Manufacturing Bits: Dec. 16


Space DSA NASA's Physical Science Research Program is taking directed self-assembly (DSA) technology to new heights. On the International Space Station, astronauts are exploring the development of nanoparticles suspended in magnetorheolocial (MR) fluids. MR fluids, which are a new class of smart materials, self-assemble into shapes in the presence of a magnetic field. With the technology, r... » read more

Hybrid Verification: The Only Way Forward


Semiconductor Engineering sat down to discuss the state of the industry for [getkc id="10" kc_name=" functional verification"]. The inability of RTL [getkc id="11" kc_name="simulation"] to keep up with verification needs is causing rapid change in the industry. Taking part in the discussion are Harry Foster, chief scientist at [getentity id="22017" e_name="Mentor Graphics"]; Janick Bergeron, fe... » read more

IBM, Intel And TSMC Roll Out finFETs


At the IEEE International Electron Devices Meeting (IEDM) in San Franciso, IBM, Intel and Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. Ltd. (TSMC) this week will separately present the latest details of their respective 16nm/14nm finFET technologies. As expected, Intel and TSMC will continue to use bulk CMOS. IBM will continue to go with rival silicon-on-insulator (SOI) technology. At IEDM, Intel ... » read more

The Week In Review: Manufacturing


Intel and Royal Caribbean International teamed up to integrate Intel-powered tablets onboard the Quantum of the Seas, the world’s first “smartship.” Royal Caribbean is installing 15,000 Intel-based Dell Venue tablets at point-of-sale locations on the new ship. When will Applied Materials’ proposed acquisition of Tokyo Electron Ltd. (TEL) happen? “Timing-wise we still think that it ... » read more

Fab Tool Biz Faces Challenges In 2015


After a slight downturn in 2013, the semiconductor equipment industry rebounded and experienced a solid upturn in 2014. The recovery was primarily driven by tool spending in the foundry and [getkc id="93" kc_name="DRAM"]sectors. Another big and ongoing story continued to unfold in 2014. In late 2013, [getentity id="22817" e_name="Applied Materials"] announced a definitive agreement to acquir... » read more

New Machine Tops The Green500 List


The Green500 has released its latest list of the top 500 most energy efficient Supercomputers and there is a new machine, L-CSC from the Helmholtz Center that is the first supercomputer to surpass the 5 GigaFLOPS/watt barrier. The machine is yet another heterogeneous system and is based on AMD FirePro S9150 GPU accelerators and Intel Xeon E5-2690v2 10C 3GHz processors. IBM and NVIDIA aren’... » read more

Short-Range, Low-Power Sensors


Over the last 10 years the world has done a remarkably good job of connecting the global wireless world. This is partly because of visionaries, partly because of marketers, and partly just because we can, but mostly because of convenience. We now never need be to be off the wide-area interconnected highway. The last decade has radically changed the way we live. The smartphone and its cousin, th... » read more

The Next Level Of Chip Security


As we move to that magic year, 2020, which is commonly being recognized as the year when the IoT is supposed to be in full bloom, the security issues just keep coming. The rate of cyber exploits continue to ramp up daily. Yet there seems to be just as much complacency about the [getkc id="76" comment="Internet of Things"] as there is about the Internet of today. It seems we are becoming desensi... » read more

Week 26: A Surge For Embedded At DAC


A few weeks ago I told you about the best kept secret at DAC—the fact that about 30% of our content at DAC is focused on embedded systems and software. This came as a surprise to a lot people and shortly afterwards we were contacted by Rich Nass who is the executive vice president and brand manager of embedded computing design at Open Systems Media and the former editorial director for ESC �... » read more

The Week In Review: Manufacturing


Intel announced plans to invest up to $1.6 billion in the next 15 years to upgrade its Chengdu, China factory for die prep, assembly and test operations, as well as to bring Intel’s latest Advanced Test Technology to China. Advanced Test Technology is Intel’s internal ATE capabilities. “It is also the single biggest investment by Intel in Chengdu,” said William Holt, executive vice pres... » read more

← Older posts Newer posts →