U.S. Semiconductor Ecosystem Map

Glossary

• Intellectual Property (IP) – A design or verification unit that is pre-packed and available for licensing, generally as an “IP block” or “IP core.” IP has become essential for the creation of large and complex devices as it would be nearly impossible for any single company to develop all of the blocks necessary for these devices. (Source)
• Electronic Design Automation (EDA) – Electronic Design Automation, or EDA, is a market segment consisting of software, hardware, and services with the collective goal of assisting in the definition, planning, design, implementation, verification, and subsequent manufacturing of semiconductor devices, or chips. (Source)
• Fabless – A semiconductor design company with no or limited wafer fabrication capability. (Source)
• Chip design – The process of laying out the “architecture” of a chip to achieve a specific function or application. An extremely R&D, engineering, and IP intensive process of mapping billions of transistors and electronic components (hardware) to relay instructions to the device (software). 
• Foundry – A factory that manufactures semiconductor chips on wafers. Usually used to denote a facility that is available on a contract basis to companies that do not have wafer fab capability of their own, or that wish to supplement their own capabilities. (Source)
• Integrated Device Manufacturer (IDM) – A vertically integrated semiconductor company that designs, manufactures, and sells integrated circuits (ICs). (Source)
• Outsourced Assembly and Test (OSAT) – Vendors that provide third-party semiconductor assembly, test, and packaging (ATP) services. IDMs and foundries with internal packaging operations also may outsource a certain percentage of their packaging production to OSATs. Fabless companies also outsource their packaging to the OSATs and/or foundries. (Source)
• Equipment – Hundreds of different specialized pieces of semiconductor manufacturing equipment “tools” that conduct deposition, photoresist coating, lithography, etching, ion implantation, packaging, and dozens more operations, all conducted under highly controlled conditions. 
• Materials – Hundreds of specialty and high-purity gases, chemicals, metals, and substrates that serve critical uses in the chipmaking and equipment making process, ranging from silicon and rare earth metals, to helium and optical lenses. 
• University R&D Partner – Universities with semiconductor programs and are partner institutions of the Semiconductor Research Corporation (SRC) or the National Nanotechnology Coordinated Infrastructure (NNCI).