tag: Intel

The Week In Review: Manufacturing
By Mark LaPedus - 07 Nov, 2014 - Comments: 0

China’s Jiangsu Changjiang Electronics Technology (JCET) has made a bid to acquire STATS ChipPAC for $780 million, according to reports. This year’s top-20 chip ranking includes two pure-play foundries--TSMC and UMC--and six fabless companies, according to IC Insights. GlobalFoundries is forecast to be replaced in this year’s top 20 ranking by fabless IC supplier Nvidia, according to t... » read more

A Decade At The Ceiling
By Barry Pangrle - 05 Nov, 2014 - Comments: 0

This month marks the tenth anniversary of the introduction of the Intel Pentium 4 HT 570J, which had an advertised operating frequency of 3.8 GHz. It was manufactured in a 90nm process, had a VID voltage range of 1.2V-1.425V and was rated at 115W TDP. In a previous article, Power to Fly, we looked at the graph that I’m including again here below for reference. The microprocessor indu... » read more

2.5D Timetable Coming Into Focus
By Ed Sperling - 23 Oct, 2014 - Comments: 0

After years of empty promises, the timetable for [getkc id="82" kc_name="2.5D"] is coming into better focus. Large and midsize chipmakers are behind it, real silicon is being developed, and contracts are being signed. That doesn't mean all of the pieces are in place or that market uptake is at the neck of the hockey stick. And it certainly doesn't mean the semiconductor industry is going to ... » read more

Why Is My Device Better Than Yours?
By Ed Sperling - 23 Oct, 2014 - Comments: 0

Differentiation is becoming a big problem in the semiconductor industry with far-reaching implications that extend well beyond just chips. The debate over the future of [getkc id="74" comment="Moore's Law"] is well known, but it's just one element in a growing list that will make it much harder for chip companies, IP vendors and even software developers to stand out from the pack. And withou... » read more

The Week In Review: Manufacturing
By Mark LaPedus - 17 Oct, 2014 - Comments: 0

It’s official: IBM appears to be exiting the chip business. After months of talks, IBM has agreed to pay GlobalFoundries $1.5 billion to take Big Blue’s chip unit off its hands, according to reports from Bloomberg. IBM will also receive $200 million worth of assets, according to the reports. At the upcoming IEEE International Electron Devices Meeting (IEDM), Intel and IBM will present... » read more

EUV Still Matters…But Less
By Ed Sperling - 16 Oct, 2014 - Comments: 0

For all the chatter and occasional tirades about EUV missing its market window—it's true, EUV will have missed five market windows by 10nm—it still matters. And the sooner EUV hits the market with a viable power source, the better off the entire semiconductor manufacturing industry will be. But even EUV is a sideshow to some important shifts underway in technology. While technologically ... » read more

Litho Options Sparse After 10nm
By Mark LaPedus - 16 Oct, 2014 - Comments: 0

Leading-edge foundries are ramping up their 16nm/14nm logic processes, with 10nm and 7nm in R&D. Barring a major breakthrough in [getkc id="80" comment="lithography"], chipmakers will use 193nm immersion and multiple patterning for both 16nm/14nm and 10nm. So now, chipmakers are focusing on the lithography options for 7nm. As before, the options include the usual suspects—[gettech id="... » read more

ATE Market Gets More Crowded
By Mark LaPedus - 16 Oct, 2014 - Comments: 0

Over the years, the automatic test equipment (ATE) industry has undergone a dramatic shakeout. In fact, the ATE industry has shrunk from about a dozen major vendors several years ago to just three sizable companies today. There is also a smattering of smaller ATE players in the market. In other words, the big ATE vendors became bigger and the mid-sized players were gobbled up. The consol... » read more

Challenges Mount For EUV Masks
By Mark LaPedus - 16 Oct, 2014 - Comments: 2

Five years ago, Intel urged the industry to invest millions of dollars in the photomask infrastructure to help enable extreme ultraviolet ([gettech id="31045" comment="EUV"]) lithography. At the time, there were noticeable gaps in EUV, namely defect-free masks and inspection tools. To date, however, Intel’s call to action has produced mixed results. The photomask industry is making progr... » read more

Time To Look At SOI Again
By Mark LaPedus - 16 Oct, 2014 - Comments: 0

Chipmakers have the luxury of looking at several process options when developing chips at the 28nm node and beyond. Using bulk CMOS, for example, chipmakers can scale planar transistors down to 20nm. Then, at 20nm, planar runs out of gas due to the so-called short-channel effect. At that point, IC makers must migrate towards finFETs at 16nm/14nm and beyond. Another process option is fully... » read more

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