Monolithic Vs. Heterogeneous Integration


Experts at the Table: Semiconductor Engineering sat down to discuss two very different paths forward for semiconductors and what's needed for each, with Jamie Schaeffer, vice president of product management at GlobalFoundries; Dechao Guo, director of advanced logic technology R&D at IBM; Dave Thompson, vice president at Intel; Mustafa Badaroglu, principal engineer at Qualcomm; and Thomas Po... » read more

Review of Automatic EM Image Algorithms for Semiconductor Defect Inspection (KU Leuven, Imec)


A new technical paper titled "Electron Microscopy-based Automatic Defect Inspection for Semiconductor Manufacturing: A Systematic Review" was published by researchers at KU Leuven and imec. Abstract: "In this review, automatic defect inspection algorithms that analyze Electron Microscope (EM) images of Semiconductor Manufacturing (SM) products are identified, categorized, and discussed. Thi... » read more

SIA’s Report On the State of the U.S. Semiconductor Industry


The Semiconductor Industry Association released its 2024 State of the U.S. Semiconductor Industry report this week, highlighting opportunities for growth, current and emerging challenges, and relevant metrics.  The report reviews the progress made on implementation of the CHIPS Act and associated manufacturing incentives. Supply chain rebalancing, workforce challenges, geopolitics and globa... » read more

Building Smarter, Better Fabs


Battling labor shortages, faster ramp rates, and data overload, the process of designing and building greenfield fabs requires a combination of tech tools, failing earlier approaches and superior planning from day one. The complexity and scale of semiconductor fabs is skyrocketing as is the capital cost. Chipmakers are looking to ramp multibillion dollar fabs faster despite the hurdles of la... » read more

CHIPS For America’s National Semiconductor Technology Center (NSTC) Program


At this year’s Design Automation Conference, Jay Lewis, director of CHIPS for America National Semiconductor Technology Center (NSTC) Program, gave a presentation on the status and direction of the Center, its priorities for this year and how the NSTC can change the long-term trajectory for innovation. Fig. 1: Dr. Jay Lewis, director of NSTC Program, CHIPS R&D Office at the Dept. o... » read more

Cyber Threats To The SECS/GEM Protocol In Smart Manufacturing


Semiconductors are an indispensable part of modern electronic products and are also a fundamental basis for the development of the AI industry. This industry is crucial for global economic growth and national security. As the semiconductor industry transitions to Industry 4.0, the connection between production equipment and factory networks has expanded the attack surface, providing adversaries... » read more

Making Adaptive Test Work Better


One of the big challenges for IC test is making sense of mountains of data, a direct result of more features being packed onto a single die, or multiple chiplets being assembled into an advanced package. Collecting all that data through various agents and building models on the tester no longer makes sense for a couple reasons — there is too much data, and there are multiple customers using t... » read more

TSMC Uncorks A16 With Super Power Rail


TSMC showed off its forthcoming A16 process technology node, targeted for the second half of 2026, at its 30th North American Technology Symposium this week. As the foundry moves from nanometer to angstrom process numbering, the new nodes will be prefixed with an “A” designation (instead of “N”) and A16 is the first for TSMC. TSMC said that N2 is still tracking to a 2025 production s... » read more

Deep Learning (DL) Applications In Photomask To Wafer Semiconductor Manufacturing


How Advantest Corporation, ASML, Fraunhofer, imec, Siemens EDA and others are using deep learning in semiconductor manufacturing. Click here to read more. » read more

Navigating Design Challenges


Explore the future of IC design with the Calibre Shift left initiative. In this paper, author David Abercrombie reveals how Siemens is changing the game for block/chip design-stage verification by moving Calibre verification and reliability analysis solutions further left in the design flow, including directly inside your P&R tool cockpit. Discover how you can reduce traditional long-loop v... » read more

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