Tech Talk: Inverse Lithography

By Ed Sperling - 11 Dec, 2014 - Comments: 0

D2S’ Leo Pang talks with Semiconductor Engineering about lithography, inverse lithography, photomasks, where the problems are, and what needs to be done to move forward. [youtube vid=mn8JWaP8Z68] » read more

Will Materials Derail Moore’s Law?

By Mark LaPedus - 13 Nov, 2014 - Comments: 0

Is Moore’s Law slowing down? Clearly, chipmakers are struggling to keep up with Moore’s Law these days. But one sometimes forgotten and critical technology could easily derail Moore’s Law--materials. In fact, the cost and complexity for electronic materials are increasing at each node. “Chemical and gas commodity procurement spends are growing rapidly due to process complexity and un... » read more

Signoff Intensity On The Rise

By The SE Staff - 15 Aug, 2014 - Comments: 2

By Ann Steffora Mutschler and Ed Sperling Lithography and signoff are crossing swords at 16/14nm and 10nm, creating new problems that raise questions about just how confident design teams will be when they sign off before tapeout — and how many respins are likely to follow. While designs at 20nm, 16nm and 14nm typically rely on colorless double patterning, at 10nm colors are mandatory. ... » read more

DSA: Hype Or Revolution?

By Michael Watts - 14 Aug, 2014 - Comments: 0

Directed self-assembly (DSA) has become the subject of a great deal of research attention in the lithography world, to the point where there were dedicated sessions at this year’s Advanced Lithography conference in February. So is this just another passing research fad, or is it a technology that will revolutionize semiconductor manufacturing? DSA utilizes a block copolymer that effectivel... » read more

Beyond Moore’s Law

By Michael Watts - 15 May, 2014 - Comments: 0

What do you make of all the different reports coming out of Advanced Lithography 2014 — the end of Moore's Law, continued problems with EUV, directed self-assembly assembly makes progress? An equipment insider, whose judgment I value, came back from the meeting and concluded, "We will see the end of Moore’s Law shrinks in 2020. After that, no one knows!” There is no way a $300B+ business ... » read more

Blog Review: March 26

By Ed Sperling - 26 Mar, 2014 - Comments: 0

Synopsys’ Eric Huang has discovered a video of Superman using a GoPro camera (scroll down to bottom of page). So this is what it’s like to stop bullets with your hand. Cadence’s Tom Hackett zeroes in on mobile interfaces in a video—SoC fabric, memory and chip-to-chip. Nice whiteboard drawing. Mentor’s Anil Khanna looks at a methodology for developing high-performance embedded so... » read more

Amazing New Materials

By Michael Watts - 20 Mar, 2014 - Comments: 0

Materials are fundamental to active photonics devices, and there were plenty of developments discussed at Photonics West 2014. Element Six was happy to talk about progress in making large single-crystal diamond and even larger polycrystalline diamond wafers. Carbon has a number of stable forms; diamond, graphite, nanotubes and amorphous carbon. The Element Six process uses CVD conditions in ... » read more

Blog Review: Feb. 26

By Ed Sperling - 26 Feb, 2014 - Comments: 0

Got enough time for verification? How about a verification conference? In preparation for DVCon, Real Intent’s Graham Bell grills a panel of experts on where design ends and verification begins. The answer: It depends. Mentor’s Dennis Brophy points to the new version of the Universal Verification Methodology as a reason to attend DVCon next week. Even if you don’t plan to attend, ther... » read more

Are Consortia Fair Competition?

By Michael Watts - 11 Feb, 2014 - Comments: 2

This year’s Super Bowl was rather disappointing, but the NFL has been remarkably successful in creating an environment where all the teams have a path to success. This provides an interesting counter point to the discussion last time on the role of consortia such as IMEC. My point last time was that big problems require big solutions and cooperation between companies and even governments are... » read more

Lessons From Healthcare.gov

By Michael Watts - 01 Nov, 2013 - Comments: 0

Patterning equipment uses software and needs software security. With that rather weak segue, I would like to discuss software projects, considering they are in the news at the moment. The stories about the healthcare.gov rollout bring back fond memories for all of us of software projects that have gone horribly wrong. On the list of things that guarantee a project will miss deadlines, late c... » read more

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Knowledge Centers
Entities, people and technologies explored

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3.5D: The Great Compromise

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

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

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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?

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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.

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

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tag: patterning