5/3nm Wars Begin


Several foundries are ramping up their new 5nm processes in the market, but now customers must decide whether to design their next chips around the current transistor type or move to a different one at 3nm and beyond. The decision involves the move to extend today’s finFETs to 3nm, or to implement a new technology called gate-all-around FETs (GAA FETs) at 3nm or 2nm. An evolutionary step f... » read more

Blog Review: Jan. 22


Synopsys' Taylor Armerding explains different types of social engineering scams that target everyone from CEOs to gamers to smart appliance users, and what training and tools can better protect people and their organizations. Mentor's Dennis Joseph points to some important things to consider if you're thinking about switching from GDS to OASIS and some tips for converting files. Cadence's... » read more

Week In Review: IoT, Security, Autos


Internet of Things Sensors that see in the dark, look deep into our faces and hear the impossible, were all part of ams’ CES lineup this week. ams announced that it has designed an advanced spectral ambient light sensor (ALS) for high-end mobile phone cameras. The ALS, called the AS7350, identifies the light source and makes an accurate white balance under low-light and other non-ideal condi... » read more

Blog Review: Jan. 8


Synopsys' Taylor Armerding digs into the privacy and security concerns surrounding connected toys and argues that the current practice of consumers bearing much of the burden to determine what is safe is not viable. In a podcast, Mentor's John McMillan looks back at the past decade in technology and what the next may hold in store as areas like AI and automotive get going. Cadence's Madha... » read more

The Week In Review: Semiconductors


The tech-centric NASDAQ index this week broke 9,000, which was a first. Key to the latest run-up were reports of a breakthrough on the trade war with China and continued low interest rates. Chuck Peddle, who helped democratize computing and fuel Moore's Law with his $25 processor chip, passed away last week. Peddle designed the MOS Technology 6502, which was the basis for the KIM-1 single-bo... » read more

Where Technology Breakthroughs Are Needed


After years of delays, extreme ultraviolet (EUV) lithography is finally in production at the 7nm logic node with 5nm in the works. EUV, a next-generation lithography technology, certainly will help chipmakers migrate to the next nodes. But EUV doesn’t solve every problem. Nor does it address all challenges in the semiconductor industry. Not by a long shot. To be sure, the industry needs... » read more

Week In Review: Manufacturing, Test


Fab tools and materials In a blog, David Haynes, managing director of strategic marketing at Lam Research, talks about the IoT and automotive chip markets, which are fabricated at a wide range of technology nodes. Hoya recently made an unsolicited $1.4 billion bid to acquire NuFlare, a supplier of e-beam mask writers and other equipment. Click here for more information. Hoya makes several p... » read more

Week In Review: Design, Low Power


M&A Intel acquired Habana Labs, a maker of programmable deep learning accelerators for the data center, for approximately $2 billion. Based in Israel, Habana was founded in 2016 but only emerged from stealth in September 2018 with the release of its first inference chip. Intel's VC arm, Intel Capital, previously invested in the startup. Intel has made numerous M&A moves in the AI space... » read more

What Worked, What Didn’t In 2019


2019 has been a tough year for semiconductor companies from a revenue standpoint, especially for memory companies. On the other hand, the EDA industry has seen another robust growth year. A significant portion of this disparity can be attributed to the number of emerging technology areas for semiconductors, none of which has reached volume production yet. Some markets continue to struggle, a... » read more

What’s Next For High Bandwidth Memory


A surge in data is driving the need for new IC package types with more and faster memory in high-end systems. But there are a multitude of challenges on the memory, packaging and other fronts. In systems, for example, data moves back and forth between the processor and DRAM, which is the main memory for most chips. But at times this exchange causes latency and power consumption, sometimes re... » read more

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