Role Of IoT Software Expanding


IoT software is becoming much more sophisticated and complex as vendors seek to optimize it for specific applications, and far more essential for vendors looking to deliver devices on-time and on-budget across multiple market segments. That complexity varies widely across the IoT. For example, the sensor monitoring for a simple sprinkler system is far different than the preventive maintenanc... » read more

Startup Funding: April 2023


Packaging was a hot spot in April, with one of the largest rounds going to a middle-end-of-line advanced packaging company. A second packaging company also drew significant funding for its focus on wafer-level packaging for CMOS image sensors. Two packaging substrate manufacturers also saw investment. Two photoresist makers also drew sizeable rounds. Both they and the packaging companies are... » read more

AI Adoption Slow For Design Tools


A lot of excitement, and a fair amount of hype, surrounds what artificial intelligence (AI) can do for the EDA industry. But many challenges must be overcome before AI can start designing, verifying, and implementing chips for us. Should AI replace the algorithms in use today, or does it have a different role to play? At the end of the day, AI is a technique that has strengths and weaknesses... » read more

EDA Makes A Frenzied Push Into Machine Learning


Machine learning is becoming a competitive prerequisite for the EDA industry. Big chipmakers are endorsing and demanding it, and most EDA companies are deploying it for one or more steps in the design flow, with plans to add much more over time. In recent weeks, the three largest EDA vendors have made sweeping announcements about incorporating ML into their tools at their respective user eve... » read more

True 3D-IC Problems


Placing logic on logic may sound like a small step, but several problems must be overcome to make it a reality. True 3D involves wafers stacked on top of each other in a highly integrated manner. This is very different from 2.5D integration, where logic is placed side-by-side, connected by an interposer. And there are some intermediate solutions today where significant memory is stacked on l... » read more

Designing For In-Circuit Monitors


In every application space the semiconductor ecosystem touches, in-circuit monitors and sensors are playing an increasing role in silicon lifecycle management and concepts around reliability and resiliency — both during design as well as in the field. The combination of true system-level design, in/on-chip monitors, and improved data analysis are expected to drastically improve reliability... » read more

New Standards Push Co-Packaged Optics


Co-packaged optics (CPOs) promise five times the bandwidth of pluggable connections, but the new architecture requires multiple changes to accommodate different applications. The Optical Internetworking Forum (OIF) recently published standards for co-packaged optics, which are the photonic industry’s hope for handling today’s faster Ethernet interfaces, as well as increasing speeds and p... » read more

IC Security Issues Grow, Solutions Lag


Experts at the Table: Semiconductor Engineering sat down to talk about the growing chip security threat and what's being done to mitigate it, with Mike Borza, Synopsys scientist; John Hallman, product manager for trust and security at Siemens EDA; Pete Hardee, group director for product management at Cadence; Paul Karazuba, vice president of marketing at Expedera; and Dave Kelf, CEO of Breker V... » read more

Assist Layers: The Unsung Heroes of EUV Lithography


Most discussions of advanced lithography focus on three elements — the exposure system, photomasks, and photoresists — but that's only part of the challenge. Successfully transferring a pattern from the photomask to a physical structure on the wafer also depends on a variety of films working together, including the underlayers, the developers, and a variety of surface treatments. In fact... » read more

Smarter Ways To Manufacture Chips


OSAT and wafer fabs are beginning to invest in Industry 4.0 solutions in order to improve efficiency and reduce operating costs, but it's a complicated process that involves setting up frameworks to evaluate different options and goals. Semiconductor manufacturing facilities have relied on dedicated automation teams for decades. These teams track and schedule chip production, respond to equi... » read more

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