The Paradox Of Automotive Electronics


There is a huge problem brewing in the automotive world. Automakers are demanding quality parts, but they're using methods and strategies developed in the steel age when suppliers were metal benders, not developers of advanced electronics. Automakers are correct in that the quality of electronics is poor. A 2018 report by J.D. Power showed that overall car reliability is improving year over ... » read more

Antenna Array Design for ADAS


By Milton Lien and David Vye By implementing radar technology over the 76 to 81 GHz spectrum, advanced driver-assist systems (ADAS) enable smart vehicles with the ability to alert and assist drivers in a variety of functions, from low tire-pressure warning to collision avoidance to self-parking. These automotive radar applications use the millimeter-wave (mmWave) spectrum to exploit more ban... » read more

Lithography Challenges For Fan-out


Higher density fan-out packages are moving toward more complex structures with finer routing layers, all of which requires more capable lithography equipment and other tools. The latest high-density fan-out packages are migrating toward the 1µm line/space barrier and beyond, which is considered a milestone in the industry. At these critical dimensions (CDs), fan-outs will provide better per... » read more

Miles Wide And High Security


Talk about security in autonomous vehicles seems to have subsided. It shouldn't, because the problem is far from solved. In fact, it's not just one problem. It's layers upon layers of problems spread out across all roadways, technology design houses, IP developers, network infrastructure, and the entire supply chain. And even though one vehicle's security may be bulletproof, it may be no... » read more

ISO 26262:2018, 2nd Edition: What Changes?


If you’re involved somehow in design for automotive electronics, you probably have more than a cursory understanding of the ISO 26262 standard. What your organization is working from is most likely the 2011 definition. The most recent update is formally known as ISO 26262:2018, less formally as ISO 26262 2nd Edition. Figure 1. Overview of the ISO 26262:2018 series of standards (Source IS... » read more

Automotive IC Design Demands Next-Generation High-Sigma Verification


By Jeff Dyck High-sigma analysis is required for verifying replicated components, like memory blocks and standard cells, and for demonstrating mission-critical reliability for automotive and medical applications. It is not feasible to verify to high-sigma using brute-force Monte Carlo, as this requires 10s of millions of simulations to reach 5-sigma and billions in order to reach 6-sigma. S... » read more

The Race To Multi-Domain SoCs


K. Charles Janac, president and CEO of Arteris IP, sat down with Semiconductor Engineering to discuss the impact of automotive and AI on chip design. What follows are excerpts of that conversation. SE: What do you see as the biggest changes over the next 12 to 24 months? Janac: There are segments of the semiconductor market that are shrinking, such as DTV and simple IoT. Others are going ... » read more

Autonomous Drive Requires Smart Sensor Systems


While exotic technology for autonomous drive cars draw wonder all around the world, individual smart sensor systems with “simple” jobs to do are equally important. LiDAR sensors with specialized AI chips for object identification are fascinating. But “simple” smart sensor systems, like passenger airbag deployment systems, are also key to autonomous drive vehicles. A typical trait of a s... » read more

Embedded Phase-Change Memory Emerges


The next-generation memory market for embedded applications is becoming more crowded as another technology emerges in the arena—embedded phase-change memory. Phase-change memory is not new and has been in the works for decades. But the technology has taken longer to commercialize amid a number of technical and cost challenges. Phase-change memory, a nonvolatile memory type that stores data... » read more

The Data Deluge


Lip-Bu Tan, president and CEO of Cadence, sat down with Semiconductor Engineering to discuss the intersection of big data and technology, from the data center to the edge and vertical markets such as automotive. What follows are excerpts of that conversation. SE: What are the biggest changes you've seen over the past year? Tan: We are moving quickly toward data-driven economics. There... » read more

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