Front-End Technologies Are The New Back-End Tools: Using Picosecond Ultrasonics Technology For AI Packages, Part 1


If you are a part of the semiconductor industry or simply someone interested in the field, you have likely heard what has become a common refrain: the back-end of the process is becoming more like the front-end of the process. In other words, the technologies that were once exclusively deployed in the first part of the process are being used to meet the increasingly stringent requirements of ad... » read more

Accelerating Scalable Computing


By Shivi Arora and Sue Hung Fung As computing demands for HPC, AI/ML, and cloud infrastructure grow, modular architectures are replacing traditional monolithic System-on-Chip (SoC) designs. These legacy designs are increasingly expensive and difficult to scale due to ever-increasing silicon complexity. In response, the industry is embracing chiplet-based System-in-Package (SiP) solutions,... » read more

Molybdenum: Transforming Semiconductor Manufacturing For Next-Generation Technologies


One trillion semiconductors produced in a single year. A digital foundation powering AI's explosive growth. The next frontier requires chips that are smaller, faster, and exponentially more powerful. A new white paper from Counterpoint Research  reveals how advanced metallization—specifically molybdenum—is becoming a critical enabler for semiconductor manufacturing in this new era. Th... » read more

More Data, More Redundant Interconnects


The proliferation of AI dramatically increases the amount of data that needs to be processed, stored, and moved, accelerating the aging of signal paths through which that data travels and forcing chipmakers to build more redundancy into the interconnects. In the past, nearly all redundant data paths were contained within a planar chip using a relatively thick silicon substrate. But as chipma... » read more

Demonstration Of EUV Scatterometry On A 2D Periodic Interconnect


A new technical paper titled "Coherent EUV scatterometry of 2D periodic structure profiles with mathematically optimal experimental design" was published by researchers at University of Colorado, NIST, Samsung and KMLAbs. Abstract "Extreme ultraviolet (EUV) scatterometry is an increasingly important metrology that can measure critical parameters of periodic nanostructured materials in a fas... » read more

Die-to-die Interconnect Standards In Flux


UCIe, a standard for die-to-die interconnect in advanced packages, has drawn concern about being too heavyweight with its 2.0 release. But the fact that many of the new features are optional seems to have been lost in much of the public discussion. In fact, new capabilities that support a possible future chiplet marketplace are not required for designs that don’t target that marketplace. ... » read more

UALink: Powering The Future Of AI Compute


On April 25, the UALink Consortium officially released the UALink 200G 1.0 Specification, marking an important milestone with support from key hyperscalar market players. It enables a low-latency, high-bandwidth fabric that supports hundreds of accelerators in a pod and facilitates simple load-and-store semantics. Motivation behind UALink The rapid evolution of Artificial Intelligence (AI) an... » read more

Data Movement Is the Energy Bottleneck of Today’s SoCs


In today’s AI-focused semiconductor landscape, raw compute performance alone no longer defines the effectiveness of a system-on-chip (SoC). The efficiency of data movement across the chip has become just as important. Whether designed for data centers or edge AI devices, SoCs must now prioritize data transport as a core architectural consideration. Moving data efficiently across the silicon f... » read more

Combination of Coherent and Non-Coherent NoCs Facilitates Cutting-Edge SoC Design


SCALINX, a fabless semiconductor company specializing in the design of system-on-chip (SoC) devices, was looking to develop a large, next-generation SoC integrating analog, digital, mixed-signal, and RF functionality. Business Challenge • Develop a large, next-generation SoC integrating analog, digital, mixed-signal, and RF functionality. Design Challenges • Ensure different portions ... » read more

Unleashing AI Potential Through Advanced Chiplet Architectures


The rapid proliferation of machine-generated data is driving unprecedented demand for scalable AI infrastructure, placing extreme pressure on compute and connectivity within data centers. As the power requirements and carbon footprint of AI workloads rise, there is a critical need for efficient, high-performance hardware solutions to meet growing demands. Traditional monolithic ICs will not sca... » read more

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