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Katherine Derbyshire

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Katherine Derbyshire is a technical editor at Semiconductor Engineering.

Author's Latest Posts

3D Integration Supports CIM Versatility And Accuracy
By Katherine Derbyshire - 18 Jan, 2024 - Comments: 0

Compute-in-memory (CIM) is gaining attention due to its efficiency in limiting the movement of massive volumes of data, but it's not perfect. CIM modules can help reduce the cost of computation for AI workloads, and they can learn from the highly efficient approaches taken by biological brains. When it comes to versatility, scalability, and accuracy, however, significant tradeoffs are requir... » read more

Modeling Compute In Memory With Biological Efficiency
By Katherine Derbyshire - 19 Dec, 2023 - Comments: 0

The growing popularity of generative AI, which uses natural language to help users make sense of unstructured data, is forcing sweeping changes in how compute resources are designed and deployed. In a panel discussion on artificial intelligence at last week’s IEEE Electron Device Meeting, IBM’s Nicole Saulnier described it as a major breakthrough that should allow AI tools to assist huma... » read more

Increasing AI Energy Efficiency With Compute In Memory
By Katherine Derbyshire - 16 Nov, 2023 - Comments: 0

Skyrocketing AI compute workloads and fixed power budgets are forcing chip and system architects to take a much harder look at compute in memory (CIM), which until recently was considered little more than a science project. CIM solves two problems. First, it takes more energy to move data back and forth between memory and processor than to actually process it. And second, there is so much da... » read more

Ferroelectric Memories Answer Call For Non-Volatile Alternatives
By Katherine Derbyshire - 21 Sep, 2023 - Comments: 0

As system designers seek to manipulate larger data sets while reducing power consumption, ferroelectric memory may be part of the solution. It offers an intermediate step between the speed of DRAM and the stability of flash memory. Changing the polarization of ferroelectric domains is extremely fast, and the polarization remains stable without power for years, if not decades. FeFETs, one of ... » read more

Is Maskless Lithography Coming Into Its Own?
By Katherine Derbyshire - 17 Aug, 2023 - Comments: 0

Lithographers have always faced tradeoffs between speed and flexibility. Steppers are very good at printing hundreds or thousands of identical features onto hundreds or thousands of wafers. They are not especially good at handling surfaces with significant topography, though. Nor is customization feasible. Every exposure uses the same reticle. Direct write e-beam lithography has long been us... » read more

3D In-Memory Compute Making Progress
By Katherine Derbyshire - 17 Aug, 2023 - Comments: 0

Indium compounds are showing great promise for 3D in-memory compute and RF integration, but more work is needed. Researchers continue to make headway into 3D device integration particularly with indium tin oxide (ITO), which is widely used in display manufacturing. Recent work indicates that different compounds of indium oxide doped with tin, gallium, or zinc combinations may boost transisto... » read more

Using ML For Improved Fab Scheduling
By Katherine Derbyshire - 25 Jul, 2023 - Comments: 0

Expanding fab capacity is slow and expensive even under ideal circumstances. It has been still more difficult in recent years, as pandemic-related shortages have strained equipment supply chains. When integrated circuit demand rises faster than expansions can fill the gap, fabs try to find “hidden” capacity through improved operations. They hope that more efficient workflows will allow e... » read more

Will CFETs Help The Industry Go Vertical?
By Katherine Derbyshire - 15 Jun, 2023 - Comments: 0

Device scaling is getting much harder at each new process node. Even defining what it means is becoming a challenge. In the past, gate length and metal pitch went down and device density went up. Today, this is much harder for several reasons: • Short channel effects limit gate-length scaling; • Parasitic effects limit device density, and • Metal resistance limits metal pitch. So r... » read more

Managing Water Supplies With Machine Learning
By Katherine Derbyshire - 18 May, 2023 - Comments: 0

From wet benches to cooling systems, fabs use vast amounts of water — millions of gallons per day at a typical foundry. In this era of climate change, though, water supplies are becoming less reliable and municipal water systems are becoming more restrictive. For example, local utilities might restrict a fab’s ability to draw from the public water supply, or might supply only treated wastew... » read more

Managing Yield With EUV Lithography And Stochastics
By Katherine Derbyshire - 18 May, 2023 - Comments: 1

Identifying issues that actually affect yield is becoming more critical and more difficult at advanced nodes, but there is progress. Although they are closely related, yield management and process control are not the same. Yield management seeks to maximize the number of functioning devices at the end of the line. Process control focuses on keeping each individual device layer within its des... » read more

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