Spiking Neural Networks Place Data In Time


Artificial neural networks have found a variety of commercial applications, from facial recognition to recommendation engines. Compute-in-memory accelerators seek to improve the computational efficiency of these networks by helping to overcome the von Neumann bottleneck. But the success of artificial neural networks also highlights their inadequacies. They replicate only a small subset of th... » read more

Advanced Materials For High-Temperature Process Integration


From the last several lithography nodes, in the 14 to 10nm range, to the latest nodes, in the 7 to 5nm range, the requirements for patterning and image transfer materials have increased dramatically. One of the key pinch points is the tradeoff between planarization and the high-temperature stability required from carbon films used in patterning and post-patterning process integration. Patter... » read more

Speeding Up Process Optimization With Virtual Processing


Advanced CMOS scaling and new memory technologies have introduced increasingly complex structures into the device manufacturing process. For example, the increase in NAND memory layers has achieved greater vertical NAND scaling and higher memory density, but has led to challenges in high aspect ratio etch patterning and foot print scaling issues. Unique integration and patterning schemes have b... » read more

Beyond-Line-Of-Sight Troposcatter Communications Primer


Though tropospheric scatter (troposcatter, or tropo) communications technology has existed since the 1950s and was used by the U.S. military from 1960 to 2002, this legacy technology is being revitalized in the wake of concerns around the reliability of tactical satellite communications (Satcom). For several decades, satellites were a reliable and secure method of communications that provided s... » read more

Atomic Layer Etch Expands To New Markets


The semiconductor industry is developing the next wave of applications for atomic layer etch (ALE), hoping to get a foothold in some new and emerging markets. ALE, a next-generation etch technology that removes materials at the atomic scale, is one of several tools used to process advanced devices in a fab. ALE moved into production for select applications around 2016, although the technolog... » read more

Copper Electrodeposition For Fan-Out Wafer-Level Packaging


As integrated circuit designers bring more sophisticated chip functionality into smaller spaces, heterogeneous integration, including 3D stacking of devices, becomes an increasingly useful and cost-effective way of mixing and connecting various functional technologies. One of the heterogeneous integration platforms gaining increased acceptance is high density fan-out wafer-level packaging (FOWL... » read more

Generalized Class-E Power Amplifier With Shunt Capacitance And Shunt Filter


This paper presents a generalized analysis of the Class-E power amplifier (PA) with a shunt capacitance and a shunt filter, leading to a revelation of a unique design flexibility that can be exploited either to extend the maximum operating frequency of the PA or to allow the use of larger active devices with higher power handling capability. The proposed PA fulfills zero voltage switching (ZVS)... » read more

Manufacturing Bits: July 14


Complementary FETs At the recent 2020 Symposia on VLSI Technology and Circuits, Imec presented a paper on a 3D complementary field-effect transistor (CFET) made on 300mm wafers. As a demonstration vehicle, Imec showed a CFET based on a 14nm process. Ideally, though, CFETs are next-generation transistors that are targeted for the 1nm node in the future. On the transistor front, chipmaker... » read more

Week In Review: Manufacturing, Test


Market research After years of falling demand, the PC market is back. The second quarter of 2020 ended well for the traditional PC market, including desktops, notebooks, and workstations. Global PC shipments jumped 11.2% year-over-year reaching a total of 72.3 million units, according to IDC. As restrictions around the world tightened in the first few weeks of the quarter, demand for notebo... » read more

Manufacturing Bits: July 6


Luminosity record Japan’s High Energy Accelerator Research Organization (KEK) has regained the world’s record for the highest luminosity achieved in a particle accelerator, beating the previous mark by CERN. KEK achieved the record in the SuperKEKB, a giant storage ring that combines an electron-positron collider with an advanced detector. This system is designed to explore fundamental ... » read more

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