Power Semiconductors: A Deep Dive Into Materials, Manufacturing & Business


Whether you’re the owner of the average smartphone, commuting on trains, or driving around in a Tesla, you use power semiconductor devices every day. In a technology-dependent world, these devices are everywhere, and demand for more types of chips using different materials is growing. In the past, most engineers paid little attention to power semiconductors. They were deemed commodity, off... » read more

Week In Review: Semiconductor Manufacturing, Test


The U.S. Commerce Department outlined proposed rules for the Chips for America Incentives Program, including additional details on national security measures applicable to the CHIPS Incentives Program included in the CHIPS and Science Act. The rules limit funding recipients from investing in the expansion of semiconductor manufacturing in foreign countries of concern, notably the People’s Rep... » read more

Week In Review: Design, Low Power


Synopsys rolled out an AI-driven design suite called Synopsys.ai at the Synopsys User Group conference this week, which it says reduces time to better results at multiple points in the design flow. The company noted the new technology uses reinforcement learning, which compensates for relatively small data sets by allowing engineers to interact with that data more easily at any point, and to ch... » read more

Week In Review: Automotive, Security and Pervasive Computing


The Biden administration uncorked a fueling station locator tool to help consumers locate charging stations by fuel type, a plan to install 24,000 charging stations at federal facilities by next fiscal year, as well as other clean energy commitments. Source: Department of Energy: Alternative Fuels Data Center & Station Locator Europe is making progress on a plan that requires all ... » read more

Blog Review: March 29


Siemens' Heather George suggests adopting a shift-left strategy for complex designs that integrate multiple dies into a package and examines the challenges and opportunities for performing comprehensive tests on 2.5D and 3D IC designs. Synopsys' Shekhar Kapoor notes that when considering whether a system will perform as intended, techniques that work well for monolithic SoCs may not be as we... » read more

Week In Review: Manufacturing, Test


TEL announced plans to build a ¥2.2 billion ($168.2 million) production and logistics center at its Tohoku Office to increase capacity. Construction of the 57,000m² facility, which will be used for manufacturing thermal processing and single-wafer deposition systems, is slated to start in spring 2024, and expected to be completed in fall 2025. Toshiba's board voted in favor of a 2 trillio... » read more

Week In Review: Auto, Security, Pervasive Computing


Automotive, mobility Ford expects to lose $3 billion from EV sales this year, but said that part of the business will begin generating profits soon. The company still expects to hit its overall profit numbers for the year, however. Volvo is making a new electric vehicle (EV) in China and exporting it to Europe and Japan, according to a Nikkei Asia interview. Volvo is owned by Zhejiang Geely... » read more

Week In Review: Design, Low Power


Renesas will acquire Panthronics, a fabless semiconductor company specializing in high-performance wireless products, expanding its reach into near-field communications for financial, IoT, asset tracking, wireless charging, and automotive applications. The two companies already had collaborated on designs for mobile point-of-sale terminals, wireless charging, and smart metering. Renesas also... » read more

Blog Review: March 22


Siemens EDA's Dan Yu warns that the unavailability of verification data is slowing down the development of advanced machine learning for verification, with valuable data assets either siloed among different team members or projects or simply discarded due to the lack of analytic techniques to extract value from them. Synopsys' Richard Solomon and Dana Neustadter point to the need for hardwar... » read more

Week In Review: Semiconductor Manufacturing, Test


Samsung announced plans to invest $230 billion (300 trillion won) over the next two decades to construct the world’s largest semiconductor manufacturing complex in South Korea’s Gyeonggi Province, reports AP. The complex will consist of five new semiconductor plants producing memory and logic chips. Chips will be the enabling engines, requiring massive investments in new technology, m... » read more

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