Week In Review: Manufacturing, Test


The U.S. Commerce Department issued export controls on key technologies, including gallium oxide (Ga2O3) and diamond substrates, which are used at high voltages and temperatures, as well as EDA tools specifically developed for GAA FETs. It's not clear how this will impact EDA companies, because many of the tools that will be used for designing for GAA FETs already are in use today for finFETs. ... » read more

Week In Review: Design, Low Power


The U.S. Commerce Department's Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) issued new export controls on EDA software aimed at designing gate-all-around FETs, which manufacturers plan to implement starting at 3nm (Samsung) and 2nm (Intel and TSMC). Specifically, the ruling controls export of software that is specially designed for implementing RTL to GDSII (or an equivalent standard) for GAA FET desi... » read more

Week in Review: Auto, Security, Pervasive Computing


Automotive and Mobility Lyft launched a new robotaxi service that operates on and around the Las Vegas Strip using the electric Ioniq 5 vehicle from Motional. Similar services by other companies are currently in use in a handful of other U.S. cities, including San Francisco and Phoenix. The new Lyft service currently requires the presence of safety drivers, though Lyft and Motional say it will... » read more

Fan-Out Packaging Gets Competitive


Fan-out wafer-level packaging (FOWLP) is a key enabler in the industry shift from transistor scaling to system scaling and integration. The design fans out the chip interconnects through a redistribution layer instead of a substrate. Compared to flip-chip ball grid array (FCBGA) or wire bonds, it creates lower thermal resistance, a slimmer package, and potentially lower costs. Yet, if the h... » read more

Blog Review: Aug. 17


Synopsys' Steve Pateras explains the basics of silicon lifecycle management and how it can help monitor, analyze, and optimize both semiconductor and end-user systems throughout the product value chain, from design and manufacturing to testing and maintenance. Siemens' Heather George considers the current state of 3D chiplet-based designs and efforts to standardize chiplet models and deliver... » read more

Challenges Grow For Modeling Auto Performance, Power


Rising complexity in automobiles is creating huge challenges about how to add more safety and comfort features and electronics into vehicles without reducing the overall range they can travel or pricing them so high that only the rich can afford them. While the current focus is on modeling hardware and software to understand interactions between systems, this remains a huge challenge. It req... » read more

AI Power Consumption Exploding


Machine learning is on track to consume all the energy being supplied, a model that is costly, inefficient, and unsustainable. To a large extent, this is because the field is new, exciting, and rapidly growing. It is being designed to break new ground in terms of accuracy or capability. Today, that means bigger models and larger training sets, which require exponential increases in processin... » read more

Memory Design Shift Left To Achieve Faster Development Turnaround Time


As noted in a recent blog post, demand for more memory is a common theme for many semiconductor-driven products. Artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) algorithms rely on fast, plentiful memory for real-time performance, and storage at all levels is key to data-intensive applications. General-purpose memory devices are giving way to customized chips for applications such as AI, ... » read more

Week in Review: Auto, Security, Pervasive Computing


Automotive and Mobility Search engine giant Baidu said Monday it is the first company to secure permits to operate robotaxis in China without a human safety driver. Baidu’s Apollo and Toyota-backed Pony.ai already operate robotaxis with backup drivers in Beijing. Also this week, smartphone maker Xiaomi said it is running autonomous driving tests on 140 vehicles in China. Xiaomi announced it ... » read more

New Uses For AI In Chips


Artificial intelligence is being deployed across a number of new applications, from improving performance and reducing power in a wide range of end devices to spotting irregularities in data movement for security reasons. While most people are familiar with using machine learning and deep learning to distinguish between cats and dogs, emerging applications show how this capability can be use... » read more

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