Are We Looking At The IoT Through Rose-Colored Glasses?


There’s been a lot of anticipation and promise associated with the explosive growth expected from the deployment of the Internet of Things. The prospect of 30 billion to 50 billion connected devices and all the associated electronics brings rosy visions of a return to double-digit semiconductor industry growth rates. Let’s take a look at the realities of the impending impact. MEMS, ... » read more

From Uncertainty To New Markets


The 11th annual SEMI/Gartner Market Symposium at SEMICON West 2016 presented diverse perspectives on trends and developments in the macroeconomic environment as well as the semiconductor manufacturing supply chain. The themes have significant and immediate impact on the industry and include economic uncertainty, Brexit, China’s ambitious plans for an indigenous chip industry, and evolving end... » read more

Roots Of Distrust Spread


For most of the history of semiconductors there has been a persistent fear that someone would steal intellectual property from one company and sell it to another. There have been innumerable lawsuits involving corporate secrets that cross from one company to the next, and from one country to the next. The biggest concerns always were at the leading edges of technology, where those secrets w... » read more

5 Takeaways From Semicon


As usual, the recent Semicon West trade show was a busy, if not an overwhelming, event. The event, which took place in San Francisco in early July, featured presentations on the usual subjects in the semiconductor and IC-equipment sectors. There were sessions on 200mm, next-generation processes, transistors, lithography, MEMS and many others. In no particular order, here are my five ta... » read more

Material And Process Challenges In A Changing Memory Landscape


Moore’s Law has fueled the semiconductor industry’s growth for decades. But as the complexity of scaling increases, extending the economics of Moore’s Law is becoming a challenge. One example illustrating the challenges of maintaining the economic benefits of Moore’s Law is the difficulty of IC chip patterning. Today, this requires an expensive litho scanner, a complicated spacer and... » read more

Colorless vs. Colored Double-Patterning Design Flows


Colored vs. Colorless double patterning design flows—do you know which one is best for your design? What options does your foundry allow? Do you debug one differently from the other? In this short video, I’ll demonstrate the differences between colored and colorless DP design flows, and explain the options and potential pitfalls of each approach. With a better understanding of how to design... » read more

Pattern Dependence Process Modeling


First order process modeling can help tremendously with process setup and integration challenges that occur in a semiconductor fabrication flow, by visualizing process variation problems “virtually” prior to actual fabrication. In some instances, a deeper level of complexity needs to be added to the process model to capture the effects of variation in the process. Specific examples inclu... » read more

3D Printing: What Does It Mean For The Semiconductor Industry?


Semico Research was pleased to host the 3D printing TechXPOT at SEMICON West 2016, in conjunction with SEMI. We also hosted the inaugural 3D printing session at SEMICON West 2014. What is striking is how much the 3D printing industry has changed in those two years. In 2014, 3D printing was at the height of media attention; the major questions were when each home would have its own 3D printer. I... » read more

Foundry Capacity Investment Led By Taiwan And China


The era of every company building a captive fab for next-generation products is ancient history, as foundries throughout the world provide leading-edge technology and flexible capacity in a timely and cost-effective manner. In today’s mobile-driven ecosystem, faster product development cycles and time-to-market have become the norm for the industry. Now, this trend is even spreading to the co... » read more

Data Analytics To Drive IC Shift


The adoption of predictive analytics has the potential to drive the next round of IC industry innovation and growth. Much of the necessary data handling technology is now available from other sectors. However, to fully capitalize on the possibilities, the IC manufacturing world faces particular challenges in figuring out how to get a high yield of actionable information from its streams of vari... » read more

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