Cloudy Outlook Seen For IC Biz

By Mark LaPedus - 29 Jul, 2019 - Comments: 0

After a slowdown in the first half of 2019, chipmakers and equipment vendors face a cloudy outlook for the second half of this year, with a possible recovery in 2020. Generally, the semiconductor industry began to see a slowdown starting in mid- to late-2018, which extended into the first half of 2019. During the first half of this year, memory and non-memory vendors were negatively impacted... » read more

Using Memory Differently To Boost Speed

By Ed Sperling - 22 Jul, 2019 - Comments: 2

Boosting memory performance to handle a rising flood of data is driving chipmakers to explore new memory types and different ways of using existing memory, but it also is creating some complex new challenges. For most of the semiconductor design industry, memory has been a non-issue for the past couple of decades. The main concerns were price and size, but memory makers have been more than a... » read more

Process Control For Next-Generation Memories

By Niranjan Khasgiwale - 18 Jul, 2019 - Comments: 0

The Internet of Things (IoT), Big Data and Artificial Intelligence (AI) are driving the need for higher speeds and more power-efficient computing. The industry is responding by bringing new memory technologies to the marketplace. Three new types of memory in particular—MRAM (magnetic random access memory), PCRAM (phase change RAM) and ReRAM (resistive RAM)—are emerging as leading candidat... » read more

Will In-Memory Processing Work?

By Brian Bailey - 16 Jul, 2019 - Comments: 1

The cost associated with moving data in and out of memory is becoming prohibitive, both in terms of performance and power, and it is being made worse by the data locality in algorithms, which limits the effectiveness of cache. The result is the first serious assault on the von Neumann architecture, which for a computer was simple, scalable and modular. It separated the notion of a computatio... » read more

Week In Review: Manufacturing, Test

By Mark LaPedus - 05 Jul, 2019 - Comments: 0

Fab tools and materials Applied Materials has signed a definitive agreement to acquire Kokusai Electric for $2.2 billion in cash from investment firm KKR. With the acquisition of Kokusai’s semiconductor equipment unit, Applied expands its customer base and gains a foothold in the batch processing equipment business, where a tool can process wafers in parallel. Applied’s strength is in the ... » read more

Accurate Error Bit Mode Analysis Of STT-MRAM Chip With A Novel Current Measurement Module

By Advantest - 11 Jun, 2019 - Comments: 0

Authors: (Advantest) Ryo Tamura, Ibuki Mori Naoyoshi Watanabe; (Tohoku University) Hiroki Koike, Tetsuo Endoh. A novel memory test system is needed for future STT-MRAM mass production that supports error bit analysis and its mode categorization on STT-MRAM chip measurement, as STTMRAM cell’s switching is a probabilistic phenomenon based on quantum mechanics. In order to meet this requireme... » read more

Challenges In Making And Testing STT-MRAM

By Mark LaPedus - 07 May, 2019 - Comments: 1

Several chipmakers are ramping up a next-generation memory type called STT-MRAM, but there are still an assortment of manufacturing and test challenges for current and future devices. STT-MRAM, or spin-transfer torque MRAM, is attractive and gaining steam because it combines the attributes of several conventional memory types in a single device. In the works for years, STT-MRAM features the ... » read more

Comparing New Memory Types

By Gill Lee - 18 Apr, 2019 - Comments: 0

After decades of research and development, three new types of memory—magnetic RAM (MRAM), phase change memory (PCRAM) and resistive RAM (ReRAM)—are moving toward commercial adoption, making this an exciting time for the semiconductor and computing industries. All three of these emerging memories are enabled by new materials and will require breakthroughs in process technology and manufactur... » read more

More Memory And Processor Tradeoffs

By Ed Sperling - 11 Apr, 2019 - Comments: 0

Creating a new chip architecture is becoming an increasingly complex series of tradeoffs about memories and processing elements, but the benefits are not always obvious when those tradeoffs are being made. This used to be a fairly straightforward exercise when there was one processor, on-chip SRAM and off-chip DRAM. Fast forward to 7/5nm, where chips are being developed for AI, mobile ph... » read more

Foundries See Growth, New Issues In 2019

By Mark LaPedus - 17 Dec, 2018 - Comments: 0

The silicon foundry business is poised for growth in 2019, although the industry faces several challenges across a number of market segments next year. Generally, foundry vendors saw steady growth in 2018, but many are ending the year on a sour note. Weak demand for Apple’s new iPhone XR and a downturn in the cryptocurrency market have impacted several IC suppliers and foundries, causing t... » read more

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Knowledge Centers
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