Blog Review: Jan. 10

By Liz Allan - 10 Jan, 2024 - Comments: 0

Keysight’s Jenn Mullen explains how ChatGPT’s tools can help quality assurance (QA) engineers and software testers overcome test automation debt, and become more productive and able to deliver consistently high-quality products to market faster. Siemens’ Keith Felton discusses how the paradigm of “shift-left” power delivery analysis has emerged as a critical methodology in addressi... » read more

Glass Substrates Gain Foothold In Advanced Packages

By Gregory Haley - 09 Jan, 2024 - Comments: 2

Glass substrates are starting to gain traction in advanced packages, fueled by the potential for denser routing and higher signal performance than the organic substrates used today. There are still plenty of problems to solve before this approach becomes mainstream. While glass itself is cheap and shares some important physical similarities to silicon, there are challenges with buildup, stre... » read more

Plugging Gaps In The IC Supply Chain

By Anne Meixner - 09 Jan, 2024 - Comments: 0

Multiple touch points in manufacturing and packaging are exposing gaps in the data used to track different components, making it difficult to identify the source of issues that can affect yield and reliability, and opening the door to counterfeit or sub-standard parts. This involves more than just assigning a simple identifying code to a chip. At different points in a device's lifecycle, new... » read more

Using FTIR To Improve SiC Power Device Performance

By Nick Keller - 09 Jan, 2024 - Comments: 0

The figures alone are impressive: SiC power devices are experiencing an annual average growth rate approaching 34% through 2027, according to the Yole Group. However, the potential for this amongst other compound semiconductor-based power devices such as gallium nitride (GaN) to change the world around us is even more impressive. Thanks to the role that SiC-based devices play in the increase... » read more

Money Pours Into New Fabs And Facilities

By Liz Allan - 03 Jan, 2024 - Comments: 0

Fabs, packaging, test and assembly, and R&D all drew major funding in 2023. Companies poured money into offshore locations, such as India and Malaysia, to access a larger workforce and lower costs, while also partnering with governments to secure domestic supply chains amid ongoing geopolitical turmoil. Looking ahead, artificial intelligence (AI), quantum computing, and data applications... » read more

Closing The Test And Metrology Gap In 3D-IC Packages

By Gregory Haley - 12 Dec, 2023 - Comments: 0

The industry is investing in more precise and productive inspection and testing to enable advanced packages and eventually, 3D ICs. The next generations of aerospace, automotive, smartphone, and wearable tech most likely will be powered by multiple layers of intricately connected silicon, a stark departure from the planar landscapes of traditional integrated circuits. These 3D-ICs, compos... » read more

Fingerprinting Chips For Traceability

By Anne Meixner - 12 Dec, 2023 - Comments: 0

Semiconductor components increasingly require unclonable and tamper resistant identifiers, which are especially necessary as devices become increasingly heterogeneous collections of chiplets and subsystems. These fingerprints provide traceability, which contributes to process improvements and yield learning and enable tracking for a tightly managed supply chain. While some of this technology... » read more

A Bare Wafer Mystery: Inspecting For Back, Edge, And Notch Defects In Advanced Nodes

By Burhan Ali - 12 Dec, 2023 - Comments: 0

It is no mystery that the semiconductor industry is always advancing, with specifications becoming increasingly stringent as defects become increasingly more difficult to discover. This is especially true in the case of the most advanced nodes, where ever-smaller flaws and deformities can result in a killer defect. To solve this More than Moore mystery, you do not need to employ the detectiv... » read more

Applying ML In Failure Analysis

By Anne Meixner - 20 Nov, 2023 - Comments: 0

Experts at the Table: Semiconductor Engineering sat down to discuss how increasing complexity in semiconductor and packaging technology is driving shifts in failure analysis methods, with Frank Chen, director of applications and product management at Bruker Nano Surfaces & Metrology; Mike McIntyre, director of product management in the Enterprise Business Unit at Onto Innovation; Kamran H... » 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

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

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

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

New AI Processors Architectures Balance Speed With Efficiency

Hot Chips 24: Large language models ratchet up pressure for sustainable computing and heterogeneous integration; data management becomes key differentiator.