What Do Feedback Loops For AI/ML Devices Really Show?


AI/ML is being designed into an increasing number of chips and systems these days, but predicting how they will behave once they're in the field is, at best, a good guess. Typically, verification, validation, and testing of systems is done before devices reach the market, with an increasing amount of in-field data analysis for systems where reliability is potentially mission- or safety-criti... » read more

Automotive Test Moves In-System


With the electrification of automobiles, it’s not enough to test the new electronics thoroughly at the end of the manufacturing process. Safety standards now require that tests be performed live, in the field, with contingency plans should a test fail. “We see clear demand from the automotive semiconductor supply chain for design functionality specifically aimed at in-system monitoring,�... » read more

Why Improving Auto Chip Reliability Is So Hard


Tools and ecosystems that focus on reliability and the long-term health of chips are starting to coalesce for the automotive electronics industry. Data gleaned from a chip’s lifecycle — design, verification, test, manufacturing, and in-field operation — will become key to achieving the longevity, reliability, functional safety, and security of newer generations of automobiles. Having s... » read more

Demystifying ADC


ADC stands for automatic defect classification. It’s a software that classifies defects based on image and metadata such as location, ROI, and other information associated with a defect. ADC is not a mysterious black box that’s impossible to understand. Instead, ADC classifies defects the same way a human operator does, by first being trained by an expert. Then, just like human classificati... » read more

Data Issues Mount In Chip Manufacturing


For yield management systems the old calculation adage, "garbage in/garbage out" still rings true. Aligning and cleaning data remains a dirty business. With the increased value in data in the semiconductor supply chain, there now are essentially two supply chains running in parallel. One involves the physical product being created, while the other includes the data associated with each proce... » read more

A View Across The Siliconscape


What would it look like if you had the magical ability to look inside a chip and cast your eyes across the tumultuous activities within the silicon itself? If you could gaze into the die and see the real-time peaks and troughs of voltage supply, stressed areas with high activity and heat and areas of calm where uneven workloads create idle processor cores. A vision of the chip landscape, seasca... » read more

Parallel RF Test For Next-Generation Communications


The test economics of state-of-the-art smartphones, tablets and routers demand highly parallel RF test. We are addressing this next wave in RF communications test, enabled by Wi-Fi 6E, operating in the 6GHz band and coming up to 7.125GHz. This forthcoming update to the Wi-Fi standard will extend the features and capabilities, including higher performance, lower latency, and faster data rates fo... » read more

Testing VCSEL Devices On-Wafer


Vertical-Cavity Surface-Emitting Lasers, or VCSELs, are seeing unparalleled demand, thanks to new uses for them in smartphone and automotive applications. 3D sensing for facial recognition is the key application in smartphones, with up to three VCSEL dies being integrated into a single phone. Emerging automotive applications such as driver monitoring, infotainment control and LiDAR will provide... » read more

The Decadal Plan for Semiconductors


Semiconductor Research Corporation and Semiconductor Industry Association released the full Decadal Plan for Semiconductors: a roadmap, for 2030 and beyond. It’s a report that outlines chip research and funding priorities for the next decade. Find the Report Overview, Abridged Report and the Full Report here. » read more

Manufacturing Bits: Feb. 8


Metalens for AR/VR The Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences has developed a new lens technology for use in next-generation virtual and augmented reality systems. Researchers have developed a so-called metalens technology. The two-millimeter achromatic metalens is capable of focusing the RGB (red, green, blue) colors at once without any aberrations. Today, s... » read more

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