3D-IC Intensifies Demand For Multi-Physics Simulation


The introduction of full 3D-ICs will require a simultaneous analysis of various physical effects under different workloads, a step-function change that will add complexity at every step of the design flow, expand and alter job responsibilities, and bring together the analog and digital design worlds in unprecedented ways. 3D-ICs will be the highest-performance advanced packaging option, in s... » read more

EDA’s Role Grows For Preventing And Identifying Failures


The front end of design is becoming more tightly integrated with the back end of manufacturing, driven by the rising cost and impact of failures in advanced chips and critical applications. Ironically, the starting point for this shift is failure analysis (FA), which typically happens when a device fails to yield, or worse, when it is returned due to some problem. In production, that leads t... » read more

Advances In EM Analysis And Design Flows For RF System Development


With the move toward higher frequencies and component densities, RF/mixed signal PCB systems and heterogeneous system-in-package (SiP) technologies are increasingly susceptible to delayed product development turnaround times that threaten delivery schedules. These delays often occur late in development during integration when components that met the design specifications fail to achieve the req... » read more

Complexity, Reliability And Cost


Peter Schneider, director of Fraunhofer's Engineering of Adaptive Systems Division, sat down with Semiconductor Engineering to talk about future challenges in complexity, time to market and reliability issues, advanced packaging architectures, and the impact of billions of connected devices. What follows are excerpts of that discussion. SE: What is the biggest challenge you see in the semico... » read more

Energy Efficient, IoT-Based Smart Home


"Smart Home" technology is the future of residential technology, designed to deliver and distribute a number of services inside and outside the house via networked devices in which all the different applications and the intelligence behind them are integrated and interconnected. These smart devices have the potential to share information with each other as long as they can access a broadband in... » read more