tag: FD-SOI

Is 2.5D Cheaper?
By Ed Sperling - 10 Mar, 2016 - Comments: 0

For the past several years, as 2.5D was being tested, the most common response from chipmakers and tools vendors was that the interposer used to connect various die in a package was far too expensive. It was basically the same argument as mask costs are rising too high to continue building complex planar SoCs at 16/14nm, or that FD-SOI is more expensive than bulk silicon at 28nm. The critici... » read more

Internet of FD-SOI Things?
By Katherine Derbyshire - 18 Feb, 2016 - Comments: 0

Are fully-depleted silicon-on-insulator (FD-SOI) wafers having a moment? Certainly SOI wafers are not new. Soitec’s SmartCut layer transfer technology was patented in 1994, and wafers with implanted oxide layers were available before that. Still, adoption of SOI wafers has been limited. Though they offer improved device isolation and reduced parasitics, the increased wafer cost has been an ob... » read more

Fallout From Scaling
By Ed Sperling - 03 Feb, 2016 - Comments: 0

By Ed Sperling & Ann Steffora Mutschler Semiconductor scaling is becoming much more difficult and expensive at each new node, creating sharp divisions about what path to take next for which markets and applications. What used to be confined to one or two clear choices is now turning into a menu of items and possibilities, often with no clear guarantees for a successful outcome. Views ... » read more

Advanced Packaging Is Real. Now What?
By Ed Sperling - 14 Jan, 2016 - Comments: 0

For the past five years, it's been clear that 2.5D, fan-outs and other forms of system-in-package were on the horizon. Exactly when they would arrive no one knew. The most common prediction was that the timing would depend on when one of the big chipmakers decided to go down that route. The theory was that the remainder of the industry would follow, ecosystem issues would be sorted out—partic... » read more

Foundries Face Challenges in 2016
By Mark LaPedus - 17 Dec, 2015 - Comments: 2

Generally, 2015 has been a challenging year in the foundry business. For one thing, the foundry industry will register modest growth in 2015. In addition, the foundry customer base is consolidating. And on the leading edge, foundries took longer than expected to ramp up their 16nm/14nm finFET processes. So, after an eventful year in 2015, what’s in store for the foundry business in 2016? I... » read more

Chasing After Phantom Power
By Brian Bailey - 10 Dec, 2015 - Comments: 1

A lot of effort is being invested in power reduction techniques for mobile devices, where battery life is an important buying decision and power can translate into heat that can make a device uncomfortable to use. But are people willing to pay more for a device that consumes less power if it's plugged into a wall? And even if they are concerned about the power drawn during operation, what ab... » read more

Reflections On 2015
By Brian Bailey - 10 Dec, 2015 - Comments: 0

It is easy to make predictions, but few people can make them with any degree of accuracy. Most of the time, those predictions are forgotten by the end of the year and there is no one to do a tally of who holds more credibility for next year. Not so with Semiconductor Engineering. We like to hold people's feet to the fire, but while the "Pants-On-Fire" meter may be applicable to politicians, we ... » read more

Placing Bets On Future Technology
By Ed Sperling - 16 Nov, 2015 - Comments: 0

Marie Semeria, CEO of Leti, sat down with Semiconductor Engineering to talk about where the French research and technology organization is placing its future technology bets and what's behind those decisions. What follows are excerpts of that discussion. SE: It's becoming more difficult and expensive to shrink features, so where do we go next? Semeria: We see several areas that we believe... » read more

Tech Talk: Lower Power Embedded NVM
By Ed Sperling - 12 Nov, 2015 - Comments: 0

Jen-Tai Hsu, Kilopass' vice president of engineering, talks about lower-voltage bit cells, where they fit in IoT designs and how they affect battery life. [youtube vid=dNDkuApHumU] » read more

The Great IoE Race Begins
By Ed Sperling - 05 Nov, 2015 - Comments: 0

Nobody knows how many tens of billions of semiconductors will be used in the IoE, but it's a sure bet it won't be a few chips replicated billions of times. Most IoE devices will need to be customized for specific applications. Many will need to be highly reliable for many years. And all of them will need to be secure and power-efficient. Yet they also will need to connect to heterogeneous ne... » read more

← Older posts Newer posts →

  • Sponsors

About

Navigation

Connect With Us

Copyright ©2013-2024 SMG   |  Terms of Service  |  Privacy Policy