Making 2.5D, Fan-Outs Cheaper


Now that it has been shown to work, the race is on to make advanced [getkc id="27" kc_name="packaging"] more affordable. While device scaling could continue for another decade or more, the number of companies that can afford to develop SoCs at the leading edge will continue to decline. The question now being addressed is what can supplant it, supplement it, or redefine it. At the center o... » read more

Why EUV Is So Difficult


For years, extreme ultraviolet (EUV) lithography has been a promising technology that was supposed to help enable advanced chip scaling. But after years of R&D, EUV is still not in production despite major backing from the industry, vast resources and billions of dollars in funding. More recently, though, [gettech id="31045" comment="EUV"] lithography appears to be inching closer to pos... » read more

Executive Committee Members You Need To Know…


Time is the only critic without ambition. – John Steinbeck Like many things, DAC looks decidedly different depending on where you sit, and how you experience it. As an attendee, it’s mostly a few days at the start of every summer where you can sample some of the best technical content on the design of circuits and systems, plus get the chance to network and have some fun with a worldwide... » read more

Politics And (Low) Power


This week the entire semiconductor market woke up with a severe political hangover. Aside from the initial shock of the election results themselves, the winning platform of "America First" could have far-reaching implications for an industry that has spent decades optimizing a global supply chain the way it has finely tuned other processes to reduce the cost per transistor. There are many un... » read more

Saving Energy In The Fab


It’s not an exaggeration to say that integrated circuits are a critical component of any effort to reduce global carbon dioxide emissions. The most efficient engines depend on microcontrollers to optimize fuel consumption. Global shipping uses sophisticated simulators for load balancing and route planning. Computing power that once needed room-sized cooling units now fits in a battery-powered... » read more

The Week In Review: IoT


Deals The $47 billion merger of Qualcomm and NXP Semiconductors will not only affect the automotive chip market; it should also have a significant impact in the Internet of Things business. The companies note they are together strong in microcontrollers, secure identification, mobile transactions, payment cards, transit, application processors, and connectivity systems. Meanwhile, NXP reported... » read more

Should Processing Take Place At End Nodes?


Last week at ARM TechCon — which I found extremely interesting for the deep technical content — there was much discussion around where processing should happen in our connected world. (I’m really trying to stay away from the nebulous term, ‘IoT.’) Some believe the processing should happen at the edge nodes, while others believe it should all take place in the data center; I’ve ev... » read more

Will 5G Enable Connected Cars?


As the telecom, automotive and semiconductor ecosystems rally to develop solutions for next-generation mobile networks for the connected car, 5G technology has emerged as a strong contender. Fifth-generation mobile networks will enable data transmission rates of more than 10Gps, connecting machines to machines, as well as everything else, including smartphones, IoT devices that require a... » read more

Manufacturing Bits: Nov. 1


U.S. to boost IC competitiveness President Obama’s Council of Advisors on Science & Technology (PCAST) has launched a new semiconductor working group in the United States. The new working group will focus on ways to strengthen the competitiveness of the U.S. semiconductor industry. It will provide recommendations to PCAST regarding the challenges facing the U.S. semiconductor industry. Th... » read more

Silicon Photonics Comes Into Focus


Silicon photonics is attracting growing attention and investment as a companion technology to copper wiring inside of data centers, raising new questions about what comes next and when. Light has always been the ultimate standard for speed. It requires less energy to move large quantities of data, generates less heat than electricity, and it can work equally well over long or short distances... » read more

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