March 2014 - Page 4 of 9 - Semiconductor Engineering


Mentor Buys Berkeley Design


Mentor Graphics announced today that it has acquired Berkeley Design Automation, staking a claim on the expanding market for analog, mixed-signal and RF verification. The deal puts Mentor on firm footing against Synopsys and Cadence, just as the opportunity for the Internet of Things (IoT), including automotive and medical design, begins to show real promise. Until this move, Mentor has larg... » read more

The Week In Review: Manufacturing


A market research firm once said if you want to sell a lot of market studies, you have to report big numbers. And some competitors have done just that, according to Will Strauss, president of Forward Concepts. In fact, some research houses inflated their smartphone shipment numbers, saying that the figure reached 1 billion in 2013, Strauss said. So, did 1 billion smartphones really ship last ye... » read more

The Week In Review: Design


Tools Mentor Graphics unveiled a new version of its PCB design platform, even going so far as to rename it slightly (Expedition to Xpedition). Mentor claims it’s the most significant product in that space in years, bridging the environments between designers and engineers. Included are placement planning in densely packed boards, which simplifies re-use and improves time to market, and elect... » read more

Litho Is Out Of Sync


EUV’s repeated missed deadlines, and the slow-motion response by the rest of the industry to fill the void with alternatives, is having ripple effects in every facet and corner of the semiconductor industry. It’s making design harder and more expensive, introducing potential errors into the DFM flow, and greatly increasing the amount of time it takes to process wafers. It’s also adding a ... » read more

Directed Self-Assembly Gains Momentum


At last year’s SPIE Advanced Lithography symposium, directed self-assembly (DSA) grabbed the spotlight as chipmakers provided the first glimpse of their initial work and results with the technology. The results were stunning, thereby propelling DSA from a curiosity item to a possible patterning solution for next-generation devices. Last year, in fact, GlobalFoundries, IBM, Intel and Sams... » read more

Enabling Test Portability With Graphs


Is it time to move up again? When it comes to test portability between simulation, emulation, prototypes and silicon, as well as an easier way to create a test structure, the answer appears to be a resounding ‘Yes.’ Looking at these activities from a higher level of abstraction and using a graph-based approach should allow automation where there has been none previously, and could allow val... » read more

Enabling Wearable Electronics In The Internet of Things (IoT) Era


As part of its growth focus for Applied Materials, the Office of the CTO (Chief Technology Officer) aims to do the following: Identify, incubate and commercialize growth opportunities in new and adjacent markets Build a culture of open innovation at Applied Materials Address market inflections and high value problems through differentiated solutions Shape the future of our growth mark... » read more

450mm Standards Update


By Kevin Nguyen SEMI has published more than 19 Standards for 450mm generation.  New standards are being created to facilitate supplier and user for material and equipment.  Revisions to published standards are needed as improvements are constantly identified. The Japan Assembly & Packaging Technical Committee (TC) Chapter has initiated document 5636 in effort to meet the demand... » read more

Under The Radar At SPIE


At the SPIE Advanced Lithography symposium, the best and brightest minds in the lithography, metrology, resist and design-for-manufacturing (DFM) fields assemble for a week. The annual event is a good way to get a pulse on the current state of lithography. At this year’s SPIE, it was simple to get a reading. Extreme ultraviolet (EUV) lithography remains delayed. The other next-generation l... » read more

When Order Matters


Do you brush your teeth before dinner? Put on your shoes before going to bed? Iron your clothes before you wash them? Okay, forget that last one. No one irons clothes anymore…do they? Anyway, my point is, if you want to achieve the best results from a process, order can be really important. And so it is with double patterning (DP) error debugging. As I’ve discussed, there are many types ... » read more

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