The semiconductor supply crisis
How to tackle the challenge of complexity?!
The bottleneck in semiconductor supply is currently on everyone’s lips. Sooner or later the crisis will surely be overcome, but this bottleneck indicates structural problems in the semiconductor industry that need to be addressed. Technically speaking, the manufacture of semiconductors is a highly complex process; In addition to the technical aspect of complexity, there is now also a political aspect. Things are so intertwined that they can no longer be separated or viewed separately. The value chain semiconductor graph shows how all countries in the world depends on one another to make semiconductors. China doesn’t seem to play a major role in the value chain at the moment, but it does when it comes to consumption of semiconductors. And China is making tremendous strides in terms of innovation and the shown graph can change very quickly.
How to master complexity?
So, with semiconductors we are dealing with a highly complex topic in every respect. When a system reaches a high degree of complexity that can only be mastered with greater complexity, then you must think about how you can simplify this system through intelligent solutions. Otherwise you will find yourself in a predicament of complexity with an unpredictable outcome. Is it possible to simplify a complex system without sacrificing performance, or possibly even to improve its performance by simplification? The answer is definitely – yes! An old example shows us that, namely the invention of the wheel.
Cooperation versus confrontation
The emerging protectionist tendencies in politics will not contribute to the solution of the complexity problems, rather the other way around, they will damage the own economy in the long run. Competition should be viewed as a positive component of business, not a threat. If you are sure of your abilities, why should you fear competition? The answer to the crisis should be cooperation instead of confrontation and simplification instead of more complexity. Politics should create the framework for an innovative market economy; science and industry should deal with simplifying complexity.
3D-MID as a simplified solution
There are good examples of how, for example, alternative simple solutions can be offered in comparison to highly complex wafer production. One of them shows a research study carried out by the Institute for Microproduction Technology at Leibniz Universität Hannover (IMPT) on the subject of manufacturing wafer substrates on a PEEK basis using the LDS process.
LDS is currently the most widespread 3D-MID process and offers many options, especially at the interface between the bare chips and the electronic circuits on the PCB. This interface currently offers greater potential for miniaturization than the chips themselves. For this, however, there are still some tasks to be mastered at the level of material and manufacturing processes. With increasing networking and digitization, as well as in industrial and consumer goods, there is no getting around miniaturizing these interfaces and simplifying them at the same time. 3D-MID can make a great, useful contribution here.
Link to the IMPT study: https://www.3d-mid.de/en/ensinger-lithography-free-production-of-sensors-and-microsystems/
Kind regards and best wishes
Nouhad