Chip Substitutions Raising Security Concerns

By Ed Sperling - 02 Jun, 2022 - Comments: 0

Substituting chips is becoming more common in the electronics industry as shortages drag on, allowing systems vendors to continue selling everything from cars to manufacturing equipment and printer cartridges without waiting for a commoditized part. But substitutions aren't always an even swap, and they increase security risks in ways that may take years to show up or fully understand. So fa... » read more

Chipping In For Equipment Suppliers: The Equipment Multiplier Effect On The Chip Shortage

By Ajit Manocha - 02 May, 2022 - Comments: 0

By Ajit Manocha and Sanjay Malhotra Global semiconductor supply imbalances have hindered countless industries including essential segments such as automotive and medical as well as workers and consumers. Around the world, policymakers are increasing semiconductor manufacturing capacity to strengthen supply chains and meet growing demand for semiconductors through robust incentive packages to... » read more

Chip Industry Heads Toward $1T

By Ed Sperling - 27 Apr, 2022 - Comments: 0

The chip industry is on track to hit $1 trillion sometime over the next decade, and while the exact timing depends on a variety of factors, the trend line appears to be stable. The digitization of data, the digitalization of technology, and the expansion into new and existing markets, collectively are expected to drive chip industry growth for years to come. Exactly when the IC world will to... » read more

Week In Review: Manufacturing, Test

By Ed Sperling - 22 Apr, 2022 - Comments: 0

Onshoring and the supply chain Efforts to patch up supply chain weaknesses by moving more manufacturing onshore in the United States and Europe are generating a lot of buzz. Morris Chang, TMSC's founder, described those moves as "a very expensive exercise in futility," during an interview with the Brookings Institution and Center for Strategic and International Studies, adding that it is like... » read more

Slowdown, But No Correction

By Ed Sperling - 06 Apr, 2022 - Comments: 1

The market for chips will continue to grow over the next few years, but not as quickly as over the past couple years when the work-at-home market drove up demand for everything from laptops and TVs to home video equipment. Economists painted a mixed picture for the semiconductor industry at this week's SEMI Industry Strategy Symposium, projecting continue growth in all major markets, but tem... » read more

End In Sight For Chip Shortages?

By Mark LaPedus - 18 Nov, 2021 - Comments: 2

The current wave of semiconductor and IC packaging shortages is expected to extend well into 2022, but there are also signs that supply may finally catch up with demand. The same is true for manufacturing capacity, materials and equipment in both the semiconductor and packaging sectors. Nonetheless, after a period of shortages in all segments, the current school of thought is that chip suppl... » read more

Geopolitical And Economic Outlook For Chips And Equipment

By Ed Sperling - 17 Jun, 2021 - Comments: 0

Experts at the Table: Semiconductor Engineering sat down to discuss geopolitical and economic changes and how they affect the chip industry with Jean-Christophe Eloy, CEO of Yole Developpement; Risto Puhakka, president of VLSI Research; Carolyn Evans, chief economist at Intel; Duncan Meldrum, chief economist at Hilltop Economics; and Rozalia Beica, head of the semiconductor business at AT&S... » read more

Automotive IC Shortage Drags On

By Patrick Waurzyniak - 20 May, 2021 - Comments: 1

The current automotive semiconductor shortages won’t end anytime soon. When the COVID-19 pandemic hit in early 2020, it wreaked havoc on the worldwide supply chain, but it especially caught automakers flat-footed. When the auto OEMs canceled chip orders during a roughly eight-week period of plant shutdowns, they later found their supplies of critical ICs had evaporated. To make it an ev... » read more

Shortages, Challenges Engulf Packaging Supply Chain

By Mark LaPedus - 18 Feb, 2021 - Comments: 0

A surge in demand for chips is impacting the IC packaging supply chain, causing shortages of select manufacturing capacity, various package types, key components, and equipment. Spot shortages in packaging surfaced in late 2020 and have since spread to other sectors. There are now a variety of choke points in the supply chain. Wirebond and flip-chip capacity will remain tight throughout 2021... » read more

Knowledge Centers
Entities, people and technologies explored

Shift Left Is The Tip Of The Iceberg

A transformative change is underway for semiconductor design and EDA. New languages, models, and abstractions will need to be created.

by Brian Bailey

Partitioning In The Chiplet Era

Understanding how chiplets interact under different workloads is critical to ensuring signal integrity and optimal performance in heterogeneous designs.

by Ann Mutschler

3.5D: The Great Compromise

Pros and cons of a middle-ground chiplet assembly that combines 2.5D and 3D-IC.

by Ed Sperling

AI’s Role In Chip Design Widens, Drawing In New Startups

Focus is on letting engineers do much more with the same or fewer resources — and less drudgery.

by Karen Heyman

Key Technologies To Extend EUV To 14 Angstroms

Alongside high-NA EUV will be better-performing photoresists, reduced roughness using passivation and etch, and lateral etching to reduce tip-to-tip dimensions.

by Laura Peters

Memory Fundamentals For Engineers

eBook: Nearly everything you need to know about memory, including detailed explanations of the different types of memory; how and where these are used today; what's changing, which memories are successful and which ones might be in the future; and the limitations of each memory type.

by The SE Staff

What Comes After HBM For Chiplets

The standard for high-bandwidth memory limits design freedom at many levels, but that is required for interoperability. What freedoms can be taken from other functions to make chiplets possible?