The Uncertain Future Of Hard Drives


The future of hard drives has been an iffy subject for nearly a decade. The most recent pressure has come from solid-state drives made from flash memory, which have transformed cell phones and tablets and other portable appliances. But the Internet has driven a staggering demand for data storage and the hard drive business has thrived. The question of what’s next for hard drives first appe... » read more

The Bumpy Road To FinFETs


The shift from planar transistors to finFETs is a major inflection point in the IC industry. FinFETs are expected to enable higher performance chips at lower voltages. And the next-generation transistor technology also could allow the industry to extend CMOS to the 10nm node and perhaps beyond. But as it turns out, finFET technology is also harder to master than previously thought. For exam... » read more

More Design Rules Ahead


By Ed Sperling & Mark LaPedus For those companies that continue to push the limits of feature shrinkage, designs are about to become more difficult, far more expensive—and much more regulated. Two converging factors will force these changes. First, the limits of current 193nm immersion lithography mean companies now must double pattern at 20nm, and potentially quadruple pattern at 14n... » read more