Silicon Catalyst: Semiconductor Incubator


Walk into any hall at CES this year and you're overwhelmed by the number of startups. Try doing the same at any semiconductor show, though, and the picture looks far different. Because of the startup capital required, and the amount of time it takes to see a return on investment, semiconductor entrepreneurs are having a much tougher time. Enter Silicon Catalyst, an incubator that was just st... » read more

The Danger of Using Patents


As I have written about recently, [getkc id="30" kc_name="emulation"] is a hot topic for EDA and the number and length of lawsuits related to the technology is almost overwhelming. The latest phase has just concluded with a summary judgment against [getentity id="22035" e_name="Synopsys"] on Jan. 20. It all started in late 2012 when Synopsys, which had just acquired [getentity id="22738" e_nam... » read more

The Week In Review: Manufacturing


The profile of a "tech geek" is typically a male. The label itself has transitioned from a negative to a positive connotation, according to new data from Crucial.com. In fact, almost half of women (45%) identified tech entrepreneurs as the most desirable potential spouse, compared to only 5% of women who would prefer a football player for a spouse. More than one in three women want a significan... » read more

Week 33: Changes To The DAC Show Floor


At this point in my blogging/vlogging career I’m assuming I have an audience of thousands who hang on my every word. But the few of you left (okay, so this is tongue in cheek… I have in fact seen the number of YouTube views!) who have not seen my DAC TV interview with Brian Fuller (below) need to know that we are changing DAC exhibit hours and moving the evening receptions on Monday and Tue... » read more

The Week In Review: Design/IoT


Legal A U.S. District Court invalidated three patents related to emulation, which were part of a patent infringement lawsuit filed by Synopsys against Mentor Graphics. The fourth patent will be reviewed by the U.S. Patent Trial and Appeal Board. Synopsys said it is evaluating an appeal and criticized the decision. "Synopsys strongly disagrees with the court's decision," said a Synopsys spokesp... » read more

Tech Talk: Photomask Challenges


GlobalFoundries' Bob Pack talks with Semiconductor Engineering about new problems experienced by photomask shops and how does lithography affects it all. [youtube vid=8hJwVhaZhFc] » read more

Redefining Progress


After lots of wrangling over the whether Moore's Law is alive, dead, or languishing at somewhere in between, that discussion now seems about as relevant as the look and feel of Apple's early Macintosh operating system—an issue that back in the 1980s spawned a very public war with Microsoft. Today that argument is about as relevant as whether Betamax was better than VHS. Whether it's Moor... » read more

Next Channel Materials?


Chipmakers are making a giant leap from planar transistors to [getkc id="185" kc_name="finFETs"]. Initially, [getentity id="22846" e_name="Intel"] moved into finFET production at 22nm and is now ramping up its second-generation finFETs at 14nm. And the other foundries will enter the finFET fray at 16nm/14nm. So what’s next? Chipmakers will likely extend the finFET architecture to both 10nm... » read more

Manufacturing And Packaging Changes For 2015


This year more than 26 people provided predictions for 2015. Most of these came from the EDA industry, so the results may be rather biased. However, ecosystems are coming closer together in many parts of the semiconductor food chain, meaning that the EDA companies often can see what is happening in dependent industries and in the system design houses. Thus their predictions may have already res... » read more

One-On-One: Aaron Thean


Semiconductor Engineering sat down to discuss process technology, transistor trends and other topics with Aaron Thean, vice president of process technologies and director of the logic devices R&D program at Imec. SE: Chipmakers are ramping up the 16nm/14nm logic node, with 10nm and 7nm in R&D. What’s the current timeline for 10nm and 7nm? Thean: 10nm is on its way. We will see r... » read more

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