Issues And Options At 5nm


While the foundries are ramping up their processes for the 16nm/14nm node, vendors are also busy developing technologies for 10nm and beyond. In fact, chipmakers are finalizing their 10nm process offerings, but they are still weighing the technology options for 7nm. And if that isn’t enough, IC makers are beginning to look at the options at 5nm and beyond. Today, chipmakers can see a p... » read more

The Week In Review: Design/IoT


Mergers/Acquisitions ARM acquired Offspark, a Dutch company specializing in IoT communications security. Use of Offspark's PolarSSL embedded Transport Layer Security (TLS) solution is widespread in the IoT industry. PolarSSL will be rebranded mbed TLS and integrated into ARM's mbed OS. Tools Mentor Graphics is bringing together a suite of technologies that enable a multi-platform appro... » read more

System Bits: Feb. 10


Mapping temperature Given that overheating is a major problem for chips today a team of UCLA and USC scientists have made a breakthrough that they believe should enable engineers to design microprocessors that minimize that problem with a thermal imaging technique that can see how the temperature changes from point to point inside the smallest electronic circuits. The technique is called pl... » read more

System Bits: Dec. 30


3D printing merges plastics, active electronics Princeton researchers have embedded tiny light-emitting diodes into a standard contact lens, allowing the device to project beams of colored light as part of a project demonstrating 3-D printing techniques. And while the lens is not designed for actual use — it requires an external power supply — the device was created to demonstrate the a... » read more

System Bits: July 29


Cooper Pairs Researchers at the University of Illinois at Chicago, Cornell University and Brookhaven National Laboratory say they have unlocked what they’re calling quantum glue—the underlying basis for creating energy conduits without current loss. In superconductors, electrical resistance vanishes below a critical temperature and conduction electrons form ordered pairs, known as Coop... » read more

Manufacturing Bits: Dec. 10


Space Telescopes The James Webb Space Telescope, the follow-on mission to the Hubble Space Telescope, is a large, infrared-optimized space telescope. Slated for a launch date of 2018, Webb will find the first galaxies that were formed in the early Universe. Webb is a collaboration between NASA, the European Space Agency (ESA) and the Canadian Space Agency (CSA). Webb’s measurements will ... » read more

Manufacturing Bits: Nov. 12


Knife-Wielding Robot Cornell University has taught a knife-wielding robot to work in a mock-supermarket checkout line. In doing so, researchers have modified a Baxter robot from Rethink Robotics. In the experiment, the robot coactively learns and makes adjustments while an action is in progress. But when performing tasks at a checkout line, the robot’s problem is to identify the appropria... » read more

DSA: High Stakes Game Of Alphabet Soup


By Mark LaPedus Directed self-assembly (DSA) is making progress for potential use in semiconductor production, but the industry must make some major advances in a sometimes forgotten and unsung segment—materials. DSA is a complementary patterning technology that makes use of block copolymer materials to enable fine pitches in chip designs. But today’s block copolymers based on poly (MMA... » read more

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