How Do Multi-Beam Mask Writers Enable Curvilinear Shapes On Photomasks?

By Jan Willis - 15 Apr, 2021 - Comments: 0

Multi-beam mask writing was identified as one of the ways to eliminate hurdles to manufacturing curvilinear mask shapes in the last installment of this blog. Our blog series continues with an educational video explanation of why and how multi-beam writers reduce write time for curvilinear mask shapes that took place during an eBeam Initiative panel discussion with industry experts during the 20... » read more

Going Vertical With GaN Devices

By Katherine Derbyshire - 15 Apr, 2021 - Comments: 1

Gallium nitride has long been on the horizon for a variety of uses in semiconductors, but implementing this on a commercial scale has been relatively slow due to a variety of technical hurdles. That may be about to change. The wide bandgap of GaN makes it particularly attractive material for power conversion applications. Still, actually realizing its benefits in commercial devices has been ... » read more

Global Fab Equipment Spending Poised To Log Three Straight Years Of Record Highs

By Christian Dieseldorff - 15 Apr, 2021 - Comments: 0

Fueled by surging pandemic-inspired demand for electronics devices, the global semiconductor industry is on track to register a rare three consecutive years of record highs in fab equipment spending with a 16% increase in 2020 followed by forecast gains of 15.5% this year and 12% in 2022, SEMI highlighted in its quarterly World Fab Forecast report. Fabs worldwide will add about $10 billion ... » read more

Advanced Packaging For Improved Network Communications

By Amkor - 14 Apr, 2021 - Comments: 0

The global demand for data increases day-by-day. At the same time, the data transmission rate will increase to exceed 1 Terabits per second (Tbps) near the middle of this decade. To address this situation and provide a third alternative, engineers are increasingly looking into the chiplet approach with multiple smaller dies integrated in a single package. Only the logic portion that needs to... » read more

Applications, Challenges For Using AI In Fabs

By Mark LaPedus - 14 Apr, 2021 - Comments: 0

Experts at the Table: Semiconductor Engineering sat down to discuss chip scaling, transistors, new architectures, and packaging with Jerry Chen, head of global business development for manufacturing & industrials at Nvidia; David Fried, vice president of computational products at Lam Research; Mark Shirey, vice president of marketing and applications at KLA; and Aki Fujimura, CEO of D2S. Wh... » read more

Blog Review: April 14

By Jesse Allen - 14 Apr, 2021 - Comments: 0

Siemens EDA's Jake Wiltgen provides an overview of setting up an executing a fault injection campaign to prove that the IC or IP will safely operate under a faulted state caused by a random hardware failure, required to meet higher ASIL targets for ISO 26262 functional safety certification. Synopsys' Taylor Armerding considers the state of medical device security and the growing attack surfa... » read more

SVT (Six Stacked Vertical Transistors) SRAM Cell Architecture Introduction: Design And Process Challenges Assessment

By Coventor - 14 Apr, 2021 - Comments: 0

This paper presents a new design architecture for advanced logic SRAM cells using six vertical transistors (with carrier transport along the Z direction), stacked one on top of each other. Virtual fabrication technology was used to identify different process integration schemes to enable the fabrication of this architecture with a competitive XY footprint at an advanced logic node: a unit cell ... » read more

EDA, IP Revenues Soar

By Ed Sperling - 13 Apr, 2021 - Comments: 1

EDA and IP revenues increased 15.4% to $3.032 billion in Q4 2020, according to a just-released report, with huge increases reported in China and India, and a solid double-digit increase in the Americas. EDA/IP revenue from China increased 66.4% in Q4 EDA/IP compared with the same period in 2019, and for the 2020 calendar year it was up 52.3%. India's spending was up 32% for the quarter. And ... » read more

Manufacturing Bits: April 13

By Mark LaPedus - 13 Apr, 2021 - Comments: 0

Error-correction DNA storage Los Alamos National Laboratory has developed a key technology that could one day pave the way towards DNA storage. Researchers have developed a technology called the Adaptive DNA Storage Codec (ADS Codex). ADS Codex is software that translates digital binary files into the four-letter genetic alphabet needed for DNA storage. Deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) is a m... » read more

Requirements For Exhaustive SoC Reset Domain Crossing Checks

By Joe Mallett - 13 Apr, 2021 - Comments: 0

It is common to read that the numbers of clock domains and power domains in system-on-chip (SoC) designs are increasing, but for some reason there is less discussion about resets. There is no doubt that the number of reset domains is also rising; studies have shown that the single reset of twenty years ago has been replaced by a complex network of 40-50 domains in many chips and even 150 in som... » read more

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