Moore’s Law, Supply Chains And Security


The debate about the future of Moore's Law continues, while other parts of the industry look for alternatives. In between, supply chains are being pulled in multiple directions, with safety and security often in the middle. All across the semiconductor industry, significant changes are underway. Some of these have been in the works for some time. Others are new or accelerating faster than an... » read more

Blog Review: Jan. 15


Cadence's Paul McLellan looks back at the history of lithography, from its fundamental equation to multiple patterning and the challenges facing EUV today. Synopsys' Taylor Armerding warns that medical device security isn't keeping up with new threats, despite positive steps, due in part to lack of funding, delayed initiatives, and a focus on critical service delivery. In a video, Mentor'... » read more

Photometric Qualification for Virtual Night Drive Testing


Headlamps are a mission-critical product system that must perform reliably at every time of day, in every possible weather condition. Engineering headlamps for the correct photometry is essential — but constructing physical prototypes and measuring their performance is expensive and time-consuming. In addition, physical photometry measurement tools are not always wellcalibrated and accurate. ... » read more

Week In Review: Design, Low Power


Synopsys will acquire certain IP assets of INVECAS. The acquisition expands Synopsys' DesignWare Logic Library, General Purpose I/O, Embedded Memory, Interface and Analog IP portfolio. The acquisition will also add a team of experienced R&D engineers to focus on physical IP across a range of process technologies. INVECAS will retain its HDMI IP and ASIC Design Solutions businesses. The deal... » read more

Week In Review: IoT, Security, Autos


Internet of Things Sensors that see in the dark, look deep into our faces and hear the impossible, were all part of ams’ CES lineup this week. ams announced that it has designed an advanced spectral ambient light sensor (ALS) for high-end mobile phone cameras. The ALS, called the AS7350, identifies the light source and makes an accurate white balance under low-light and other non-ideal condi... » read more

Blog Review: Jan. 8


Synopsys' Taylor Armerding digs into the privacy and security concerns surrounding connected toys and argues that the current practice of consumers bearing much of the burden to determine what is safe is not viable. In a podcast, Mentor's John McMillan looks back at the past decade in technology and what the next may hold in store as areas like AI and automotive get going. Cadence's Madha... » read more

The Week In Review: Semiconductors


The tech-centric NASDAQ index this week broke 9,000, which was a first. Key to the latest run-up were reports of a breakthrough on the trade war with China and continued low interest rates. Chuck Peddle, who helped democratize computing and fuel Moore's Law with his $25 processor chip, passed away last week. Peddle designed the MOS Technology 6502, which was the basis for the KIM-1 single-bo... » read more

Week In Review: Design, Low Power


M&A Intel acquired Habana Labs, a maker of programmable deep learning accelerators for the data center, for approximately $2 billion. Based in Israel, Habana was founded in 2016 but only emerged from stealth in September 2018 with the release of its first inference chip. Intel's VC arm, Intel Capital, previously invested in the startup. Intel has made numerous M&A moves in the AI space... » read more

What Worked, What Didn’t In 2019


2019 has been a tough year for semiconductor companies from a revenue standpoint, especially for memory companies. On the other hand, the EDA industry has seen another robust growth year. A significant portion of this disparity can be attributed to the number of emerging technology areas for semiconductors, none of which has reached volume production yet. Some markets continue to struggle, a... » read more

Blog Review: Dec. 18


Lam Research's David Haynes finds that taking advances made at 300mm and applying them via upgrades to 200mm equipment is a cost appropriate strategy to quickly improve yield and add capacity. Synopsys' Taylor Armerding looks at which of this year's many data breaches hit corporate wallets the hardest and how the cost of privacy noncompliance is expected to rise with California's CCPA and st... » read more

← Older posts Newer posts →