The Good Old Days Of EDA


Nostalgia is wonderful, but there is something about being involved in the formative years of an industry. Few people ever get to experience it, and it was probably one of the most fortuitous events to have happened in my life. Back in the early '80s, little in the way of design automation existed. There were a few gate- and transistor-level simulators, primarily for test and a few 'calculators... » read more

Making Heterogeneous Integration More Predictable


Experts at the Table: Semiconductor Engineering sat down to discuss problems and potential solutions in heterogeneous integration with Dick Otte, president and CEO of Promex Industries; Mike Kelly, vice president of chiplets/FCBGA integration at Amkor Technology; Shekhar Kapoor, senior director of product management at Synopsys; John Park, product management group director in Cadence's Custom I... » read more

What To Do About Electrostatic Discharge


Electrostatic discharge is a well-understood phenomenon, but it’s becoming more difficult to plan for as single chips are replaced by multiple chips or chiplets in a package, and as the density of components continues to increase with each new node. In both cases, the probability for failure increases unless these sudden shocks are addressed in the design. Dermott Lynch, director of product m... » read more

Big Shifts In Power Electronics Packaging


The power semiconductor market is poised for remarkable growth in the next several years, fueled by the adoption of electric vehicles and renewable energy, but it also driving big changes in the packaging needed to protect and connect these devices. Packaging is playing an increasingly critical role in the transition to higher power densities, enabling more efficient power supplies, power deli... » read more

What Can Go Wrong In Heterogeneous Integration


Experts at the Table: Semiconductor Engineering sat down to discuss heterogeneous integration with Dick Otte, president and CEO of Promex Industries; Mike Kelly, vice president of chiplets/FCBGA integration at Amkor Technology; Shekhar Kapoor, senior director of product management at Synopsys; John Park, product management group director in Cadence's Custom IC & PCB Group; and Tony Mastroia... » read more

Thermal Warpage Simulation Of A Temperature-Dependent Linear Elastic Material Package


The shift to advanced packaging in 3D and 2.5D IC design is making the numerical analysis of thermal warpage in electronic devices a crucial part of the design process. A reliable numerical tool enables the designer to perform early design analysis that accurately predicts warpage, thereby shortening the design process. The Cadence Celsius Thermal Solver integrated within the Cadence IC, pac... » read more

DRAM Test And Inspection Just Gets Tougher


DRAM manufacturers continue to demand cost-effective solutions for screening and process improvement amid growing concerns over defects and process variability, but meeting that demand is becoming much more difficult with the rollout of faster interfaces and multi-chip packages. DRAM plays a key role in a wide variety of electronic devices, from phones and PCs to ECUs in cars and servers ins... » read more

What Will That Chip Cost?


In the past, analysts, consultants, and many other experts attempted to estimate the cost of a new chip implemented in the latest process technology. They concluded that by the 3nm node, only a few companies would be able to afford them — and by the time they got into the angstrom range, probably nobody would. Much has changed over the past few process nodes. Increasing numbers of startups... » read more

Analyzing The U.S. Advanced Packaging Ecosystem With Countermeasures To Mitigate HW Security Issues


A technical paper titled “US Microelectronics Packaging Ecosystem: Challenges and Opportunities” was published by researchers at University of Florida, University of Miami, and Skywater Technology Foundry. Abstract: "The semiconductor industry is experiencing a significant shift from traditional methods of shrinking devices and reducing costs. Chip designers actively seek new technologica... » read more

Anatomy Of A System Simulation


The semiconductor industry has greatly simplified analysis by consolidating around a small number of models and abstractions, but that capability is breaking down both at the implementation level and at the system level. Today, the biggest pressure is coming from the systems industry, where the electronic content is a small fraction of what must be integrated together. Systems companies tend... » read more

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