Minimum Energy Per Query


Key Takeaways Extracting heat from a chip faster is a short-term fix to a bigger problem. The longer-term challenge is how to reduce the amount of energy used per query. Data movement, guardbanding, and software inefficiency are key targets for the future. Heat is a serious problem within AI chips, and it is limiting how much processing can be done. The solution is either to... » read more

Silicon Photonics In The Data Center: What A CMOS Exec Needs To Know


Silicon Photonics is changing the data center, with the biggest changes still ahead. Figure 1: Google Jupiter Network for multi-thousand Ironwood TPU clusters. Source: Google Refresher for new readers: Data centers contain hundreds or thousands of racks. For example, the Nvidia GB200 NVL72 AI compute/switch rack is about 24 inches wide, about 88 inches high and 42 inches deep. I... » read more

Opportunities And Challenges With Open-Source Hardware In System Development


For many years now, there has been a trend toward open source in the field of system development. It can be seen in software libraries for the product itself as well as in development tools. A clear motivation for open source lies in the fact that not charging license fees makes a product more attractive on the market. It may also enable further development of the software component, dependi... » read more

Enabling Accurate Electronic-Photonic Co-Design with a Synergetic Workflow on GlobalFoundries Fotonix Platform


Massive growth in research, development, and applications of CMOS-compatible integrated photonics in recent years, along with its expected potential for the years to come, has sparked an ever-increasing demand from designers for seamless and all-inclusive design automation solutions that can enable electronic-photonic co-design while being accurate and easy to use. Here, we demonstrate an end-t... » read more

How To Create A Physics-Based Laser Compact Model For A Photonic Process Design Kit (PDK)


This paper discusses the importance of accurate laser compact models in photonic process design kits, describes different laser models available in Ansys Lumerical INTERCONNECT, and explains optimal steps to create a laser compact model that includes temperature and noise effects. Click here to access the paper. » read more

IP Management And Development At 5/3nm


The growing complexity of moving to new process nodes is making it much more difficult to create, manage and re-use IP. There are more rules, more data to manage, and more potential interactions as density increases, both in planar implementations and in advanced packaging. And the problems only get worse as designs move to 5nm and 3nm, and as more heterogeneous components such as accelerato... » read more

Fast LFD Flows With Pattern Matching And Machine Learning Can Deliver Higher-Yielding Designs Faster


By Wael ElManhawy and Joe Kwan A lithographic (litho) hotspot is a defect on a wafer that is created during manufacturing by a combination of systematic process variation and resolution enhancement technology (RET) limitations. Litho hotspots typically represent severe yield detractors, so detecting and eliminating potential litho hotspots prior to manufacturing is crucial to achieving a com... » read more

5nm Design Progress


Activity surrounding the 5nm manufacturing process node is quickly ramping, creating a better picture of the myriad and increasingly complex design issues that must be overcome. Progress at each new node after 28nm has required an increasingly tight partnership between the foundries, which are developing new processes and rule decks, along with EDA and IP vendors, which are adding tools, met... » read more

Tech Talk: Analog Simplified


Benjamin Prautsch, Fraunhofer EAS' group manager for advanced mixed-signal automation, talks about how to simplify and speed up analog IP development, its role in IoT and IIoT/Industry 4.0, and why this is becoming so important for advanced packaging and advanced process nodes. https://youtu.be/6ISL1A7Wy_I » read more

Faster Time To Yield


Michael Jamiolkowski, president and CEO of Coventor, sat down with Semiconductor Engineering to talk about ways improve yield ramp and optimize designs. What follows are excerpts of that conversation. SE: Why does it take so long to get a chip all the way through to manufacturing? Jamiolkowski: There are three parts to that. There is a research side. You want to be able to explore new th... » read more

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