Research Bits: July 7


3D NAND PUF Researchers from Seoul National University developed a new hardware security technology based on commercially available 3D NAND flash memory. The approach is an adaptation of physical unclonable functions (PUFs) with the ability to hide a security key under user data when not in use and reveal it only when needed. The same memory space used for storing security keys can be repurpos... » read more

Research Bits: July 1


Copper-to-copper bonding for GaN integration Researchers from MIT, Georgia Tech, and Air Force Research Laboratory propose a bonding process to integrate gallium nitride (GaN) transistors onto standard silicon CMOS chips. They used the process to create a power amplifier. “We wanted to combine the functionality of GaN with the power of digital chips made of silicon, but without having to ... » read more

Chip Industry Week in Review


AI featured big at this week's Design Automation Conference (DAC) in San Francisco. Dozens of companies featured AI-related tools (see product section below), as well as significant improvements to existing tools and some entirely new approaches for designing chips. Among the highlights: Siemens unveiled an AI-enhanced toolset for the EDA design flow that enables customers to integrate the... » read more

Research Bits: June 17


Superlattice castellated FETs Researchers from the University of Bristol and Northrop Grumman Mission Systems discovered a latch-effect in gallium nitride (GaN) that could lead to improved radio frequency device performance, crucial for enabling 6G devices. “We have piloted a device technology, working with collaborators, called superlattice castellated field effect transistors (SLCFETs),... » read more

Chip Industry Week in Review


Qualcomm announced plans to buy Alphawave Semi for ~$2.4 billion in a deal expected to close in Q1 2026. Qualcomm plans to leverage Alphawave Semi's connectivity products, including chiplets, to develop high-performance, low-power solutions for AI inferencing and customized CPUs in data centers. Qualcomm's traditional targets were mobile phones and edge computing. [Updated 6/9.] Global semic... » read more

Research Bits: June 3


Imaging power electronics Researchers from the Institute of Science Tokyo, Harvard University, and Hitachi used diamond quantum sensors to analyze the magnetization response of soft magnetic materials used in power electronics. The method can simultaneously image both the amplitude and phase of AC stray fields over a wide frequency range up to 2.3 MHz. It uses a diamond quantum sensor with ... » read more

Chip Industry Week in Review


Podcast: imec's roadmap and a one-on-one interview with the European research house's chief strategy officer. China's Xiaomi debuted an in-house-designed 10-core mobile SoC built on a 3nm process. The company did not identify the foundry. It also announced plans to invest 50 billion yuan (~$7B) over the next decade to develop high-end smartphone chips, as part of a 200 billion yuan (~$28B) c... » read more

Research Bits: Nov. 5


Optical in-memory computing Researchers from the University of Pittsburgh, University of California Santa Barbara, University of Cagliari, and Institute of Science Tokyo propose a resonance-based photonic architecture which leverages the non-reciprocal phase shift in magneto-optical materials to implement photonic in-memory computing. “The materials we use in developing these cells have b... » read more