Optimizing Wafer Edge Processes For Chip Stacking


Stacking chiplets vertically using short and direct wafer-to-wafer bonds can reduce signal delay to negligible levels, enabling smaller, thinner packages with faster memory/processor speeds and lower power consumption. The race is on to implement wafer stacking and die-to-wafer hybrid bonding, now considered essential for stacking logic and memory, 3D NAND, and possibly multi-layer DRAM stac... » read more

How Die Dimensions Challenge Assembly Processes


Multi-die assemblies are becoming more common and more complex due to technology advancements and market demands, but differing die dimensions are making this process increasingly challenging. To fully enable a multi-chiplet ecosystem, standardized component handling and interfaces are needed. The underlying concept is similar to LEGO blocks that simply snap together, yet it's nowhere near t... » read more

New Materials Are in High Demand


Materials suppliers are responding to the intense pressures to improve power, performance, scaling, and cost issues, which follows a long timeline from synthesis to development and high volume manufacturing in fabs. The advances in machine learning help present a wide field of candidates, which engineers then narrow to potential use. When building standard logic semiconductor chips, the prim... » read more

Managing EMI in High-Density Integration


The relentless drive for higher performance and increased functional integration has ushered in new challenges for managing electromagnetic interference (EMI) in densely packed mixed-signal environments. Integrating analog, RF, and digital circuits into a single system-on-chip (SoC) or advanced package requires solutions that reduce system size and improve performance. However, this tight in... » read more

What Comes After HBM For Chiplets


Experts At The Table: Semiconductor Engineering sat down to discuss what will trigger the creation of a commercial chiplet marketplace, and what those chiplet-based designs will look like, with Elad Alon, CEO of Blue Cheetah; Mark Kuemerle, vice president of technology at Marvell; Kevin Yee, senior director of IP and ecosystem marketing at Samsung; Sailesh Kumar, CEO of Baya Systems; and Tanuja... » read more

Memory Fundamentals For Engineers


Memory is one of a very few elite electronic components essential to any electronic system. Modern electronics perform extraordinarily complex duties that would be impossible without memory. Your computer obviously contains memory, but so does your car, your smartphone, your doorbell camera, your entertainment system, and any other gadget benefiting from digital electronics. This eBook prov... » read more

CXL Thriving As Memory Link


CXL is emerging from a jumble of interconnect standards as a predictable way to connect memory to various processing elements, as well as to share memory resources within a data center. Compute Express Link is built on a PCI Express foundation and supported by nearly all the major chip companies. It is used to link CPUs, GPUs, FPGAs, and other purpose-built accelerators using serial communic... » read more

Is PPA Relevant Today?


The optimization of power, performance, and area (PPA) has been at the core of chip design since the dawn of EDA, but these metrics are becoming less valuable without the context of how and where these chips will be used. Unlike in the past, however, that context now comes from factors outside of hardware development. And while PPA still serves as a useful proxy for many parts of the hardwar... » read more

Higher Density, More Data Create New Bottlenecks In AI Chips


Data movement is becoming a bigger problem at advanced nodes and in advanced packaging due to denser circuitry, more physical effects that can affect the integrity of signals or the devices themselves, and a significant increase in data from AI and machine learning. Just shrinking features in a design is no longer sufficient, given the scaling mismatch between SRAM-based L1 cache and digital... » read more

The Challenges Of Upgrading Lithium Batteries


The ongoing electrification of everyday items has resulted in the proliferation of batteries, and spurred continued development for automotive and grid use. Lithium-ion batteries still dominate the rechargeable-battery landscape, with solid-state versions prolonging that position, but other lithium variants aim for greater safety while raising energy capacity. Battery researchers must balanc... » read more

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