Evaluation and Decision Making in Taiwan Semiconductor Industry through Silicon via Technology

Abstract

In the past decade, Taiwan has emerged as the stronghold of worldwide semiconductor manufacturing. Semiconductor technology companies in Taiwan have been investing numerous resources in emerging through-silicon via (TSV) technology research and development (R&D) to keep enhancing their competitive advantages. The aim of this study was to propose a hybrid approach along with the Moore\'s Law migration pattern to more objectively and effectively select such emerging chip interconnect technologies that can further help to strengthen Taiwan\'s semiconductor industry prospects. The fuzzy Delphi method (FDM) and the fuzzy analytic hierarchy process (FAHP) were integrated to construct a decision-making model for evaluating potential TSV technologies. The simple additive weighting (SAW) method was then used to rank and select TSV technology alternatives. The results of the synthetic evaluation indicated that 3D integrated circuit (IC) TSV was of primary interest for Taiwan\'s semiconductor industry in the aspect of TSV technology development, followed by 2.5D TSV interposer (TSI) and 3D silicon (Si) TSV. Furthermore, "technological merits" was shown as the most critical evaluation dimension, and "heterogeneous integration" represented the most important evaluation criterion. The proposed hybrid model may help senior managers of the semiconductor industry or government policy makers to direct R&D and allocate-relevant resources more strategically.