Week In Review: Auto, Security, Pervasive Computing


Automotive The State of California has banned the selling of new vehicles with gasoline-powered internal combustion engines (ICE) by 2035. All new passenger cars sold in 15 years in California will be zero emission cars, according to an executive order signed by the state’s governor. Older ICE passenger cars will still be allowed on the roads and can still be sold as used vehicles. The order... » read more

DRAM, 3D NAND Face New Challenges


It’s been a topsy-turvy period for the memory market, and it's not over. So far in 2020, demand has been slightly better than expected for the two main memory types — 3D NAND and DRAM. But now there is some uncertainty in the market amid a slowdown, inventory issues and an ongoing trade war. In addition, the 3D NAND market is moving toward a new technology generation, but some are enc... » read more

Industry Pushes For Fab Tool Security Standards


The semiconductor industry is developing new cybersecurity standards for fab equipment in an effort to protect systems from potential cyberattacks, viruses, and IP theft. Two new standards are in the works, which are being formulated under the auspices of the SEMI trade group with leadership from chipmakers and others. Led by Intel and Cimetrix, the first standard deals with malware-free equ... » read more

Momentum Builds For Advanced Packaging


The semiconductor industry is stepping up its efforts in advanced packaging, an approach that is becoming more widespread with new and complex chip designs. Foundries, OSATs and others are rolling out the next wave of advanced packaging technologies, such as 2.5D/3D, chiplets and fan-out, and they are developing more exotic packaging technologies that promise to improve performance, reduce p... » read more

Making Everything Linux-Capable


It's not clear how the edge will play out or what will be the winning formula from a hardware standpoint. But for everything beyond the end device, and possibly even including the end device, a key prerequisite will be the ability to run Linux. That means at least one processor or core within the hardware will need to run 64-bit software. In addition, systems will need to have enough storage... » read more

Interconnects Emerge As Key Concern For Performance


Interconnects are becoming increasingly challenging to design, implement and test as the amount of data skyrockets and the ability to move that data through denser arrays of compute elements and memories becomes more difficult. The idea of an interconnect is rather simple, but ask two people what constitutes an interconnect and you're likely to get very different answers. Interconnects are e... » read more

Manufacturing Bits: Sept. 1


AI, quantum computing R&D centers The White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, the National Science Foundation (NSF), and the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) have announced over $1 billion in awards for the establishment of several new artificial intelligence and quantum information science (QIS) research institutes in the U.S. Under the plan, the U.S. is launching seven new... » read more

New Architectures, Much Faster Chips


The chip industry is making progress in multiple physical dimensions and with multiple architectural approaches, setting the stage for huge performance increases based on more modular and heterogeneous designs, new advanced packaging options, and continued scaling of digital logic for at least a couple more process nodes. A number of these changes have been discussed in recent conferences. I... » read more

Moore’s Law Enters The 4th Dimension


The basic idea that more transistors are better hasn't changed in more than half a century. In fact, the overriding theme of a number of semiconductor conferences this month is that we will never have enough compute capability or storage capacity. In the past, when the number of transistors in a given area actually did double every 18 to 24 months, increasing density per square millimeter fo... » read more

Week In Review: Auto, Security, Pervasive Computing


Pervasive computing — data center, edge, IoT SEMI formed a new standards committee to develop global standards for flexible hybrid electronics (FHE). The SEMI Standards Flexible Hybrid Electronics Global Technical Committee will develop FHE standards for design, materials, manufacturing, packaging and systems and to drive industry growth. IPC is also working on FHE standards as an industry s... » read more

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