Appendix E


Appendix E. Site Reports - Taiwan

OVERVIEW OF NANOPARTICLE / NANOTECHNOLOGY RESEARCH IN TAIWAN

David T. Shaw

In 1996, the total product value of integrated circuits (IC) produced in Taiwan reached $7.8 billion. From 1995 to 1997, IC products have grown at an average of 50-60% per year. The current state of IC manufacturing and product technology in Taiwan, as summarized in Tables E.1 and E.2, is two to four years behind the leading countries. However, the technology gap is closing fast as Taiwan invests heavily in nanotechnology R&D. In l996, more than 400 research projects amounting to more than $7 million were supported by the National Science Council in such diverse microelectronic fields as VLSI technology, amorphous silicon, microelectromechanical systems, and electronic packaging. These projects share a common theme: the development of submicron or nanometer technology.

Table E.1. Current State of IC Manufacturing Technology in Taiwan

Item	Taiwan's Level	Leading Country	Leading-edge Technology Level
CMOS	0.25 µm (R&D) 0.35 µm (production)	Japan, U.S.A.	0.18 µm (R&D) 0.25 µm (production)
BiCMOS	0.8 µm (production)	Japan	0.35 µm (production) 0.25 µm (R&D)
Bipolar	2.5 µm	Japan	1.0 µm (production)
GaAs	Circuit design and 0.6 µm process	U.S.A., Japan	0.35 µm (R&D)

Table E.2. Current State of IC Product Technology in Taiwan

Item	Taiwan's Level	Leading Country	Leading-edge Technology Level
DRAM	64 M (R&D) 16 M (production)	Japan, Korea	1G (papers published) 256 M (production)
SRAM	4 M (pilot run) 1 M (production)	Japan	64 M (papers published) 16 M (production)
ROM	Introduction of 64 M mask ROM in 1994 by UMC	Japan	Introduction of 64 M mask ROM by Sharp
Flash Memory	4 M Flash (production) 16 M Flash (pilot run)	U.S.A., Japan	64 M/256 M Flash (R&D) 32 M (production)
MCU	4 bit, 8 bit	U.S.A.	16 bit (production) 32 bit (announced)
MPU	RISC CPU	U.S.A.	RISC: 64 bit 200 MIPS
A/D D/A converter	A/D: 8 bit, 20 MHz D/A: 8 bit, 120 MHz	U.S.A., Europe	A/D: 8 bit, 650 MHz D/A: 8 bit, 100 MHz
Power IC	Discrete bipolar Discrete MOS	Japan, Europe	Smart power

National Taiwan University (NTU)
1, Sec. 4, Roosevelt Rd.
Taipei, Taiwan ROC

National Chiao-Tung University (NCTU)
Hsinchu, Taiwan ROC

National Tsing-Hua University (NTHU)
No. 101, Sec. 2, Kuang Fu Road
Hsinchu, Taiwan 300, ROC

National Chung-Chen University (NCCU)
Taiwan 621, ROC

Industrial Technology Research Institute (ITRI)
Materials Research Laboratory (MRL)
195-5 Chung Hsing Rd., Section 4
Chutung, Hsinchu, Taiwan 310, ROC

Published: September 1999; WTEC Hyper-Librarian