New AI Processors Architectures Balance Speed With Efficiency

By Ed Sperling - 04 Sep, 2024 - Comments: 1

Leading AI systems designs are migrating away from building the fastest AI processor possible, adopting a more balanced approach that involves highly specialized, heterogeneous compute elements, faster data movement, and significantly lower power. Part of this shift revolves around the adoption of chiplets in 2.5D/3.5D packages, which enable greater customization for different workloads and ... » read more

3.5D: The Great Compromise

By Ed Sperling - 21 Aug, 2024 - Comments: 1

The semiconductor industry is converging on 3.5D as the next best option in advanced packaging, a hybrid approach that includes stacking logic chiplets and bonding them separately to a substrate shared by other components. This assembly model satisfies the need for big increases in performance while sidestepping some of the thorniest issues in heterogeneous integration. It establishes a midd... » read more

A High-Capacity Solution for Power and Signal Integrity on 2.5D Silicon Interposers

By Ansys - 12 Jun, 2024 - Comments: 0

The present trends in technology — such as increasing demand for computational power from CPUs and GPUs, connectivity driven by Internet of Things (IoT), data demands around connected and self-driving cars, and the design of processors optimized for artificial intelligence (AI) — require more functionality from integrated circuits. As designers struggle to find ways to scale with complexity... » read more

Why There Are Still No Commercial 3D-ICs

By Brian Bailey - 29 Jan, 2024 - Comments: 0

Building chips in three dimensions is drawing increased attention and investment, but so far there have been no announcements about commercial 3D-IC chips. There are some fundamental problems that must be overcome and new tools that need to be developed. In contrast, the semiconductor industry is becoming fairly comfortable with 2.5D integration, where individual dies are assembled on some k... » read more

2023: A Good Year For Semiconductors

By Brian Bailey - 21 Dec, 2023 - Comments: 0

Looking back, 2023 has had more than its fair share of surprises, but who were the winners and losers? The good news is that by the end of the year, almost everyone was happy. That is not how we exited 2022, where there was overcapacity, inventories had built up in many parts of the industry, and few sectors — apart from data centers — were seeing much growth. The supposed new leaders we... » read more

3D-ICs May Be The Least-Cost Option

By Brian Bailey - 30 Nov, 2023 - Comments: 1

When 2.5D and 3D packaging were first conceived, the general consensus was that only the largest semiconductor houses would be able to afford them, but development costs are quickly coming under control. In some cases, these advanced packages actually may turn out to be the lowest-cost options. With stacked die [1], each die is considered to be a complete functional block or sub-system. In t... » read more

Heterogeneous Integration Finding Its Footing

By Ed Sperling - 19 Oct, 2023 - Comments: 0

Semiconductor Engineering sat down to discuss heterogeneous integration with Dick Otte, president and CEO of Promex Industries; Mike Kelly, vice president of chiplets/FCBGA integration at Amkor Technology; Shekhar Kapoor, senior director of product management at Synopsys; John Park, product management group director in Cadence's Custom IC & PCB Group; and Tony Mastroianni, advanced packagin... » read more

Preparing For Commercial Chiplets

By Ed Sperling - 24 Aug, 2023 - Comments: 0

Experts at the Table: Semiconductor Engineering sat down to discuss the path to commercialization of chiplets with Saif Alam, vice president of engineering at Movellus; Tony Mastroianni, advanced packaging solutions director at Siemens Digital Industries Software; Mark Kuemerle, vice president of technology at Marvell; and Craig Bishop, CTO at Deca Technologies. What follows are excerpts of tha... » read more

Thermal Integrity Challenges Grow In 2.5D

By Ann Mutschler - 13 Apr, 2023 - Comments: 3

Thermal integrity is becoming much harder to predict accurately in 2.5D and 3D-IC, creating a cascade of issues that can affect everything from how a system behaves to reliability in the field. Over the past decade, silicon interposer technology has evolved from a simple interconnect into a critical enabler for heterogeneous integration. Interposers today may contain tens of dies or chiplets... » read more

True 3D Is Much Tougher Than 2.5D

By Brian Bailey - 23 Mar, 2023 - Comments: 0

Creating real 3D designs is proving to be much more complex and difficult than 2.5D, requiring significant innovation in both technology and tools. While there has been much discussion about 3D designs, there are multiple interpretations about what 3D entails. This is more than just semantics, however, because each packaging option requires different design approaches and technologies. And a... » read more

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Knowledge Centers
Entities, people and technologies explored

Shift Left Is The Tip Of The Iceberg

A transformative change is underway for semiconductor design and EDA. New languages, models, and abstractions will need to be created.

by Brian Bailey

Partitioning In The Chiplet Era

Understanding how chiplets interact under different workloads is critical to ensuring signal integrity and optimal performance in heterogeneous designs.

by Ann Mutschler

3.5D: The Great Compromise

Pros and cons of a middle-ground chiplet assembly that combines 2.5D and 3D-IC.

by Ed Sperling

AI’s Role In Chip Design Widens, Drawing In New Startups

Focus is on letting engineers do much more with the same or fewer resources — and less drudgery.

by Karen Heyman

Key Technologies To Extend EUV To 14 Angstroms

Alongside high-NA EUV will be better-performing photoresists, reduced roughness using passivation and etch, and lateral etching to reduce tip-to-tip dimensions.

by Laura Peters

Memory Fundamentals For Engineers

eBook: Nearly everything you need to know about memory, including detailed explanations of the different types of memory; how and where these are used today; what's changing, which memories are successful and which ones might be in the future; and the limitations of each memory type.

by The SE Staff

What Comes After HBM For Chiplets

The standard for high-bandwidth memory limits design freedom at many levels, but that is required for interoperability. What freedoms can be taken from other functions to make chiplets possible?

by Brian Bailey

Why Small Fab And Assembly Houses Are Thriving

Megafabs churning out the most advanced processors are not the only game in town.

by Bryon Moyer

tag: interposers

New AI Processors Architectures Balance Speed With Efficiency

3.5D: The Great Compromise

A High-Capacity Solution for Power and Signal Integrity on 2.5D Silicon Interposers

Why There Are Still No Commercial 3D-ICs

2023: A Good Year For Semiconductors

3D-ICs May Be The Least-Cost Option

Heterogeneous Integration Finding Its Footing

Preparing For Commercial Chiplets

Thermal Integrity Challenges Grow In 2.5D

True 3D Is Much Tougher Than 2.5D