Engineering For Next-Gen Memory Performance


When only a few electrons mean the difference between the ON and the OFF state, it’s difficult to manufacture [getkc id="22" kc_name="memory"] elements with consistent, reliable performance. This is the situation conventional capacitance-based memories face as critical dimensions drop to just a few nanometers. As a result, device designers are considering a wide range of alternative memory... » read more

What’s Wrong With Power Signoff


Power signoff used to be a checklist item before a design went to tapeout. But as power has become a critical factor in designs, particularly at advanced nodes, signing off on power now needs to be done at multiple points throughout the design flow. That alone adds even greater complexity to already complex design processes because it requires fixed reference points and scenarios for taking mea... » read more

Heartbleed And The Internet Of Things


Heartbleed is not a country and western song, but many wish it were. It’s a programming glitch with the potential to cause disastrous and widespread compromises on seemingly secure data. By some estimates, the flaw in the heartbleed code has allowed hackers to collect personal data, including passwords, undetected, for as long as two years. Exactly how much data has been breached, and what... » read more

Introduction To Quantum Computing


Quantum computing has attracted a lot of attention lately. Recent revelations about the extent of the U.S. National Security Agency’s data collection programs, along with several large-scale corporate data breaches, have called attention to the need for secure communications. Quantum computing has potentially far-reaching implications for data security, both reducing the effectiveness of conv... » read more

Billions And Billions Invested


Over the years, next-generation [getkc id="80" kc_name="lithography"] (NGL) has suffered various setbacks and delays. But until recently, the industry basically shrugged its shoulders and expressed relatively little anxiety about the NGL delays. After all, optical lithography was doing the job in the fab and NGL would eventually materialize. Today, however, the mood is different. In fact, th... » read more

Pain Management


In part one of this series, the focus was on overlapping and new pain points in the semiconductor flow, from initial conception of what needs to be in a chip all the way through to manufacturing. Part two looks at how companies are attempting to manage that pain. It’s no secret that [getkc id="81" kc_name="SoC"]s are getting more complicated to design, debug and build, but the complexity i... » read more

Micro-Power Energy Harvesting


Since the beginning of the human race’s self-awareness, people have strived to harness the planet’s free energy sources; wind, solar, thermal and hydro. On a macro scale, man’s dreams have come to fruition. The next frontier is capturing energy on a micro scale. On the macro front, there are massive corridors of energy powered by wind and solar developments, which generate megawatts of... » read more

Biggest Verification Mistakes


[getkc id="81" kc_name="SoC"]s today have more processors and more embedded software than ever, including drivers and middleware just to get the hardware working. This, in turn, requires more and better [getkc id="10" kc_name="verification"]. Add to the challenge the fact that there is no one way to do verification and it is easy to comprehend how critical it is to for hardware and software tea... » read more

EUV Reaches A Crossroads


[gettech id="31045" comment="EUV"] (EUV) [getkc id="80" comment="lithography"] is at a crossroads. 2014 represents a critical year for the technology. In fact, it may answer a pressing question about EUV: Does it work or not? It’s too early to make that determination right now, but there are more uncertainties than ever for the oft-delayed technology. Originally aimed for the 65nm node in... » read more

More Pain In More Places


Pain is nothing new in to the semiconductor industry. In fact, the pain of getting complex designs completed on budget, and finding the bugs in those designs, has been responsible for decades of continuous growth in EDA, IP, test, packaging, and foundries. But going forward there is change afoot in every segment of the flow from architecture to design to layout to verification to manufacturi... » read more

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