tag: imec

The Internet Of Power Also Benefits From Moore’s Law
By Imec - 21 Jan, 2016 - Comments: 0

By Jef Poortmans It may sound strange, but striving to achieve smaller dimensions with Moore’s Law is an important enabler for producing increasingly better solar cells, with a more elaborate technology toolbox (including ALD, epitaxy, etc.) Improved process steps are constantly being developed to achieve these small transistor dimensions (for growing material layers or to etch away str... » read more

Will 5nm Happen?
By Mark LaPedus - 20 Jan, 2016 - Comments: 7

Chipmakers are ramping up their 16/14nm finFET processes, with 10nm finFETs expected to ship sometime in late 2016 or early 2017. So what’s next? The foundries can see a path to extend the finFET transistor to 7nm, but the next node, 5nm, is far from certain and may never happen. Indeed, there are several technical and economic challenges at 5nm. And even if 5nm happens, only a few compani... » read more

Betting On Wright’s Law
By Imec - 17 Dec, 2015 - Comments: 0

By Paul Heremans Most people know Moore’s Law as "the number of transistors on a chip doubles every two years." That interpretation was the consequence of economic considerations. Moore predicted that "the number of transistors on a chip will rise exponentially if the surface area stays the same, because that way the cost per unit of computing power for integrated transistors will decrease... » read more

Manufacturing Bits: Dec. 8
By Mark LaPedus - 08 Dec, 2015 - Comments: 0

Quantum computing At this week’s IEEE International Electron Devices Meeting (IEDM) in Washington, D.C., chipmakers, research institutes and universities presented a plethora of papers on several subjects. A large number of papers revolve around the same theme—How to extend Moore’s Law. For this, researchers are working on a number of short- and long-term technologies to propel device... » read more

Manufacturing Bits: Dec. 1
By Mark LaPedus - 01 Dec, 2015 - Comments: 0

European R&D hub A new European hub for semiconductor R&D is open for business. The hub is part of an EU-funded program called ASCENT or Access to European Nanoelectronics Network. The program is aimed to give researchers access to chip and related technologies within three European R&D organizations--CEA-Leti, Imec and the Tyndall National Institute. As reported, ASCENT was originally f... » read more

What Comes Next
By Imec - 19 Nov, 2015 - Comments: 0

By Marc Heyns I’m very optimistic about the continuation of Moore’s Law. But in saying that, I’m speaking about Moore’s Law purely as an economic law. I believe we’ll be able to offer increasing amounts of functionality at lower and lower costs. And technological innovations as well as advances in design and application will be crucial in realizing this. But I don’t believe a ... » read more

Design Techniques Are Helping To Keep Moore’s Law Alive Longer
By Imec - 22 Oct, 2015 - Comments: 0

By Francky Catthoor Moore's Law means that electronic products can constantly be produced more cheaply, faster and more economically. Down to 45nm, this was due mainly to the technology that made it possible to reduce the size of transistors. Now things are becoming more difficult. But even if we are not able to achieve these gains through the further scaling of transistors as the result ... » read more

What China Is Planning
By Mark LaPedus - 21 Oct, 2015 - Comments: 1

Over the years, China has unveiled several initiatives to advance its domestic semiconductor industry. China has made some progress at each turn, although every plan has fallen short of expectations. But now, the nation is embarking on several new and bold initiatives that could alter the IC landscape. China’s new initiatives address at least three key challenges for its IC industry: 1. C... » read more

First Look: 5nm
By Ann Mutschler - 15 Oct, 2015 - Comments: 3

By the time the 5nm semiconductor manufacturing process node reaches mass production readiness, the hurdles and challenges will no longer be open for discussion. But as of this moment, some of them seem almost insurmountable, raising new questions about the continued viability of Moore's Law. There has been much written about the end of [getkc id="74" comment="Moore's Law"] for nearly two de... » read more

The Week In Review: Design/IoT
By Jesse Allen - 09 Oct, 2015 - Comments: 0

Imec and Cadence completed the first tapeout of a 5nm test chip. Using a processor design, the companies taped out a set of designs using EUV lithography as well as Self-Aligned Quadruple Patterning for 193i lithography, where metal pitches were scaled from the nominal 32nm pitch down to 24nm to push the limit of patterning. Tools Synopsys folded in recent acquisition Atrenta's testabilit... » read more

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