Why Investments At Advanced Nodes Matter


Despite all the talk about rising costs of development, uncertainties about lithography and talk about the death of Moore’s Law, a record number of companies are developing chips at 16nm/14nm. That may sound surprising, but asking why that’s happening is probably the wrong question. The really critical question is what they’re going to do with those chips. What’s become quite evident... » read more

One-On-One: Mark Bohr


Semiconductor Engineering sat down to discuss process technology, transistor trends, chip-packaging and other topics with Mark Bohr, a senior fellow and director of process architecture and integration at Intel. SE: Intel recently introduced chips based on its new 14nm process. Can you briefly describe the 14nm process? Bohr: It’s our second-generation, tri-gate technology. So it has al... » read more

More Than Moore


Semiconductor Engineering sat down to discuss the value of feature shrinks and what comes next with Steve Eplett, design technology and automation manager at [getentity id="22664" e_name="Open-Silicon"]; Patrick Soheili, vice president and general manager of IP Solutions at [getentity id="22242" e_name="eSilicon"]; Brandon Wang, engineering group director at [getentity id="22032" e_name="Cadenc... » read more

Stacked Die Politics, Technology And Tools


The path to stacking die may look fairly straightforward, but reality is somewhat different. There is a battle raging between foundries and OSATs over who will actually stack and package the die. There is new technology being created that could change the economics of how these die go together. And there is debate about just how ready the tools are to make all of this happen. All of this is ... » read more

Ready To Pounce


A series of inflection points at 16/14nm and beyond is having a rather unusual effect on the semiconductor industry. Rather than forge ahead with the next nodes to gain an edge and early lead over rivals—the standard formula for success over the past five decades—the entire supply chain is poised on the edge, waiting for someone to make the first move before they take action. The problem... » read more

Different Approaches Emerge For Stacking Die


The concept of stacking die to shorten wires, improve performance, and reduce the amount of energy required to drive signals has been in research for at least the past dozen years at both IBM and Intel. And depending upon whom you ask, it could be another 2 to 10 years before it becomes a mainstream packaging approach—if it happens at all. At least part of the confusion stems from how you ... » read more

Wireless 3D Stacking


Hot Chips 26 wrapped up this week and there were many interesting presentations. One of the many presentations that caught my attention was given by Dave Ditzel, CEO of ThruChip, and is titled, “Low-Cost 3D Chip Stacking with ThruChip Wireless.” The technology is as it sounds — a wireless communication path for stacked die. The first question you may be asking is, ‘Why would anyone w... » read more

Why The Next Couple Process Nodes Are So Critical


In the greater scheme of things, one process node doesn't matter all that much. In fact, it has become common practice for big chipmakers to skip nodes for some of their chips as power issues becoming increasingly complex, time-to-market windows shrink and leapfrogging is viewed as a way to maximize resources while remaining über-competitive. But the next process node, and certainly the nex... » read more

Executive Insight: Gideon Wertheizer


SE: From your standpoint, what’s the next big thing? Wertheizer: The industry was driven in the past few years by the structure the smartphone created. It looks like this area is about to grow. What’s changing is the integration of the smartphone with other applications. The smartphone is now a hub of entertainment and productivity with many devices connecting directly or indirectly to i... » read more

Executive Insight: Taher Madraswala


Semiconductor Engineering sat down with Taher Madraswala, president of Open-Silicon, to talk about future challenges, opportunities and changes. What follows are excerpts of that interview. SE: What worries you most? Madraswala: What worries me at the industry-level is the growing effect that business constraints are having on product innovation. We’ve done a very good job of advancing ... » read more

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