category: Top Stories

category: IoT, Security & Automotive

Big Challenges In Verifying Cyber-Physical Systems
By Ed Sperling - 25 Feb, 2021 - Comments: 0

Semiconductor Engineering sat down to discuss cyber-physical systems and how to verify them with Jean-Marie Brunet, senior director for the Emulation Division at Siemens EDA; Frank Schirrmeister, senior group director for solution marketing at Cadence; Maurizio Griva, R&D Manager at Reply; and Laurent Maillet-Contoz, system and architect specialist at STMicroelectronics. This discussion was... » read more

Part Average Tests For Auto ICs Not Good Enough
By Anne Meixner - 24 Feb, 2021 - Comments: 0

Part Average Testing (PAT) has long been used in automotive. For some semiconductor technologies it remains viable, while for others it is no longer good enough. Automakers are bracing for chips developed at advanced process nodes with much trepidation. Tight control of their supply chains and a reliance upon mature electronic processes so far have enabled them to increase electronic compone... » read more

Brazil Paves New Semiconductor Path
By Mark LaPedus - 22 Feb, 2021 - Comments: 3

After struggling to get its semiconductor industry off the ground for the last several years, Brazil finally may have found its place in the market with the development of IC design services, memory modules and packaging. Brazil exists well under the radar when it comes to semiconductors. But with little or no fanfare, the nation over the years has been trying to build fabs, assemble chips a... » read more

Shortages, Challenges Engulf Packaging Supply Chain
By Mark LaPedus - 18 Feb, 2021 - Comments: 0

A surge in demand for chips is impacting the IC packaging supply chain, causing shortages of select manufacturing capacity, various package types, key components, and equipment. Spot shortages in packaging surfaced in late 2020 and have since spread to other sectors. There are now a variety of choke points in the supply chain. Wirebond and flip-chip capacity will remain tight throughout 2021... » read more

Power Converter Chip Research Booms
By Katherine Derbyshire - 18 Feb, 2021 - Comments: 0

Power electronics are booming, fueled by demand ranging from induction chargers for wearable and portable electronics, to charging stations for electric vehicles. An estimated 80% of all U.S. electricity will pass through some form of power converter by 2030, said Yogesh Ramadass, director of power management at Texas Instruments' Kilby Labs. Transportation applications, in particular, deman... » read more

Breaking The 2nm Barrier
By Mark LaPedus - 18 Feb, 2021 - Comments: 4

Chipmakers continue to make advancements with transistor technologies at the latest process nodes, but the interconnects within these structures are struggling to keep pace. The chip industry is working on several technologies to solve the interconnect bottleneck, but many of those solutions are still in R&D and may not appear for some time — possibly not until 2nm, which is expected t... » read more

FeFETs Bring Promise And Challenges
By Bryon Moyer - 17 Feb, 2021 - Comments: 3

Ferroelectric FETs (FeFETs) and memory (FeRAM) are generating high levels of interest in the research community. Based on a physical mechanism that hasn’t yet been commercially exploited, they join the other interesting new physics ideas that are in various stages of commercialization. “FeRAM is very promising, but it's like all promising memory technologies — it takes a while to get b... » read more

Design For Reliability
By Brian Bailey - 15 Feb, 2021 - Comments: 1

Circuit aging is emerging as a mandatory design concern across a swath of end markets, particularly in markets where advanced-node chips are expected to last for more than a few years. Some chipmakers view this as a competitive opportunity, but others are unsure we fully understand how those devices will age. Aging is the latest in a long list of issues being pushed further left in the desig... » read more

Usage Models Driving Data Center Architecture Changes
By Ann Mutschler - 11 Feb, 2021 - Comments: 0

Data center architectures are undergoing a significant change, fueled by more data and much greater usage from remote locations. Part of this shift involves the need to move some processing closer to the various memory hierarchies, from SRAM to DRAM to storage. There is more data to process, and it takes less energy and time to process that data in place. But workloads also are being distrib... » read more

The Problem With Benchmarks
By Brian Bailey - 11 Feb, 2021 - Comments: 1

Benchmarks long have been used to compare products, but what makes a good benchmark and who should be trusted with their creation? The answer to those questions is more difficult than it may appear on the surface, and some benchmarks are being used in surprising ways. Everyone loves a simple, clear benchmark, but that is only possible when the selection criteria are equally simple. Unfortuna... » read more

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