tag: finFETs

Tradeoffs On The Fly
By Ed Sperling - 17 Jan, 2013 - Comments: 0

By Ann Steffora Mutschler With classical bulk planar technology no longer shrinkable, the industry has been honing in on new ways to continue some scaling, achieve extra speed or better power while minimizing leakage. “To overcome the limits [of bulk planar technology] we need a different solution,” explained Giorgio Cesano, technology R&D marketing director at STMicroelectron... » read more

It’s Transition Time Again
By Ed Sperling - 17 Jan, 2013 - Comments: 0

By Ed Sperling After decades of shrinking features, developing new software on every level and engineering huge improvements in energy efficiency and performance, the semiconductor industry has reached a crossroads. To get to the next level will require massive improvements on all fronts, but not all consumers will be willing to pay for them. For example, if a battery lasts an entire day f... » read more

First Silicon At 14nm
By Ed Sperling - 17 Jan, 2013 - Comments: 0

By Ed Sperling The first 14nm test chips are beginning to roll out the door from foundries, and companies are beginning to trumpet their success. But before anyone pops the champagne corks, there are some caveats. First of all, what most people are billing as 14nm chips are actually mostly 20nm. They are readily willing to concede that point, settling on 16nm, but the reality is that it’s... » read more

All Things To All Customers
By Ed Sperling - 17 Jan, 2013 - Comments: 0

By Ann Steffora Mutschler Low-Power High-Performance Engineering recently spoke with Suresh Menon, VP of systems development at Lattice Semiconductor, about the challenges of directing the development of power-sensitive FPGAs from architectural decisions to identifying the target applications. What follows are excerpts of that discussion. LPHP: When you look at the products that Lattic... » read more

Designing With FinFETs: The Opportunities And The Challenges
By Various Writers - 29 Dec, 2012 - Comments: 0

With the help of double-patterning and other advanced lithography techniques, CMOS technology continues to scale to 20-nanometer (nm) and beyond. Yet, because of their superior attributes, FinFETs are replacing planar CMOS technology as the device technology of choice at these advanced nodes. In particular, FinFETs demonstrate better results in the areas of performance, leakage and dynamic powe... » read more

Predictions, Problems And Prognosis
By Ed Sperling - 19 Dec, 2012 - Comments: 0

Never before in the long and often turbulent history of the semiconductor industry have so many problems presented themselves at each new process node. And never before have there been so many well-tested choices to resolving them. After possibly the most intensive, extensive and expensive research this industry has ever witnessed, Moore’s Law is now technologically assured down to at leas... » read more

Increasing Levels Of Risk
By Ed Sperling - 13 Dec, 2012 - Comments: 0

Semiconductor Manufacturing & Design sits down with Mentor Graphics' Jean-Marie Brunet to talk about double patterning, finFETs, design rules at advanced nodes and why design for manufacturing (DFM) has suddenly become so popular. [youtube vid=3GHvikyjZow] » read more

Upping The Ante
By Ed Sperling - 13 Dec, 2012 - Comments: 0

The increasing number of research projects under way to solve many of the thorniest issues in the history of semiconductor design and manufacturing are a testament to just how tough the job has become. Never before have there been so many technological roadblocks at the same time—and so many potential options for solving them. Those challenges—or opportunities, as marketing execs like to... » read more

Remaking The Playing Field
By Ed Sperling - 30 Nov, 2012 - Comments: 0

Just a week ago the battle lines looked very well defined. ARM was fighting Intel on power, and Intel was fighting ARM on performance. One week later, ARM has cemented a deal with AMD, which will use its cores in future processors running Microsoft software. Imagination Technologies is buying MIPS, which presumably it will use to go after both ARM and Intel. And Intel has a stake in Imaginat... » read more

Node Skipping Reaches New Heights
By Ed Sperling - 15 Nov, 2012 - Comments: 0

By Mark LaPedus For years, silicon foundries have rolled out their respective leading-edge processes roughly on a two-year cadence. The long-standing goal has been to keep foundry customers on a competitive price, power and performance curve. But as leading-edge chipmakers move from the 28nm node and beyond, the predictable process progression is changing. And the phenomenon of “node skip... » read more

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