category: Special Reports

category: IoT, Security & Automotive

Who’s Profiting From Complexity
By Ed Sperling - 21 Dec, 2015 - Comments: 0

Tool vendors' profits increasingly are coming from segments that performed relatively poorly in the past, reflecting both a rise in complexity in designing chips and big improvements in the tools themselves. The impacts of power, memory congestion, advanced-node effects such as process variation, [getkc id="160" kc_name="electromigration"] and RC delay in [getkc id="36" kc_name="interconnect... » read more

Foundries Face Challenges in 2016
By Mark LaPedus - 17 Dec, 2015 - Comments: 2

Generally, 2015 has been a challenging year in the foundry business. For one thing, the foundry industry will register modest growth in 2015. In addition, the foundry customer base is consolidating. And on the leading edge, foundries took longer than expected to ramp up their 16nm/14nm finFET processes. So, after an eventful year in 2015, what’s in store for the foundry business in 2016? I... » read more

Using DNA Differently
By Ernest Worthman - 03 Dec, 2015 - Comments: 0

As the Internet of Everything creeps closer and closer, technologies from wireless to biometrics are undergoing metamorphosis. On the biometrics front, there is a vast array of applications, from fingerprints to facial recognition—even finger vein recognition. But the one that is garnering a lot of attention these days is DNA sequencing, and a subset called rapid DNA sequencing. Both are b... » read more

Consolidation’s Aftermath
By Ed Sperling - 02 Dec, 2015 - Comments: 4

The recent spate of industry consolidation continues to have repercussions across the semiconductor industry. Some of those effects will subside once the deals are either approved or nixed by regulatory agencies. Others will raise questions for months or years to come. Consolidation is not a new trend in the semiconductor industry, but the pace and size of the acquisitions in the past year a... » read more

Fan-Out Packaging Gains Steam
By Mark LaPedus - 23 Nov, 2015 - Comments: 1

Fan-outs are creating a buzz and gaining steam in the market at a pace far beyond what anyone would have expected even at the start of the year. The approach, which has been around for several years, is a wafer-level packaging process that enables ultra-thin, high-density packages. So why the buzz? Apple is apparently moving to [getkc id="202" kc_name="fan-out"] packaging, according to an... » read more

The Secret World Of Ciphers
By Ernest Worthman - 09 Nov, 2015 - Comments: 1

The arena of creating secure environments in the hardware and software industries is somewhat shrouded in mystery and misunderstanding. Certainly, some types of ciphers are relatively straightforward and uncomplicated. For example, there is one called the Caesar cipher, which is one of the most prolific, and simple encryption techniques. Basically, this is simply aligning two alphabets and s... » read more

More Choices, Less Certainty
By Ed Sperling - 04 Nov, 2015 - Comments: 3

The increasing cost of feature scaling is splintering the chip market, injecting uncertainty into a global supply chain that has been continually fine-tuned for decades. Those with deep enough resources and a clear need for density will likely follow Moore's Law, at least until 7nm. What comes after that will depend on a variety of factors ranging from available lithography—EUV, multi-bea... » read more

What China Is Planning
By Mark LaPedus - 21 Oct, 2015 - Comments: 1

Over the years, China has unveiled several initiatives to advance its domestic semiconductor industry. China has made some progress at each turn, although every plan has fallen short of expectations. But now, the nation is embarking on several new and bold initiatives that could alter the IC landscape. China’s new initiatives address at least three key challenges for its IC industry: 1. C... » read more

Abstraction: Necessary But Evil
By Brian Bailey - 14 Oct, 2015 - Comments: 1

Abstraction allows aspects of a design to be described in an executable form much earlier in the flow. But some abstractions are breaking down, and an increasing amount of lower-level information has to be brought upstream in order to provide estimates that are close enough to reality so informed decisions can be made. The value of abstractions in design cannot be overstated. High levels of ... » read more

The Price Of Consolidation
By Ed Sperling - 24 Sep, 2015 - Comments: 0

Consolidation is causing far-reaching changes across the global semiconductor ecosystem due to the size of companies being bought and the dearth of startups to replenish those being acquired. Coupled with the rising cost and difficulty of shrinking features down to advanced process nodes—many argue that is the largest driver of consolidation—the market dynamics for who's buying IP, EDA t... » read more

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