Manufacturing Bits: Oct. 17


WIMP dark matter detector The LUX-ZEPLIN (LZ) Group has taken another step towards finding an elusive part of the universe—dark matter. The LZ Group consists of 250 scientists and engineers from 37 institutions in the U.S., U.K., Portugal, Russia and Korea. In 2012, the group built the so-called Large Underground Xenon (LUX) dark matter detector. The detector is based on a 370 kilogram ... » read more

The Week In Review: Manufacturing


Materials and equipment A scandal has rocked Japan’s Kobe Steel. The company disclosed that it has falsified inspection data for iron powder, aluminum and copper products that were sent to over 200 customers in the automotive, electronics, transportation and other sectors. The falsified data involves 20,000 tones of products, according to reports. Kobe apologized for the issues and provided ... » read more

The Week in Review: IoT


Market Research International Data Corp. (IDC) forecasts the worldwide Internet of Things market will double from $625.2 billion in 2015 to $1.29 trillion in 2020 for a compound annual growth rate of 15.6%. Aeris collaborated with IDC on its report, which predicts the installed base of IoT endpoints will increase from 12.1 billion at the end of 2015 to more than 30 billion by 2020. Initiati... » read more

Unsolved Litho Issues At 7nm


By Ed Sperling & Mark LaPedus EUV lithography is creating a new set of challenges on the photomask side for which there currently are no simple solutions. While lithography is viewed as a single technology, [gettech id="31045" comment="EUV"] actually is a collection of technologies. Not all of those technologies have advanced equally and simultaneously, however. For example, aberrations... » read more

Light In A Package


Silicon photonics is gaining significant traction inside the data center, but creating a simpler method of packaging the laser with other circuitry remains a stumbling block for cutting costs and using this technology across a wider swath of applications. Progress does appear to be on the horizon, even though exact time frames remain unclear. The advantages of light in communications are wel... » read more

Manufacturing Bits: Sept. 12


Failure analysis for 2.5D/3D chips Imec has developed a new failure analysis method to localize interconnection failures in 2.5D/3D stack die with through-silicon vias (TSVs). This technique is called LICA, which stands for light-induced capacitance alteration. It addresses the reliability issues for 2.5D/3D devices in a non-destructive and cost-effective manner at the wafer level. For s... » read more

The Week In Review: Design


Tools Cadence unveiled an integrated memory design and verification tool, with environments for bitcell design, array and complier verification, and memory characterization. It utilizes existing simulation databases for multi-corner and Monte Carlo analysis, which the company says can lead to a 2X runtime improvement. Solido Design Automation uncorked PVTMC Verifier, which uses machine lear... » read more

Toward Defining Qubits


Quantum computing, by many accounts the future of high-performance computing, will be blazing fast, state-dependent, and it will require extremely cold operating temperatures. But beyond some general areas of agreement, comparing progress made by companies or different research groups is confusing. What's missing is a simple nomenclature to define some of the basic technology used in quantum... » read more

Ruthenium Liners Give Way To Ruthenium Lines


For several years now, integrated circuit manufacturers have been investigating alternative barrier layer materials for copper interconnects. As interconnect dimensions shrink, the barrier accounts for an increasing fraction of the total line volume. As previously reported, both cobalt and ruthenium have drawn substantial interest because they can serve as both barrier and seed layers, minimizi... » read more

Blog Review: Aug. 16


Cadence's Paul McLellan checks out how Imec sees the future of transistors and the challenges of 3D logic. Synopsys' Robert Vamosi gets a lesson on the electronic systems powering modern cars, and considers when it's ethical to hack one. Mentor's Colin Walls takes a look at how to pass data between RTOS tasks. Rambus' Aharon Etengoff looks at recent semi market predictions, from expand... » read more

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