April 2016 - Page 5 of 10 - Semiconductor Engineering


2015: A Year In Review


Semiconductor Market Trends Semiconductor revenues were essentially flat in 2015 when compared to 2014 levels according to the World Semiconductor Trade Statistics (WSTS). The materials market mirrored the device market, while the equipment market contracted 3%. The semiconductor equipment market typically receives more attention than the materials market, however, and the materials market has... » read more

Samsung Foundry’s Business Strategy


Wow! 2016 is off to a fast start. While visiting headquarters in Korea recently, I sat down with four members of Samsung Foundry’s global leadership team to discuss several key initiatives this year. Below are key excerpts from those conversations. Samsung Foundry’s Business Strategy Q: Can you expand on some of the macro business trends affecting the fabless/foundry industry? Jong S... » read more

ECOs and Multi-Patterning: It Can Be Done


By David Abercrombie and Alex Pearson A lot has been written and discussed about how to decompose (color) layouts for advanced process nodes that require multi­patterning (MP). However, one topic that has been sorely ignored is how to efficiently make changes to designs that are already colored, or even taped out and processed. We tend to act like all designs work out the first time through... » read more

Calibre xACT Parasitic Extraction Supports Signal Integrity At Advanced Nodes


At advanced nodes, signal integrity analysis requires precise characterization, which in turn requires an accurate extracted netlist. Models that handle new impacts on parasitic extraction at advanced nodes, including multi-patterning, finFETs, and resistance and capacitance effects, must be used. Learn how the Calibre xACT extraction tool supports these advanced foundry device models and leadi... » read more

Inside Process Technology


Semiconductor Engineering sat down to discuss the foundry business, memory, process technology, lithography and other topics with David Fried, chief technology officer at [getentity id="22210" e_name="Coventor"], a supplier of predictive modeling tools. What follows are excerpts of that conversation. SE: Chipmakers are ramping up 16nm/14nm finFETs today, with 10nm and 7nm finFETs just around... » read more

Have Margins Outlived Their Usefulness?


To automate the process of solving complex design problems, the traditional approach has been to partition them into smaller, manageable tasks. For each task, we have built the best possible solution which we continuously refine over time. Additionally, we have managed the interdependencies between tasks by defining boundaries or margins; these often have been best- and worst-case values used t... » read more

Blog Review: April 20


Synopsys' Michael Posner digs into the relationships between USB Type-C, USB 3.1, Power Delivery and DisplayPort specifications. Cadence's Paul McLellan listens in on a discussion of the memory market's growth in China, and what's on the horizon. Mentor's Andy Macleod looks at the challenges that come with the increased car customization consumers are demanding. An energy-harvesting, t... » read more

Rightsizing Challenges Grow


Rightsizing chip architectures is getting much more complicated. There are more options to choose from, more potential bottlenecks, and many more choices about what process to use at what process node and for which markets and price points. Rightsizing is a way of targeting chips to specific application needs, supplying sufficient performance while minimizing power and cost. It has been a to... » read more

System Bits: April 19


Debugging web apps MIT researchers reported that they’ve developed a system that can quickly comb through tens of thousands of lines of application code to find security flaws by exploiting some peculiarities of the Ruby on Rails web programming framework. The team said that in tests on 50 popular web applications written using Ruby on Rails, the system found 23 previously undiagnosed sec... » read more

Manufacturing Bits: April 19


Hot videos The University of Minnesota has recorded videos that show how heat travels through materials, a move that could give researchers insight into the behavior of atoms and other structures. It could also pave the way towards the development of more efficient materials for use in electronics and other applications. In the lab, researchers used FEI’s transmission electron microsc... » read more

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