category: Blogs – MD

category: IoT, Security & Automotive

The Route To Faster Physical Verification And Better Designs
By Jean-Marie Brunet - 18 Sep, 2014 - Comments: 0

By Nancy Nguyen & Jean-Marie Brunet As we’ve moved to today’s leading-edge nodes, physical layout designers have faced more and more challenges to get their design to tape-out on schedule. Timing becomes increasingly difficult to converge, power reduction for both IR and leakage becomes a big issue, and most importantly, how do we meet all of the ever-growing and more complex signoff d... » read more

This Is What 450mm Wafers Look Like
By SEMI - 14 Aug, 2014 - Comments: 0

The first fully patterned 450mm wafers were on display at SEMICON West 2014 in South Hall and also showcased in the 450mm Technology Development Session. Fully patterned 450mm wafers produced using Molecular Imprints’ Imprio nanoimprint lithography (NIL) tool have been shown before (including at SEMI ISS meeting in January 2013). However, the 450mm wafers on display at SEMICON West were produ... » read more

Self-Aligned Double Patterning—Part Deux
By David Abercrombie - 14 Aug, 2014 - Comments: 0

In my last article, I introduced you to the basic Self-Aligned Double-Patterning (SADP) process that is one of the potential candidate techniques for processing metal layers at 10nm and below, but let’s have a quick recap. SADP uses a deposition and etch step process to create spacers surrounding a patterned shape (Figure 1). As you can see, there are two masking steps—the first mask is cal... » read more

Plotting IBM Micro’s Future
By Mark LaPedus - 14 Aug, 2014 - Comments: 1

It’s been a wild ride for IBM’s Microelectronics Group. Neither IBM, nor the other parties involved, have made any public comments about the recent events concerning IBM Micro. Much of the drama has played out in the media. Based on those reports, here’s a rough outline of the events. Not long ago, IBM put its loss-ridden chip unit on the block to shore up the company’s bottom lin... » read more

FinFET Ramp: Changing Market Dynamics?
By Joanne Itow - 14 Aug, 2014 - Comments: 1

Rolling out a new semiconductor technology always has its share of challenges, but it seems like the 14nm finFET process node is starting off with more than its share of delays and speculation. This week Intel revealed some of the details for its new microarchitecture, Broadwell, and their first product, the Intel Core M processor, to be manufactured using their second-generation finFET, 14... » read more

More People Use Phones Than Toothbrushes…
By Karen Savala - 11 Aug, 2014 - Comments: 0

“Business Has Only Two Functions – Marketing and Innovation” — Milan Kundera There may be more to running a successful business than marketing and innovation, but these two functions were front-and-center at SEMICON West 2014. This year’s industry gathering was an important, and positive, step forward together. Because of the gravity of the challenges facing our industry – funda... » read more

Next-Generation Sustainability Gets More Challenging
By Paula Doe - 28 Jul, 2014 - Comments: 0

The semiconductor industry has made major progress on reducing energy usage and water consumption, and effectively abating its emissions, as companies made sustainability a core requirement in their design of new processes and tools. But it’s about to get considerably harder. That means more opportunities to add value with innovative technologies, and also more need for collaboration. Next... » read more

Disruptive R&D
By Paula Doe - 17 Jul, 2014 - Comments: 0

Leading university researchers presented their most promising technologies — describing developments ranging from sustainable metal cluster technology (that’s already spawned three notable startups) to resonance-based detection for more accurate MEMS devices — at the new Breakthrough Research Technologies session and the Silicon Innovation Forum at SEMICON West 2014. OSU metal cluster... » read more

Applied Materials And Tokyo Electron Unveil Eteris
By Kevin Winston - 17 Jul, 2014 - Comments: 1

By Kevin Winston Applied Materials and Tokyo Electron (TEL) achieved another important milestone, unveiling the name of our combined company—Eteris [pronounced: eh-TAIR-iss]. Tetsuro Higashi, chairman and CEO of TEL, and Gary Dickerson, president and CEO of Applied Materials, revealed the new company name and logo to an enthusiastic crowd assembled for Applied’s annual analyst briefing ... » read more

All Roads Point Up…But When?
By Ed Sperling - 17 Jul, 2014 - Comments: 0

One of the clear messages at Semicon West this month was that stacked die are coming soon. The only question is how soon. This isn’t so simple to answer. It depends on a lot of factors, and for most of them there aren’t any clear answers. First of all, no one is certain what the cost equation will look like at 14/16nm, particularly once the process technology becomes more mature. Ther... » read more

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