Chip Industry Week In Review


A flurry of announcements on advanced semiconductors and AI rolled out this week as U.S. President Biden wrapped up his term: The Biden-Harris Administration released an Interim Final Rule on Artificial Intelligence Diffusion to strengthen U.S. security and economic leadership in AI. The rule aims to ensure responsible global AI development by streamlining chip sales to allies, setting sec... » read more

Chip Industry Week In Review


Global semiconductor sales hit $57.8 billion in November 2024, an increase of 20.7% compared to the same month last year, according to the Semiconductor Industry Association. In U.S. government news: The U.S. Department of Commerce finalized up to $325 million in CHIPS Act funding for Hemlock Semiconductor, which will support construction of a new semiconductor-grade polysilicon manufac... » read more

Chip Industry Technical Paper Roundup: Jan. 7


New technical papers recently added to Semiconductor Engineering’s library: [table id=395 /] Find all technical papers here. » read more

What’s Next For Through-Silicon Vias


From large TSVs for MEMS to nanoTSVs for backside power delivery, cost-effective process flows for these interconnects are essential for making 2.5D and 3D packages more feasible. Through-silicon vias (TSVs) enable shorter interconnect lengths, which reduces chip power consumption and latency to carry signals faster from one device to another or within a device. Advanced packaging technology... » read more

Advancements in SOT-MRAM Device Development (imec)


A technical paper titled "Recent progress in spin-orbit torque magnetic random-access memory" was recently published by imec. Abstract "Spin-orbit torque magnetic random-access memory (SOT-MRAM) offers promise for fast operation and high endurance but faces challenges such as low switching current, reliable field free switching, and back-end of line manufacturing processes. We review rece... » read more

Chip Industry Technical Paper Roundup: Dec. 23


New technical papers recently added to Semiconductor Engineering’s library: [table id=394 /] Find all technical papers here. » read more

Chip Industry Week In Review


Updated for 12/20 government fundings and 12/23 for China trade investigation announcements. President Biden announced a trade investigation into "China's unfair trade practices in the semiconductor sector."  The announcement stated "PRC semiconductors often enter the U.S. market as a component of finished goods. This Section 301 investigation will examine a broad range of the PRC’s non-m... » read more

EU Chips Act: A Game Changer For The Digital Economy


The global semiconductor landscape has undergone significant transformation in recent years. With disruptions such as the semiconductor supply chain crisis and the challenges it posed to the automotive sector, Europe’s dependence on external fabrication facilities, particularly in Taiwan, has become a pressing concern. In response, the European Union (EU) introduced the EU Chips Act, a compre... » read more

Chip Industry Week In Review


The 2024 IEEE International Electron Devices Meeting (IEDM) was held this week, prompting a number of announcements from: imec: Proposed a new CFET-based standard cell architecture for the A7 node containing two rows of CFETs with a shared signal routing wall in between, allowing standard cell heights to be reduced from 4 to 3.5T, compared to single-row CFETs. Integrated indium pho... » read more

Promising Materials Beyond Silicon (TI, AIXTRON, imec)


A new technical paper titled "Future materials for beyond Si integrated circuits: a Perspective" was published by researchers at Texas Instruments, AIXTRON SE and imec. Abstract: "The integration of novel materials has been pivotal in advancing Si-based devices ever since Si became the preferred material for transistors, and later, integrated circuits. New materials have rapidly been adopte... » read more

← Older posts