success rate can be dramatically improved. Fully automated systems can be developed for component, board and solder joint quality screening.’

Dr Don Arnone, TeraView’s CEO added ‘We are delighted to have successfully delivered a new product in close collaboration with the Intel Corporation. The importance of this new tool in both the development and the manufacture of advanced semiconductor devices has been identified and proven by our collaborators at Intel. The new product adds to TeraView’s growing track record of world firsts and opens up a very significant market opportunity for our technology’