Tech Forecast: Fab Processes To Watch Through 2040


The massive proliferation of semiconductors in more markets, and more applications within those markets, is expected to propel the industry to more than $1 trillion by 2030. But over the next 17 years, semiconductors will reach well beyond the numbers, changing the way people work, how they communicate, and how they measure and monitor their health and well-being. Chips will be the enabling ... » read more

Modeling Silicon Photonics Process Parameter Variations In Synopsys OptoCompiler-OptSim


Silicon photonics (SiPh) refers to the enablement of photonic integrated circuits (PIC) over silicon wafer. SiPh enables compatibility with existing CMOS manufacturing infrastructure for large-scale integration and brings the associated benefits to the photonics, namely, lower footprint, lower thermal effects, and co-packaging of electronics and photonics on the same chip. One of the side-effec... » read more

The High Price Of Smaller Features


The semiconductor industry’s push for higher numerical apertures is driven by the relationship between NA and critical dimension. As the NA goes up, the CD goes down: Where λ is the wavelength and k1 is a process coefficient. While 0.55 NA exposure systems will improve resolution, Larry Melvin, principal engineer at Synopsys, noted that smaller features always come with a process cos... » read more