Blog Review: Sept. 25


Cadence’s Mamta Rana digs into how PCIe 6.1 ECN builds on the FLIT-based architecture introduced in PCIe 6.0, further optimizing flow control mechanisms to handle increased data rates and improved efficiency but making verification of shared credit updates essential. Siemens’ Nicolae Tusinschi provides a primer on formal verification, including what makes it different from simulation, pr... » read more

New Materials Are in High Demand


Materials suppliers are responding to the intense pressures to improve power, performance, scaling, and cost issues, which follows a long timeline from synthesis to development and high volume manufacturing in fabs. The advances in machine learning help present a wide field of candidates, which engineers then narrow to potential use. When building standard logic semiconductor chips, the prim... » read more

Chip Industry Week In Review


The Design Automation Conference morphed into the Chips to Systems Conference, reflecting an industry shift from monolithic SoCs to assemblies of chiplets in various flavors of advanced packaging. The change drew a slew of students and a resurgent buzz, fueled by discussions about heterogeneous integration, reliability, and ways to leverage AI/ML to speed up design and verification processes. ... » read more

Precise Control Needed For Copper Plating And CMP


Chipmakers are relying on machine learning for electroplating and wafer cleaning at leading-edge process nodes, augmenting traditional fault detection/classification and statistical process control in order to extend the usefulness of copper interconnects. Copper is well understood and easy to work with, but it is running out of steam. At 5nm and below, copper plating tools are struggling to... » read more

Money Pours Into New Fabs And Facilities


Fabs, packaging, test and assembly, and R&D all drew major funding in 2023. Companies poured money into offshore locations, such as India and Malaysia, to access a larger workforce and lower costs, while also partnering with governments to secure domestic supply chains amid ongoing geopolitical turmoil. Looking ahead, artificial intelligence (AI), quantum computing, and data applications... » read more

Week In Review: Semiconductor Manufacturing, Test


Applied Materials sued its Chinese-owned rival, Mattson, over an alleged 14-month effort to steal valuable trade secrets, reports Bloomberg. In court filing, Applied Materials claimed that Mattson engaged in a spree of employee-poaching and covertly transferring semiconductor equipment designs. Global semiconductor materials revenue grew 8.9% to $72.7 billion in 2022, surpassing the previous... » read more

Week In Review: Semiconductor Manufacturing, Test


Global semiconductor sales reached $574 billion in 2022, and U.S. semiconductor companies accounted for sales totaling $275 billion, or 48% of the global market, according to the 2023 Factbook released by the Semiconductor Industry Association (SIA). DRAM and NAND prices likely will continue to fall further this quarter because production cuts have not kept pace with weakening demand, accord... » read more

Blog Review: July 20


Synopsys' Ron Lowman examines the various neural networks used in camera applications, the balancing act between camera lens choice and neural networks implemented, and how IP and embedded vision processors help optimize the designs. Siemens' Katie Tormala considers the importance of acoustic performance in consumer electronics and why it's important to understand the relationships between t... » read more

Week in Review: Manufacturing, Test


Fab capacity STMicroelectronics and GlobalFoundries inked a deal to build a new jointly-operated 300mm fab adjacent to ST’s existing 300mm facility in Crolles, France. This facility is targeted to ramp at full capacity by 2026, with up to 620,000 300mm wafer per year production at full build-out (~42% ST and ~58% GF). The new facility will support several technologies, with a special focus... » read more

Week In Review: Auto, Security, Pervasive Computing


Automotive, mobility The head of Tesla’s Autopilot division — Andrej Karpathy — resigned from the company after Tesla laid off 200 people in its Autopilot division and the U.S. National Highway Transportation Safety Administration broadened its safety investigation of Tesla’s Autopilot. The NHTSA last month broadened its August 2021 investigation, which was looking at why Tesla cars on... » read more

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