Ceramic Industry Magazine

CI June 2017 Cover

2017 June

Learn about high-tech ceramic applications, find out what you can expect to see at SEMICON West, and get caught up on what you might have missed at Ceramics Expo!

Cover Story

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Figure 1

Semiconductor-Grade Ceramics Enable Future Electronics

Engineered ceramics enable clean, consistent wafer processing, front-end semiconductor fabrication, and back-end chip packaging.
Dean Warner
June 1, 2017
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Perhaps the most impactful invention in modern history, the transistor is at the core of semiconductor devices and has dramatically transformed virtually every industry while helping spawn many new ones. As illustrated in Figure 1, today’s microchips can contain over a billion transistors and are improving our cars, phones, and refrigerators—empowering internet searches, genetic research, and smart sensors. How different would our world be today without these integrated circuit (IC) “microchips?”
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Features

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SEMICON West 2017

Getting Smart at SEMICON West

Taking place July 11-13, SEMICON West 2017 will feature more than 600 exhibitors, as well as 115 hours of programs and networking opportunities.
June 1, 2017
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With the theme “Smart Starts Here,” SEMICON® West will take place July 11-13 at the Moscone Center in San Francisco, Calif. The event will feature more than 600 exhibitors and 115 hours of programs and networking opportunities to provide insights, access, and technical and business intelligence for attendees to get ahead and embrace today’s disruptive landscape.
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major components of a single-element transducer

Transducer Basics: Ceramics in Transduction

Single-element transducers are often the most cost-effective option for signal generation and sensing applications, while multiple ceramic element transducers are best-suited for high power or large displacement applications.
Brian Julius Jeff Zahnd Ron Staut
June 1, 2017
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Transduction refers to the conversion of energy from one form to another. In terms of piezoelectric transducers, it means the conversion of electrical to mechanical energy and/or vice-versa. This is made possible by the inclusion of active piezoceramic components in the transducer, and can take place in a variety of mediums (e.g., air, liquid, etc.) using a variety of transducer designs.
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lab

Nanomaterials in the Workplace

Where do ceramic manufacturers' responsibilities lie when nanomaterials are used in the production process?
Ian Marshall Ben Grebot Caroline Raine
June 1, 2017
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In a recent survey, the UK’s National Chemical Emergency Centre (NCEC) asked its clients and stakeholders whether they or their employees were concerned about the risk that nanomaterials may pose to their workforce. Almost a quarter of responders to the question replied that they were.
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ceramics expo 2017

It's a Wrap: Industry Enjoys another Successful Ceramics Expo

The third annual Ceramics Expo provided thousands of attendees the opportunity to learn about the latest trends and technologies in the ceramic industry.
Susan107
Susan Sutton
June 1, 2017
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Ceramics Expo 2017 drew thousands of attendees from over 1,600 companies and 33 different countries to the I-X Center in Cleveland, Ohio, on April 25-27. The third annual event provided attendees the opportunity to learn about the latest trends and technologies in the ceramic industry while reconnecting with old friends and building new business relationships.
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Researchers
Instrumentation Innovation

Examining Computer Chips with 3-D X-Ray Imaging

A non-destructive method has been used to visualize the paths of a chip's internal wiring and transistors.
June 1, 2017
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Researchers at the Paul Scherrer Institute (PSI) have made detailed 3-D images of a commercially available computer chip. This reportedly marks the first time a non-destructive method has visualized—clearly, without distortions or deformations—the paths of a chip’s internal wiring (just 45 nm wide) and its 34-nm-high transistors.
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transparent polycrystalline
Materials Innovation

Developing Transparent Ceramics

Transparent silicon nitride has been synthesized by researchers at DESY.
June 1, 2017
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Scientists at Deutsches Elektronen-Synchrotron (DESY) have synthesized what is reportedly the first transparent sample of a popular industrial ceramic. The result is a super-hard window made of cubic silicon nitride (SiN) that can potentially be used under extreme conditions like engines, as the Japanese-German team writes in the journal Scientific Reports.
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laser
Instrumentation Innovation

Imaging at the Speed of Light

Researchers have developed a technique to visualize the complete evolution of micro- and nanoscale structural formation on a material’s surface, both during and after the application of a laser pulse.
Lindsey Valich
June 1, 2017
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Micro- and nanoscale structures within a material’s surface are invisible to the naked eye, but play a big role in determining a material’s physical, chemical, and biomedical properties. Over the past few years, Chunlei Guo and his research team at the University of Rochester have found ways to manipulate those structures by irradiating laser pulses to a material’s surface.


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Columns

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Susan Sutton Inside CI
Inside CI

Semi-Savvy

Ceramics play a key role in the develoment of the electronics industry.
Susan107
Susan Sutton
June 1, 2017
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Someone asked me the other day if I’m computer savvy. I paused and eventually replied, “Well, kind of.” To be honest, it all depends on who’s asking. From my daughter’s perspective, I’m a hopeless dolt when it comes to most electronics. She’s pretty much convinced that, if left to my own devices (no pun intended), I’d flounder and eventually give up, preferring to live like a hermit, in the dark, with no phone or TV (or Snapchat, heaven forbid).
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J.D. Jeter
The Big Picture

How Does Academic Lab Safety Impact Your Workplace?

The graduates that your company depends upon for its future success are probably being steeped as undergraduates in a lax safety environment.
J. Douglas Jeter PE, ASP
June 1, 2017
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After instructing an U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) 10-hr Industrial Safety course at the 2016 Ceramics Expo in Cleveland, Ohio, I was invited by Edgar Lara-Curzio of Oak Ridge National Laboratory to participate in the “Best Practices in Academic Laboratory Safety” symposium at the 2017 Material Science & Technology (MS&T;) meeting in Pittsburgh, Pa.
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