2022 Chip Forecast: Mixed Signals

By Mark LaPedus - 22 Feb, 2022 - Comments: 0

Jim Feldhan, president of Semico Research, sat down with Semiconductor Engineering to talk about the outlook for the semiconductor market. SE: What was your final 2021 semiconductor forecast? What is your 2022 semiconductor forecast? Feldhan: For 2021, world semiconductor revenues totaled $558 billion and units totaled over 1.1 trillion units. In terms of growth rate, revenues increased 2... » read more

Covid Masks And Forecasts At Semicon

By Mark LaPedus - 16 Dec, 2021 - Comments: 0

Semicon West 2021 was certainty different, if not surreal, this year. The annual event was held in-person from Dec. 7-9, although there is a virtual component that runs until Jan. 7, 2022. In comparison, Semicon West was an all-virtual event in 2020, due to the Covid-19 pandemic. At this year’s in-person event in San Francisco, attendees, exhibitors and speakers were all required to wea... » read more

Big Payback For Combining Different Types Of Fab Data

By Anne Meixner - 07 Dec, 2021 - Comments: 1

Collecting and combining diverse data types from different manufacturing processes can play a significant role in improving semiconductor yield, quality, and reliability, but making that happen requires integrating deep domain expertise from various different process steps and sifting through huge volumes of data scattered across a global supply chain. The semiconductor manufacturing IC data... » read more

Enablers And Barriers For Connecting Diverse Data

By Anne Meixner - 09 Nov, 2021 - Comments: 0

More data is being collected at every step of the manufacturing process, raising the possibility of combining data in new ways to solve engineering problems. But this is far from simple, and combining results is not always possible. The semiconductor industry’s thirst for data has created oceans of it from the manufacturing process. In addition, semiconductor designs large and small now ha... » read more

Latest IC Forecast: Big Demand, Shortages

By Mark LaPedus - 15 Apr, 2021 - Comments: 1

Over the last year, the semiconductor industry has seen its share of highs, lows and uncertainties. In early 2020, the business looked bright, but the IC market dropped amid the Covid-19 pandemic outbreak. Throughout 2020 different countries implemented a number of measures to mitigate the outbreak, such as stay-at-home orders and business closures. Economic turmoil and job losses soon follo... » read more

Long Lead Times Seen For Equipment

By Mark LaPedus - 18 Mar, 2021 - Comments: 1

There are a number of big stories in the semiconductor market thus far in 2021. Automotive chip shortages and tight foundry capacity are among the bigger ones. That’s just for starters. What hasn’t received much attention is the ongoing shortages and long lead times for semiconductor equipment. In some cases, lead times have stretched out to 12 months or more for some equipment. Some t... » read more

Fearless Chip Forecasts For 2021

By Mark LaPedus - 21 Jan, 2021 - Comments: 0

It’s been a roller coaster ride in the semiconductor industry. In early 2020, the semiconductor business looked bright, but then the Covid-19 pandemic struck, causing a sudden downturn. By mid-2020, though, the market bounced back, as the stay-at-home economy drove demand for computers, tablets and TVs. The chip market ended on a high note in 2020, but the question is, what’s in store fo... » read more

What’s Ahead For Chips & Equipment?

By Mark LaPedus - 22 Oct, 2020 - Comments: 0

It’s been a topsy-turvy year in the semiconductor industry. 2020 was supposed to be a strong year. Then, the coronavirus outbreak hit. Countries implemented various measures to mitigate the outbreak, such as stay-at-home orders and store closures. Economic turmoil and job losses soon followed. Earlier in the year, the chip market looked bleak. Now, business appears to be strong. To gain... » read more

OIP Ecosystem Forum 2020

By Paul McLellan - 10 Sep, 2020 - Comments: 0

Last Tuesday was the virtual TSMC OIP Ecosystem Forum. Apart from being virtual, the format was similar to the usual. Cliff Hou, Senior Vice President of Technology Development, opened the day with a summary of where everything is in the ecosystem around each of the new processes. There were then three keynotes by the leaders of the three big EDA companies. That was followed by more technical ... » read more

2020 IC Outlook: Uncertainty

By Mark LaPedus - 24 Feb, 2020 - Comments: 0

After a downturn in 2019, the semiconductor and equipment industries looked promising at the start of 2020. In 2019, the downturn was primarily due to the memory markets, namely DRAM and NAND. Both DRAM and NAND saw lackluster demand and falling prices last year. At the start of 2020, though, the memory markets were beginning to recover. Unlike memory, the logic and foundry markets were s... » read more

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Knowledge Centers
Entities, people and technologies explored

Shift Left Is The Tip Of The Iceberg

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by Brian Bailey

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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

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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

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

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?