3D-IC Impact On Computational Lithography?


While 3D devices and technology such as through-silicon vias (TSVs) definitely complicate matters in the design, verification and manufacturing space, one might assume there would also be an impact on the computational lithography tools that are used to ensure printability. Have no fear. Industry experts assure us that this is not the case. Lithography expert Chris Mack acknowledged that ... » read more

Manufacturing & MEMS


By Joanne Itow There’s been a lot of attention focused on MEMS in the past couple of years, and rightfully so. In 2011 when total semiconductor revenues grew by only 1.3%, MEMS revenues grew by more than 34%. MEMS have been activating air bags in our cars and projecting images on DLP screens for years, but it wasn’t until the accelerometer in smartphones when mainstream semiconductor manuf... » read more

New Processes Define New Power Plans


By Pallab Chatterjee FinFETs, stacked die, heterogeneous interposers, TSVs, 450mm wafers, new interconnects and everything with MEMs and sensors is what the last few weeks have brought. A number of major announcements, technology releases, conference updates have identified these technologies as the future of IC design. At ISQED, Robert Geer, chief academic officer at the College of Nanosca... » read more

Mechanical Meets Electrical


By Ed Sperling For the first part of the 20th century mechanical engineering dominated almost everything in technology. For the second half, once the transistor and the integrated circuit became well entrenched, those two disciplines largely divided up the tech market. More recently, however, they are being forced to collaborate in teams that historically had nothing in common. While the co... » read more

MEMS Oscillators Market News – Accelerating Adoption of silicon MEMS timing


By Tony Massimini Recently there have been two major announcements in the MEMS Oscillator market. Market leader SiTime breaks into the high-precision OCXO timing with Stratum 3 compliant solutions. Integrated Device Technology jumps into the MEMS oscillator market with a piezoelectric MEMS resonator. SiTime has introduced the SiT5301 and SiT5302 which address the highest performance applica... » read more

SOI Conference Shows SOI Driving Key Roadmaps


By Adele Hars The 2011 IEEE SOI Conference, held in Tempe, AZ last week was not one to miss…but I did. Happily, I got the papers right away, along with observations shared by some of the folks who did get there. Highlights include excellent and insightful papers from ST, ARM, IBM, Intel, Leti, Peregrine and GlobalFoundries, plus many more that indicate SOI-based technologies are at th... » read more

RF, MEMS, Photonics Driving 3D Stacking


By Pallab Chatterjee At Semicon West, a number of the key speakers and TechXPOTs were talking about current products being assembled and shipped with 3D technology. 3D die stacking is no longer a technology of the future. In fact it has been here for many years and has been used in millions, if not billions, of consumer, commercial and high-reliability designs. The two leading technologies ... » read more

Understanding Frog Behavior


Change is rarely something people can grasp, particularly in technology. Unless it involves a completely new way of doing things—witness the PC, the cell phone and the Internet, for example—most change involves evolutionary improvements. This is the proverbial frog in a pot of boiling water. Heat the frog up slowly and it will cook. Throw the frog into boiling water and it will leap to s... » read more

MEMS on SOI – Growing Fast and Faster


By Adele Hars In the latest ASN posting by Dr. Eric Mounier of Yole Developpement, “SOI for MEMS: A Promising Material”, he notes that SOI MEMS is growing at a CAGR (2011-2015) of 15.6%, compared to 8.1% for bulk silicon-based solutions. MEMS designers are doing amazing things on SOI – which would explain that impressive growth rate. [caption id="attachment_12" align="aligncenter... » read more

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