The Week In Review: Design/IoT


Mergers & Acquisitions Silvaco acquired Invarian, anticipating integration of Invarian's methodology will accelerate adoption of concurrent power-voltage-thermal analysis. Legal A U.S. District Court judge ordered Kilopass to pay $5.5 million to Sidense for legal fees incurred in Kilopass' patent infringement suit against Sidense. That lawsuit was  dismissed in 2012. Sidense filed... » read more

5 Issues Under The SPIE Radar


As usual, the recent SPIE Advanced Lithography Conference was a busy, if not an overwhelming, event. At the event, there were endless presentations on the usual subjects, such as design, patterning, metrology and photoresists. And as in past years, one left the event with more questions than answers. At this year’s event, the most obvious question was (and still is) clear: Will extreme ult... » read more

Issues And Options At 5nm


While the foundries are ramping up their processes for the 16nm/14nm node, vendors are also busy developing technologies for 10nm and beyond. In fact, chipmakers are finalizing their 10nm process offerings, but they are still weighing the technology options for 7nm. And if that isn’t enough, IC makers are beginning to look at the options at 5nm and beyond. Today, chipmakers can see a p... » read more

The Week In Review: Manufacturing


Look out below! Intel has lowered its first-quarter revenue outlook. The company now expects first-quarter revenue to be $12.8 billion, plus or minus $300 million, compared to the previous expectation of $13.7 billion, plus or minus $500 million. “Intel may be experiencing greater-than-expected seasonal declines in both notebooks and desktops,” said Doug Freedman, an analyst with RBC Capita... » read more

The Week In Review: Manufacturing


EUV lithography remains a mixed bag, according to analysts. "We are downgrading shares of ASML to 'Sector Perform' from 'Outperform' as we think shares appear fully valued based on midterm lithography demand and our view that meaningful EUV adoption is still several years out," said Weston Twigg, an analyst with Pacific Crest Securities, in a new report. "We think the reality is that it is not ... » read more

What Ford Is Driving


Jim Buczkowski, director of electrical and electronics systems research and advanced engineering at Ford Motor Co., sat down with Semiconductor Engineering to talk about quality, security, architectures, packaging and automotive's unique constraints. What follows are excerpts of that conversation. SE: As more electronic content is included in automobiles, what kinds of issues are you dealing... » read more

More Lithography Options?


Lithographers face some tough decisions at 10nm and beyond. At these nodes, IC makers are still weighing the various patterning options. And to make it even more difficult, lithographers could soon have some new, and potentially disruptive, options on the table. On one front, the traditional next-generation lithography (NGL) technologies are finally making some noticeable progress. For examp... » read more

The Week In Review: Manufacturing


At the SPIE Advanced Lithography conference in San Jose, Calif., there were several takeaways. First, the battle for lithography share is heating up at Intel. “We believe Nikon still holds a decent position at Intel, but with ASML gaining some share at 10nm. Nikon could regain some share with its new platform at 7nm, in our view, but it is early to tell. We believe Nikon has improved its posi... » read more

Partition Lines Growing Fuzzy


For as long as most semiconductor engineers can remember, chips with discrete functions started out on a printed circuit board, progressed into chip sets when it made sense and eventually were integrated onto the same die. The primary motivations behind this trend were performance and cost—shorter distance, fewer mask layers, less silicon. But this equation has been changing over the past ... » read more

Manufacturing Bits: Feb. 24


EUV progress report At the SPIE Advanced Lithography conference in San Jose, Calif., ASML Holding said that one customer, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. Ltd. (TSMC), has exposed more than 1,000 wafers on an NXE:3300B EUV system in a single day. This is one step towards the insertion of EUV lithography in volume production. During a recent test run on the system, TSMC exposed 1,022 w... » read more

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