Bridge450 · Support Action for 450mm topics establishing a Bridge between European EM entities and IDMs, Foundries and Entities Worldwide

Five major global semiconductor companies are working in the G450C consortium based in Albany N.Y. to introduce 450mm wafer semiconductor processing and are now installing the first wave of 450mm prototype systems. Intel and TSMC lead this effort with published roadmaps showing pilot lines in 2016, production in 2018. Samsung will soon follow which will force GlobalFoundries, SK Hynix, Toshiba, UMC and Micron to invest in 450mm else face a steady decline.The 2012 AENEAS/Catrene paper Innovation for the future of Europe: Nanoelectronics beyond 2020" emphasized the importance of the 450mm transition for the European Equipment & Materials (E&M) companies. Most of these companies decided that to secure their global markets they would take an active part in 450mm development and participated in cooperative 450mm projects. The ENIAC project EEMI450 is complete and projects in CATRENE (SOI450 & NGC450) and ENIAC (EEM450PR & E450EDL) are proceeding, the latter two targeting a 450mm pilot line at imec. Further projects are planned and Europe can feel proud its E&M companies are striving for leadership in each of their fields.The ENIAC Coordination Action Enable450 began in 2012 to assist European 450mm programmes with data collection, standards, G450C liaison, dissemination of 450mm topics and other activities. The Bridge450 Support Action seeks to run in parallel with Enable450 to expand its scope with more focus on Asian semiconductor manufacture. Bridge450 will support the European E&M companies and specially the SMEs to become aware of and understand Asian technical requirements and to develop solutions to address this market. To assist the information flow, a Semiconductor Board will include Samsung and TSMC.A second objective of Bridge450 will be to establish the possibilities of 450mm semi-manufacturing in Europe and what would be needed to facilitate such an operation, which will be vital for the future of advanced nano-electronics in Europe."