Addressing The Challenges Of Photonic IC Design Via An Integrated Electronic/Photonic Design Automation Environment


Photonics—the science and technology of generating, controlling, and detecting light—is transitioning quickly into mainstream electronic designs. Photonic IC (PIC) design does, however, come with some unique challenges in areas including layout, error checking, and circuit modeling. While electronic designers would have expertise in using a traditional electronic design automation (EDA) flo... » read more

Power/Performance Bits: April 26


An on-chip light source Researchers at the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) demonstrated that carbon nanotubes are suited for use as an on-chip light source. By integrating tiny carbon nanotubes into a nanostructured waveguide, the team developed a compact miniaturized switching element that converts electric signals into clearly defined optical signals. "The nanostructures act lik... » read more

Power/Performance Bits: March 29


Photonic-phononic circuit Researchers at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) developed a piezo-optomechanical circuit that converts signals among optical, acoustic and radio waves. At the heart of the piezoelectric optomechanical circuit is an optomechanical cavity, which consists of a suspended nanoscale beam. Within the beam are a series of holes that act like a ha... » read more

Multi-Beam Market Heats Up


The multi-beam e-beam mask writer business is heating up, as Intel and NuFlare have separately entered the emerging market. In one surprising move, [getentity id="22846" e_name="Intel"] is in the process of acquiring IMS Nanofabrication, a [gettech id="31058" t_name="multi-beam e-beam"] equipment vendor. And separately, e-beam giant NuFlare recently disclosed its new multi-beam mask writer t... » read more

Blog Review: Jan. 20


How far can you go on solar power? 493 million miles, at least if you're the Juno spacecraft. Plus, winemaking gets a boost from submarine technology, in this week's top tech picks from Ansys' Bill Vandermark. Mentor's Steve Pateras digs into how automotive ICs bring a whole new set of requirements that are driving the evolution of memory BIST. If you're interested in neural networks and ... » read more

Power/Performance Bits: Nov. 17


Speeding up optical networks A tunable filter for high-capacity optical networks that can be integrated onto a photonic chip has been designed by researchers at the Université Laval in Québec, Canada. The device's performance is comparable to the best bench-top systems, according to the reasearchers, but at a fraction of the size and cost. The filter's tuning span, which is a measure of... » 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

System Bits: July 28


Massless particles for faster electronics Princeton University researchers along with an international team have finally proved a massless particle that had been theorized for 85 years. They say this particle could give rise to faster and more efficient electronics because of its unusual ability to behave as matter and antimatter inside a crystal. [caption id="attachment_21431" align="align... » 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

5 Technologies To Watch


The industry is developing a dizzying array of new technologies. In fact, there are more new and innovative technologies than ever before. And the list is countless. At least from my vantage point, I have come up with my own list of the top five technologies to watch in 2015 and beyond. They are listed in alphabetical order. (See below). Obviously, there are more than just five technologi... » read more

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