Tech Talk: FinFETs, FD-SOI And The Future Of SoC Design


Mary Ann White, marketing manager for Synopsys' Galaxy Implementation Platform, talks with Low-Power/High-Performance Engineering about new opportunities to reduce power and improve performance, and where the pain points will be. [youtube vid=kuJdcHIRxfU] » read more

Moving Targets


There is a very close correlation between power and complexity in an SoC. The more functionality that is required to meet market demands, the greater the need to push to the next process node in order to fit it all onto a single die. The result is more power density, and more attempts to limit the effects of that density with power islands, different voltages, gating, and a variety of other tec... » read more

FinFETs On SOI


Soitec's Steve Longoria talks with Semiconductor Manufacturing and Design about what's changing at the leading edge of Moore's Law and why those changes are necessary. [youtube vid=K6D39QqJWSU] » read more

The Power Treadmill


By Frank Ferro The recent purchase of an LTE smart phone has me back on my power management soapbox. I upgraded my phone about a month ago to the newest version (staying with the same manufacturer as my previous device) and to my dismay, although it wasn’t completely unexpected, the battery life was actually shorter. I did not do a ‘scientific’ comparison, but following the same daily us... » read more

Foundry Models In Transition


By Jeff Chappell There may have been a time when AMD founder Jerry Sanders famous quote: "real men (i.e., real companies) have their own fabs” rang true, but in today's business climate it seems quaint at best. Fabless or fab-lite business models are more popular than ever today, while some IDMs have turned back the clock, so to speak, looking to improve capacity utilization and revenues ... » read more

GF’S Two Flavors Of FD-SOI


Posted by Adele Hars, Editor-in-Chief, Advanced Substrate News ~  ~ Hearing the news that GlobalFoundries would be offering two flavors of FD-SOI, ASN asked the company to explain the strategy further. Here are the responses provided by Subi Kengeri, Vice President of Advanced Technology Architecture.   [caption id="" align="alignleft" width="110"] Subi Kengeri, VP Advanced T... » read more

Uncertainty Ahead


If finFETs work as planned, it’s likely they will show up in every complex SoC for decades to come. Adding another dimension to transistors has enormous potential at advanced nodes, and maybe even at older nodes. 3D transistors also could be part of stacked die, and they can be combined with fully depleted SOI—two other options for reducing power. Moreover, it’s likely that whatever G... » read more

Throw In The Kitchen Sink


By Ed Sperling The number of options available for reducing power and improving performance are increasing for the first time in a decade. This is good news for chipmakers. It’s far less clear who stands to benefit on the tools, IP, capital equipment and manufacturing side. Choice is always a good thing in design. It allows teams to trade off one IP block for another, based upon the needs... » read more

Physical Verification Of FinFETs And Fully Depleted SOI


It has become very difficult to effectively shrink traditional bulk planar transistors below 20nm due to physical effects that become dominant in very short conduction channels. The major impediment is an unacceptable rise in power consumption due to significant leakage currents. New transistor architectures are being adopted that offer a solution for these short-channel effects and allow trans... » read more

The Week In Review: Feb. 25


By Mark LaPedus Is China set to bail out a U.S. government technology darling? Two Chinese automotive companies, Geely and Dongfeng Motor, are reported to have bid between $200 million and $350 million for a majority stake in Fisker, the maker of plug-in hybrid cars. If that happens Fisker—which has $192 million in U.S. federal government loan guarantees—could be headed to China, according... » read more

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