Memory Issues For AI Edge Chips

By Mark LaPedus - 23 Mar, 2020 - Comments: 2

Several companies are developing or ramping up AI chips for systems on the network edge, but vendors face a variety of challenges around process nodes and memory choices that can vary greatly from one application to the next. The network edge involves a class of products ranging from cars and drones to security cameras, smart speakers and even enterprise servers. All of these applications in... » read more

Scaling Up Compute-In-Memory Accelerators

By Katherine Derbyshire - 19 Mar, 2020 - Comments: 2

Researchers are zeroing in on new architectures to boost performance by limiting the movement of data in a device, but this is proving to be much harder than it appears. The argument for memory-based computation is familiar by now. Many important computational workloads involve repetitive operations on large datasets. Moving data from memory to the processing unit and back — the so-called ... » read more

The Long Road To Quantum Computing

By Susan Rambo - 12 Mar, 2020 - Comments: 0

Building a quantum computer is like building a cathedral. They both take a couple generations. The time frame for useful quantum computing applications that are not toy-sized is still a few years to a decade or more away. But the push is on now. Governments are racing to get their country’s quantum computing going for national security reasons. Companies such as Google and IBM are competin... » read more

Manufacturing Bits: March 9

By Mark LaPedus - 09 Mar, 2020 - Comments: 0

Finding cures for coronavirus The Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) is using the world’s most powerful supercomputer to identify drug compounds and cures for the coronavirus. [caption id="attachment_24162601" align="alignleft" width="300"] Summit supercomputer. Source: Oak Ridge National Laboratory[/caption] The supercomputer, called Summit, has identified 7... » read more

Manufacturing Bits: March 3

By Mark LaPedus - 03 Mar, 2020 - Comments: 0

Security lithography At the recent SPIE Advanced Lithography conference, Multibeam disclosed more details about its efforts to develop multi-beam direct-write lithography for chip security applications. David Lam, chief executive and chairman of Multibeam, described how multi-beam lithography can be used to help thwart IC counterfeiting and tampering in the market. This lithography technolo... » read more

Moving To GAA FETs

By Katherine Derbyshire - 20 Feb, 2020 - Comments: 2

How do you measure the size of a transistor? Is it the gate length, or the distance between the source and drain contacts? For planar transistors, the two values are approximately the same. The gate, plus a dielectric spacer, fits between the source and drain contacts. The contact pitch, limited by the smallest features that the lithography process can print, determines how many transistors ... » read more

Logic Chip, Heal Thyself

By Susan Rambo And Ed Sperling - 11 Feb, 2020 - Comments: 0

If a single fault can kill a logic chip, that doesn’t bode well for longevity of complex multi-chip systems. Obsolescence in chips is not just an industry ploy to sell more chips. It is a fact of physics that chips don’t last more than a few years, especially if overheated, and hit with higher voltage than it can stand. The testing industry does a great job finding defects during manufac... » read more

Design For Airborne Electronics

By Ann Steffora Mutschler - 03 Feb, 2020 - Comments: 0

The Next Generation Air Transportation System (NextGen), an FAA-led modernization of America's air transportation system meant to make flying more efficient, predictable and safer, is currently underway as one of the most ambitious infrastructure projects in U.S. history. This is not just a minor upgrade to an aging infrastructure. The FAA and partners are in the process of implementing new ... » read more

Week In Review: Auto, Security, Pervasive Computing

By Susan Rambo - 31 Jan, 2020 - Comments: 0

AI/Edge Brewer Science is introducing its first material for permanent bond used in assembling ICs, image sensor devices, and MEMS for devices and packaging that “include low-temperature bonding, extreme chemical resistance, UV or thermal curable bonding process, and no material movement after cure,” according to a press release. The bond is part of the PermaSOL product family. “These hi... » read more

Big Design, IP and End Market Shifts In 2020

By Brian Bailey - 30 Jan, 2020 - Comments: 0

EDA is on a roll. Design starts are up significantly thanks to increased investment in areas such as AI, a plethora of new communications standards, buildout of the Cloud, the race toward autonomous driving and continued advancements in mobile phones. Many designs demand the latest technologies and push the limits of complexity. Low power is becoming more than just reducing wasted power at t... » read more

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