Executive Insight: Charlie Cheng


[getperson id="11073" comment="Charlie Cheng"], CEO of [getentity id="22135" e_name="Kilopass Technology"], sat down with Semiconductor Engineering to talk about the limitations of DRAM, how to get around them, and who's likely to do that. What follows are excerpts of that discussion. SE: What are the top market segments from a [getkc id="22" kc_name="memory"] standpoint? Cheng: The top o... » read more

Moore’s Law Debate Continues


Does shrinking devices still make sense from a cost and performance perspective? The answer isn’t so simple anymore. Still, the discussion as to whether semiconductors are still on track with [getkc id="74" comment="Moore's Law"] occurs on a frequent enough basis to continue analyzing at least some of the dynamics at play. There is much speculation about what happens after 7nm, as well as ... » read more

Tech Talk: Embedded Memories


Dave Eggleston, vice president of embedded memory at GlobalFoundries, talks about the pros and cons of new types of embedded memory, including which work best for certain applications and with various advanced packaging options. [youtube vid=7D9zoA9FFIw] » read more

Sorting Out Next-Gen Memory


In the data center and related environments, high-end systems are struggling to keep pace with the growing demands in data processing. There are several bottlenecks in these systems, but one segment that continues to receive an inordinate amount of attention, if not part of the blame, is the memory and storage hierarchy. [getkc id="92" kc_name="SRAM"], the first tier of this hierarchy, is... » read more

May The Cheapest Memory Win


There are a number of new memory types on the horizon. So why are we still using DRAM, SRAM and hard disk drives developed decades ago? The answer is complicated. Memory, whether it’s on-chip static RAM cache or off-chip dynamic RAM—or flash storage or spinning magnetic media—is really a stack of data storage technologies that need to work seamlessly together and with other non-memory ... » read more

The Future Of Memory


Semiconductor Engineering sat down to discuss future memory with Frank Ferro, senior director of product management for memory and interface IP at [getentity id="22671" e_name="Rambus"]; Marc Greenberg, director of product marketing at [getentity id="22035" e_name="Synopsys"]; and Lisa Minwell, [getentity id="22242" e_name="eSilicon"]'s senior director of [getkc id="43" kc_name="IP"] marketing.... » read more

How Many Cores? (Part 2)


New chip architectures and new packaging options—including fan-outs and 2.5D—are changing basic design considerations for how many cores are needed, what they are used for, and how to solve some increasingly troublesome bottlenecks. As reported in part one, just adding more cores doesn't necessarily improve performance, and adding the wrong size or kinds of cores wastes power. That has s... » read more

Running Out Of Energy?


The anticipated and growing energy requirements for future computing needs will hit a wall in the next 24 years if the current trajectory is correct. At that point, the world will not produce enough energy for all of the devices that are expected to be drawing power. A report issued by the Semiconductor Industry Association and Semiconductor Research Corp., bases its conclusions on system-le... » read more

Rethinking Memory


Getting data in and out of memory is as important as the speed and efficiency of a processor, but for years design teams managed to skirt the issue because it was quicker, easier and less expensive to boost processor clock frequencies with a brute-force approach. That worked well enough prior to 90nm, and adding more cores at lower clock speeds filled the gap starting at 65nm. After that, th... » read more

Inside The MRAM


Today, the industry is shipping various next-generation nonvolatile memory types, such as 3D NAND, MRAM and ReRAM. In fact, MRAM has been shipping for some time. To get a handle on MRAM, Semiconductor Engineering sat down to discuss the technology with Phillip LoPresti, president and chief executive of Everspin, a supplier of MRAMs. What follows are excerpts of that conversation. SE: Where ... » read more

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