Karen Heyman

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Karen Heyman is a technology editor at Semiconductor Engineering.

Author's Latest Posts

Week In Review: Manufacturing, Test
By Karen Heyman - 28 Jul, 2023 - Comments: 0

The Chinese government is considering easing proposed rules that require foreign office equipment makers operating in the country to transfer key product technology to China, per Nikkei Asia. In April 2022, Chinese authorities began revamping their national standards to include a new requirement that key components, such as semiconductors and laser-related items, be designed, developed, and pro... » read more

Large-Scale Integration’s Future Depends On Modeling
By Karen Heyman - 27 Jul, 2023 - Comments: 0

VLSI is a term that conjures up images of a college textbook, but some of the concepts included in very large-scale integration remain relevant and continue to evolve, while others have fallen by the wayside. The portion of VLSI that remains most relevant for semiconductor industry is "integration," which is pushing well beyond the edges of a monolithic planar chip. But that expansion also i... » read more

HBM’s Future: Necessary But Expensive
By Karen Heyman - 20 Jul, 2023 - Comments: 0

High-bandwidth memory (HBM) is becoming the memory of choice for hyperscalers, but there are still questions about its ultimate fate in the mainstream marketplace. While it’s well-established in data centers, with usage growing due to the demands of AI/ML, wider adoption is inhibited by drawbacks inherent in its basic design. On the one hand, HBM offers a compact 2.5D form factor that enables... » read more

Wi-Fi 7 Moves Forward, Adding Yet Another Protocol
By Karen Heyman - 17 Jul, 2023 - Comments: 1

The latest generation Wi-Fi protocol brings better speeds and data handling, but it does little to bridge various communications technologies. That, in turn, makes it more difficult and more expensive to design chips because they must integrate and support multiple wireless technologies, including different versions of the same technology. Wireless communications technologies are often victi... » read more

Better Choreography Required For Complex Chips
By Karen Heyman - 22 Jun, 2023 - Comments: 0

The rapidly growing number of features and options in chip design are forcing engineering teams to ratchet up their planning around who does what, when it gets done, and how various components will interact. In effect, more elements in the design flow need to be choreographed much more precisely. Some steps have to shift further left, while others need to be considered earlier in the plannin... » read more

EDA’s Role Grows For Preventing And Identifying Failures
By Karen Heyman - 08 Jun, 2023 - Comments: 0

The front end of design is becoming more tightly integrated with the back end of manufacturing, driven by the rising cost and impact of failures in advanced chips and critical applications. Ironically, the starting point for this shift is failure analysis (FA), which typically happens when a device fails to yield, or worse, when it is returned due to some problem. In production, that leads t... » read more

Week In Review: Design, Low Power
By Karen Heyman - 26 May, 2023 - Comments: 0

Cadence bought Pulsic, a U.K.-based developer of place-and-route tools for custom digital and analog. The acquisition follows a previous acquisition attempt by a Chinese firm in August 2022, which was blocked by the U.K. government. At the G7 Summit in Japan, IBM announced a 10-year, $100 million initiative with the University of Tokyo and the University of Chicago to develop a quantum-centr... » read more

Rethinking Engineering Education In The U.S.
By Karen Heyman - 11 May, 2023 - Comments: 7

The CHIPS Act, as well as the ongoing need for talent, is causing both industry and academia in America to rethink engineering education, resulting in new approaches and stronger partnerships. As an example, Arizona State University (ASU) now has a Secure, Trusted, and Assured Microelectronics Center (STAM). The center offers an interdisciplinary approach to learning secure and trusted semic... » read more

3D Structures Challenge Wire Bond Inspection
By Karen Heyman - 09 May, 2023 - Comments: 1

Adding more layers in packages is making it difficult, and sometimes impossible, to inspect wire bonds that are deep within the different layers. Wire bonds may seem like old technology, but it remains the bonding approach of choice for a broad swath of applications. This is particularly evident in automotive, industrial, and many consumer applications, where the majority of chips are not de... » read more

Week In Review: Semiconductor Manufacturing, Test
By Karen Heyman - 28 Apr, 2023 - Comments: 0

The U.S. Commerce Department  launched Chips.gov, a website that covers all aspects of the CHIPS Act, including funding opportunities and job openings. In similar vein, Intel CEO Pat Gelsinger focused on the future of semiconductor manufacturing in America in a talk at MIT. Intel has committed to expanding semiconductor manufacturing in the U.S., including spending an initial $20 billion on ne... » read more

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