Power/Performance Bits: Jan. 26


New switchable material Two MIT researchers developed a thin-film material whose phase and electrical properties can be switched between metallic and semiconducting simply by applying a small voltage. The material then stays in its new configuration until switched back by another voltage. The discovery could pave the way for a new kind of nonvolatile memory. The findings involve the thin-... » read more

A Closer Look At One-Time Programmable Embedded Memory


Being the first month of the year, chip designers have probably reflected on 2015 and are thinking ahead to upcoming projects this year. They want to produce a product that reflects tomorrow’s needs for electronic devices that include low power, high performance and high security. Now, they’re thinking about embedded memory, a requirement for all electronic devices. It’s captured the atte... » read more

Changes In Chip Design


We all know that sub-10nm is coming. But is that really what will define the next generation of semiconductors? Progress in semiconductor technology increasingly is not just about advancements in the hardware. It also involves advancements in applications and technologies peripheral to the devices themselves. That may sound counterintuitive, but going forward the technology, applications and... » read more

OTP Dynamic Power Cut By Factor Of 10


Of the challenges being addressed by Internet of Things (IoT) designers around the globe, none is more pressing than the need to reduce edge-node power. While eyes often turn to the radio as primary consumer of energy, memory, including NVM memory, also contributes a substantial portion of the energy consumed by an edge node. Power reductions in all memories will be essential for meeting this c... » read more

Low-Power Considerations For IoT Devices


The concept of the Internet of Things has produced plenty of fanciful thinking about what’s possible. There are some wonderfully creative idea, not all of them practical. That's too bad, because there are ample areas that could benefit from functional IoT devices, such as: • Infrastructure sensors for buildings and bridges; • Medical sensors for use on or inside the body; • Oil drill... » read more

ReRAM Gains Even More Steam


The prospect of using the latest in finFET processing to enable embedded non-volatile memory (NWM) will be described by a team from TSMC and Tsing Hua University in Taiwan at the IEDM meeting on Dec. 8 in Washington, D.C. Embedded NVM has been the first commercial application of ReRam, with products from Panasonic and Terrazon. Industry leaders agree the creation of NVM as a seamless additio... » read more

Power/Performance Bits: Sept. 22


Photonic memories A team of researchers from Oxford University, the University of Münster, the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, and the University of Exeter produced the first all-photonic nonvolatile memory chip. The new device uses the phase-change material Ge2Sb2Te5 (GST), used in rewritable CDs and DVDs, to store data. This material can be made to assume an amorphous state, like glass... » read more

Executive Insight: Charlie Cheng


Charlie Cheng, CEO of Kilopass, sat down with Semiconductor Engineering to talk about issues with current memory types and why the market is ready for disruptive approaches to reduce power and cost. SE: What's changing in the memory space? Cheng: Memory is a very important building block. It's a foundation and a commodity for a chip and for the system, but if you look at the big picture, ... » read more

Today IoT Is Cool, Tomorrow IoT Can Change Mankind


Who today doesn’t think IoT is cool? And, why not? We’re in an era where everything is connected to everything else in a six degrees of separation-like scenario for our electronics devices. Automatic washing machines and domestic refrigerators were cool to our grandparents because they enabled them to have more time for other pursuits. IoT is cool today for the same reason. Smart homes,... » read more

Challenges At Advanced Nodes


Semiconductor Engineering sat down to discuss finFETs, 22nm FD-SOI and how the how the market will segment over the next few years with Marie Semeria, CEO of [getentity id="22192" e_name="Leti"]; Patrick Soheili, vice president of product management and corporate development at [getentity id="22242" e_name="eSilicon"]; Paul Boudre, CEO of Soitec; and Subramani Kengeri, vice president of global ... » read more

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