The Growing Problem With Parasitic Extraction


By Ed Sperling Like everything else in semiconductor engineering at advanced process geometries, parasitic extraction is getting much more difficult at each node. There’s more circuit data to analyze, less distance between wires and much more to sort through. In addition, a 10% error in accuracy at 90nm might have been tolerable, while at 28nm it can completely change how a chip works. ... » read more

Outsourcing’s New Face


By Ed Sperling As the semiconductor industry digs out from one of the worst downturns in decades, the business of semiconductor design and engineering is changing. While the architecture and features are still being developed by chip companies, the actual work of developing the chip increasingly is being done by third parties. Outsourcing is hardly new concept in business. In the early pa... » read more

Why The Chartered Semiconductor Acquisition Matters


The acquisition of Chartered by a wholly owned subsidiary of the Abu Dhabi government may sound like a rather brash investment, but our sources say it’s all part of a rather audacious plan that began unfolding one day after the deal to jointly run AMD’s foundry was hatched. In fact, this is anything but an impulsive buy by a country swimming in oil profits. The plan is actually to inte... » read more

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