Research Bits: Mar. 25


2D materials in 3D transistors Researchers at the University of California Santa Barbara investigated 3D gate-all-around (GAA) transistors made using 2D semiconductors. They considered three different approaches to channel stacking: nano-sheet FETs, nano-fork FETs, and nano-plate FETs. The nano-plate FET architecture, which exploits lateral stacking of 2D layers, was found to maximize the g... » read more

Research Bits: Mar. 18


High-frequency signal conversion Researchers from ETH Zurich developed a plasmonic modulator capable of converting electrical signals into optical signals with a frequency of over a terahertz. The modulator is a tiny nanostructure made up of various materials, including gold, and makes use of the interaction between light and free electrons within the gold. It converts signals directly, red... » read more

New Data Center Protocols Tackle AI


Compute nodes in AI and HPC data centers increasingly need to reach out beyond the chip or package for additional resources to process growing workloads. They may commandeer other nodes in a rack (scale-up) or employ resources in other racks (scale-out). The problem is there currently is no open scale-up protocol. So far this task has been dominated by proprietary protocols, because much of ... » read more

Reducing Voltage Guard Band


The 2025 International Solid State Circuits Conference was held in San Francisco from February 16th to 20th. IBM presented three papers[1,2,3] based on their Samsung 5nm Tellum II chip. These are interesting in terms of the technology and the specifics about the design and measures taken to improve energy efficiency and reduce power. My first remembrance of a company specializing in guard-ba... » read more

Easier Assertion Development And Debug With Simulation Replay


By Vin Liao and Robert Ruiz Assertions and assertion IP (AIP) are a core part of the register transfer level (RTL) verification environment for all modern chip development projects. Assertions can be considered as statements of design intent, specifying how the design should behave—and not behave—under specified conditions. They range from simple statements, for example, that a multi-bit... » read more

Enabling Next-Generation Automotive Zonal Architecture With MIPI


The evolution of automotive architecture has followed three key stages: distributed architecture, domain-centralized architecture, and emerging zonal architecture. Each stage reflects advancements in functionality, complexity, and efficiency. Distributed architecture, prevalent in early vehicles, relied on numerous function-specific Electronic Control Units (ECUs). While effective for modularit... » read more

Fulfilling 3D-IC Trade-Off Analyses (And Benefits) With An AI Assist


As we walk around with supercomputers in our pockets and work at desks on even more powerful supercomputers, a lot of processing has moved to the cloud. As a politician described, this can be problematic on a day when there are no clouds in the sky. The world discovered the truth of those words when Crowdstrike struck on July 19, 2024. System designers who spent years balancing power, performan... » read more

Static Timing Analysis: Cell Delay Vs. Cell Drive Strength


Have you ever wondered how a predator succeeds or its prey escapes in the jungle? It’s the breathtaking speed and agility of the predator (say, a leopard) as it chases prey (say, a deer). The VLSI circuit operation is very similar. If the driving cell is strong, it takes less delay and changes the output quicker than a weaker driver, which produces a sluggish response and takes longer t... » read more

3D-IC For The Masses


The concepts of 3D-IC and chiplets have the whole industry excited. It potentially marks the next stage in the evolution of the IP industry, but so far, technical difficulties and cost have curtailed its usage to just a handful of companies. Even within those, they do not appear to be seeing benefits from heterogeneous integration or reuse. Attempts to make this happen are not new. "A decade... » read more

The Importance Of Safety Analysis In Automotive Systems Engineering


Over the years, automotive safety has maintained a top spot in the minds of original equipment manufacturers (OEMs). Self-driving vehicles, advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS), and AI-driven innovations designed to further protect us on the road are rapidly evolving. It’s been an exciting journey but not without some hiccups for automotive manufacturers along the way. For instance, a... » read more

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