Power/Performance Bits: Oct. 27


Searching for energy-efficient architectures A workshop jointly funded by the Semiconductor Research Corporation (SRC) and National Science Foundation (NSF) sought out the key factors limiting progress in computing – particularly related to energy consumption – and novel research that could overcome these barriers. The report focuses on the most promising research directions in the ex... » read more

What China Is Planning


Over the years, China has unveiled several initiatives to advance its domestic semiconductor industry. China has made some progress at each turn, although every plan has fallen short of expectations. But now, the nation is embarking on several new and bold initiatives that could alter the IC landscape. China’s new initiatives address at least three key challenges for its IC industry: 1. C... » read more

Exploring System Architectures For Data-Intensive Applications


The exponential growth of digital data is being driven by a number of factors, including the burgeoning Internet of Things (IoT) and an increased reliance on complex analytics extracted from extremely large data sets. Perhaps not surprisingly, IDC analysts see digital data doubling roughly every two years. This dramatic growth continues to challenge, and in some cases, even outpace industry cap... » read more

Ideal Memory IP For IoT Applications


The endless possibilities for IoT applications are driving a new wave of imaginative thinking, and for good reason. Recent surveys estimate the number of IoT devices by 2020 will be in the 50 billion units range. The numbers are far too high to ignore and, hence, we have entered a new era of imaginative and creative thinking! To put this in perspective, IoT applications are growing many time... » read more

Memory Hierarchy Shakeup


It’s no secret that today’s memory chips and storage devices are struggling to keep up with the growing demands in data processing. To solve the problem, chipmakers have been working on several next-generation memory types. But most technologies have been delayed or fallen short of their promises. But after numerous delays, a new wave of next-generation, nonvolatile memories are finally ... » read more

Executive Insight: Charlie Cheng


Charlie Cheng, CEO of Kilopass, sat down with Semiconductor Engineering to talk about issues with current memory types and why the market is ready for disruptive approaches to reduce power and cost. SE: What's changing in the memory space? Cheng: Memory is a very important building block. It's a foundation and a commodity for a chip and for the system, but if you look at the big picture, ... » read more

Electronics Butterfly Effect


Everyone has heard of the butterfly effect where a small change in a non-linear system can result in large difference in an outcome. For the past 40 years, the electronics industry has approximated a linear system, fed primarily by Moore’s Law. The incremental changes available at each new process node have led us to make incremental changes and improvements in many aspects of the design, its... » read more

Power/Performance Bits: Aug. 18


Reducing crosstalk with tantalum oxide memories Scientists at Rice University created a solid-state memory technology that allows for high-density storage with a minimum incidence of crosstalk errors. The memories are based on tantalum oxide. Applying voltage to a 250-nanometer-thick sandwich of graphene, tantalum, nanoporous tantalum oxide and platinum creates addressable bits where the ... » read more

Tech Talk: DDR4


Rambus' Ely Tsern digs into the challenges in integrating DDR4 compared with DDR3 and why it will get even more difficult over the next few iterations. [youtube vid=2M6vFweaZ-M] » read more

The Memory And Storage Hierarchy


The memory and storage hierarchy is a useful way of thinking about computer systems, and the dizzying array of memory options available to the system designer. Many different parameters characterize the memory solution. Among them are latency (how long the CPU needs to wait before the first data is available) and bandwidth (how fast additional data can be “streamed” after the first data poi... » read more

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