Karen Heyman

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Karen Heyman is a technology editor at Semiconductor Engineering.

Author's Latest Posts

Week In Review: Semiconductor Manufacturing, Test
By Karen Heyman - 21 Oct, 2022 - Comments: 0

Fallout from the new U.S. export controls continues. Under new regulations, companies looking to supply Chinese chipmakers with advanced manufacturing equipment (<14nm) must first obtain a license from the U.S. Department of Commerce. In addition, U.S. persons (citizens and permanent residents) are barred from supporting China’s advanced chip development or production without a license. ... » read more

Week In Review: Semiconductor Manufacturing, Test
By Karen Heyman - 14 Oct, 2022 - Comments: 0

The United States imposed further export controls aimed at preventing foreign firms from selling advanced chips to China or supplying Chinese firms with semiconductor processing tools. Under new regulations, companies looking to supply Chinese chipmakers with advanced manufacturing equipment (<14nm) must first obtain a license from the U.S. Department of Commerce. Officials noted that they h... » read more

Dealing With Heat In Near-Memory Compute Architectures
By Karen Heyman - 13 Oct, 2022 - Comments: 0

The explosion in data forcing chipmakers to get much more granular about where logic and memory are placed on a die, how data is partitioned and prioritized to utilize those resources, and what the thermal impact will be if they are moved closer together on a die or in a package. For more than a decade, the industry has faced a basic problem — moving data can be more resource-intensive tha... » read more

Bump Co-Planarity And Inconsistencies Cause Yield, Reliability Issues
By Karen Heyman - 11 Oct, 2022 - Comments: 0

Bumps are a key component in many advanced packages, but at nanoscale levels making sure all those bumps have a consistent height is an increasing challenge. Without co-planarity, surfaces may not properly adhere. That can reduce yield if the problem is not identified in packaging, or it can cause reliability problems in the field. Identifying those issues requires a variety of process steps... » read more

Week In Review: Semiconductor Manufacturing, Test
By Karen Heyman - 07 Oct, 2022 - Comments: 0

Micron selected Syracuse, New York as the site for its new megafab complex, which is expected to create 9,000 company jobs and 40,000 construction and supply chain jobs. President Biden called it “another win for America.” The chip manufacturing facility will be the nation’s largest, including a 7.2 million square foot complex and 2.4 million square foot of cleanroom. Site preparation wil... » read more

Week In Review: Manufacturing, Test
By Karen Heyman - 23 Sep, 2022 - Comments: 0

On Sunday, a 6.8-magnitude earthquake struck the southeast region of Taiwan, causing devastation. TSMC officials reported “no known significant impact for now.” Market research firm TrendForce arrived at a similar conclusion based on its analysis of individual fabs. The Biden administration announced appointment of the leadership team charged with implementing the US CHIPS and Science Ac... » read more

Week In Review: Manufacturing, Test
By Karen Heyman - 16 Sep, 2022 - Comments: 0

President Biden signed an executive order on Sept. 15, limiting foreign investments in U.S. technology by "competitor or adversarial nations" that are deemed a threat to national security. In the past, the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS) largely limited its actions to the sale of U.S. companies. The new directive expands that to include investments involving "U.S. s... » read more

Designing For Thermal
By Karen Heyman - 13 Sep, 2022 - Comments: 0

Heat has emerged as a major concern for semiconductors in every form factor, from digital watches to data centers, and it is becoming more of a problem at advanced nodes and in advanced packages where that heat is especially difficult to dissipate. Temperatures at the base of finFETs and GAA FETs can differ from those at the top of the transistor structures. They also can vary depending on h... » read more

Week In Review: Manufacturing, Test
By Karen Heyman - 09 Sep, 2022 - Comments: 0

Some funding details are now available for the CHIPS Act in the U.S. The Biden Administration plans to spend the money in the following ways: $28 billion to establish domestic production of leading-edge logic and memory chips through grants, subsidized loans or loan guarantees; $10 billion to increase production of current-generation semiconductors and chips, and $11 billion for rese... » read more

Week In Review: Manufacturing, Test
By Karen Heyman - 02 Sep, 2022 - Comments: 0

New fab construction At an event in Arizona, U.S. Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo urged states to compete for funding made available for producing semiconductors by the U.S. federal government. Indeed, several companies are already doing just that. The latest developments include: Micron plans to invest approximately $15 billion through 2030 for a new memory fab near its existing headquart... » read more

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