Progress Stalls in Wafer Size From 12 to 18 inches

choi

Don Clark, Chip Makers Hit Pause on Tech Leap; Worries about costs prompt Intel and suppiers to slow shift to next wafer technology. Wall Street Journal, Mar 13, 2014.
online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB30001424052702303546204579435181784496254

Quote:

"Historically, each advance in wafers [increase in wafer diameter, that is] has reduced the cost of each chip by around 30%, industry executives say.

"Chip makers made their last transition about a dozen years ago, introducing wafers that were 300 millimeters, or about 12 inches, in diameter, about the size of a dinner plate [from 200 millimeters or 8 inches, in diameter]. The next proposed shift would enlarge them to 450 millimeters, or roughly the size of a large pizza pan.

Note:
(a) This report talks about nothing but wafer size: the procession from current 12 inches to 18 inches is stalled, due to tremendous costs to develop it, and the expected price tag for a buyer (from $4b to $10 to build a new chip-making facility). The dilemma for a chip maker is that in the next jump in wafer size, advantages (an individual chip costs less) will be offset by leap in equipment prices.

(b) "This time, companies hope to save money by doing more to standardize new tools and manufacturing techniques. That goal led to the creation in 2011 of the five-company G450C consortium, in a partnership with the State University of New York's in Albany. Some of the first 450-millimeter tools are being tested in a new building there. 'The collaboration is some of the best I've seen,' said Adrian Maynes, program director for an affiliated organization called F450C andwho works for M + W Group, a builder of semiconductor factories."
(i) G450C
www.g450c.org/

stands for Global 450 Consortium, which is based in College of Nanoscale Science and Engineering (CNSE), SUNY.
(ii) F450C ("Facilities 450mm Consortium")--based in the same location--can be found as a tag in the top horizontal bar of the above G450C home page.