High-Speed Serial Comms: Getting There Is Half The Fun

By Mike Gianfagna - 25 Oct, 2018 - Comments: 0

Last month I wrote about our 56G SerDes announcement – silicon validated and running in Rome at a major show. We had a great time at that show and got a lot of compliments about the quality and flexibility of our SerDes. These kinds of unfiltered, unsolicited customer comments are really what makes it all worthwhile. It was a gratifying and exciting time. This month, we’re at it again. O... » read more

From Physics To Applications

By Ed Sperling - 25 Oct, 2018 - Comments: 0

Jack Harding, president and CEO of eSilicon, sat down with Semiconductor Engineering to talk about the shift toward AI and advanced packaging, and the growing opportunities at 7nm at a time when Moore's Law has begun slowing down. What follows are excerpts of that conversation. SE: Over the past year, the industry has changed its focus from shrinking features and consolidation to all sorts o... » read more

eSilicon 7nm SerDes Hits 56Gbps

By eSilicon - 24 Oct, 2018 - Comments: 0

ASIC provider eSilicon focuses on high-performance devices for communications infrastructure, networking, and other data-center applications. Using 7nm TSMC pro- cess technology, it has developed ASIC-design platforms under the NeuASIC brand. Each platform includes hard and soft macros for networking applications along with a new architecture and intellectual-property (IP) library for building ... » read more

Power Delivery Affecting Performance At 7nm

By Brian Bailey - 11 Oct, 2018 - Comments: 4

Complex interactions and dependencies at 7nm and beyond can create unexpected performance drops in chips that cannot always be caught by signoff tools. This isn't for lack of effort. The amount of time spent trying to determine if an advanced-node chip will work after it is fabricated has been rising steadily for several process nodes. Additional design rules handle everything from variation... » read more

Defect Challenges Growing In Advanced Packaging

By Mark LaPedus - 08 Oct, 2018 - Comments: 0

The current defect inspection systems for packaging are running out of steam for the latest advanced packages, prompting the need for new tools in the market. In response, several vendors are rolling out new defect inspection systems for use in various advanced packages, such as 2.5D/3D technologies and fan-out. The new defect inspection systems are more capable than the previous tools, but ... » read more

Lab-To-Fab Testing

By Ed Sperling - 08 Oct, 2018 - Comments: 0

Test equipment vendors are working on integrating testing and simulation in the lab with testing done later in the fab, setting the stage for what potentially could be the most significant change in semiconductor test in years. If they are successful, this could greatly simplify design for test, which has become increasingly difficult as chips get more complex, denser, and as more heterogene... » read more

Cloud Drives Changes In Network Chip Architectures

By Ann Mutschler - 03 Oct, 2018 - Comments: 0

Cloud data centers have changed the networking topology and how data moves throughout a large data center, prompting significant changes in the architecture of the chips used to route that data and raising a whole new set of design challenges. Cloud computing has emerged as the fast growing segment of the data center market. In fact, it is expected to grow three-fold in the next few years, a... » read more

Using High-Bandwidth Memory

By Ed Sperling - 01 Oct, 2018 - Comments: 0

eSilicon’s Tim Horel talks about HBM, what engineers need to know to work with this technology, and how it integrates with ASICs at advanced nodes. https://youtu.be/0Yq2XHGF6UE » read more

Is Cloud Computing Suitable for Chip Design?

By Brian Bailey - 27 Sep, 2018 - Comments: 2

Is semiconductor design being left behind in a cloud-dominated world? Finance, CRM, office applications and many other sectors have made the switch to a cloud-based computing environment, but the EDA industry and its users have hardly started the migration. Are EDA needs and concerns that different from everyone else? We are starting to see announcements from EDA companies, but few cheerleaders... » read more

56G 7nm SerDes: Eyewitness Account

By Mike Gianfagna - 27 Sep, 2018 - Comments: 0

High-performance SerDes represents critical enabling technology for advanced ASICs. This star IP block finds application in many networking and switching designs as well as other high-performance applications. So, when a new high-performance SerDes block hits the streets, it’s real news. eSilicon has been enjoying the spotlight on such an event. We recently announced silicon validation of our... » read more

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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

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?

by Brian Bailey

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

Why Small Fab And Assembly Houses Are Thriving

Megafabs churning out the most advanced processors are not the only game in town.

by Bryon Moyer

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