Pre-Silicon Verification Of Die-to-Die IP With Novel ESD Protection


All major foundries have adopted the programmable electrical rule checker (PERC) as the pre-silicon electrostatic discharge (ESD) signoff tool for IP and chip designs. This concept of rule checking works fine for most IP types, but for die-to-die IP, used in 3DIC designs, the PERC approach may not be appropriate. Die-to-die interface IP includes extremely large numbers of I/Os, trending towards... » read more

What Scares Chip Engineers About Generative AI


Experts At The Table: LLMs and other generative AI programs are a long way away from being able to design entire chips on their own from scratch, but the emergence of the tech has still raised some genuine concerns. Semiconductor Engineering sat down with a panel of experts, which included Rod Metcalfe, product management group director at Cadence; Syrus Ziai, vice-president of engineering at E... » read more

Linear Pluggable Optics Save Energy In Data Centers


Linear pluggable optics (LPO) is garnering more attention as a way to quickly and efficiently move data in and out of server racks, but a lack of standards for connecting the optical modules is slowing adoption at a time when there is growing pressure to reduce power in data centers. LPO is the newest of two approaches to solving the power wall problem in data centers. Co-packaged optics (CP... » read more

Chip Industry Week In Review


The EU Commission approved €920 million in German State aid to support Infineon in setting up its Smart Power Fab in Dresden. Total funding for the Dresden site amounts to about €1 billion. PDF Solutions will acquire secureWISE for $130 million to expand the reach of its semiconductor manufacturing data platform, providing secure, remote access monitoring and control. Tariffs, trade, and ... » read more

Speeding Up Computational Lithography With The Power And Parallelism Of GPUs


There are so many challenges in producing modern semiconductor devices that it’s amazing for the industry to pull it off at all. From the underlying physics to fabrication processes to the development flow, there is no shortage of tough issues to address. Some of the biggest arise in lithography for deep submicron chips. A recent post outlined the major trends in lithography and summarized a ... » read more

Interconnects Approach Tipping Point


As leading devices move to next generation nanosheets for logic, their interconnections are getting squeezed past the point where they can deliver low resistance pathways. The 1nm (10Å) node will have 20nm pitch and larger metal lines, but the interconnect stack already consumes a third of device power and accounts for 75% of the chip's RC delay. Changing this dynamic requires a superior co... » read more

EUV’s Future Looks Even Brighter


The rapidly increasing demand for advanced-node chips to support everything-AI is putting pressure on the industry's ability to meet demand. The need for cutting-edge semiconductors is accelerating in applications ranging from hyperscale data centers powering large language models to edge AI in smartphones, IoT devices, and autonomous systems. But manufacturing those chips relies heavily on ... » read more

Blog Review: Feb. 19


Cadence's Ravi Vora explains the AMBA Local Translation Interface protocol, which defines the point-to-point protocol between an I/O device and the Translation Buffer Unit of an Arm System Memory Management Unit. Siemens' Stephen V. Chavez provides a checklist for ensuring the quality and functionality of a PCB at every stage, from design through fabrication, assembly, and testing, with a fo... » read more

What’s Next In Advanced Packaging?


Experts at the Table: Semiconductor Engineering sat down to discuss 3D-IC progress and issues, photonics, and tradeoffs with different interposers and bridge technologies, with Michael Kelly, vice president of Chiplets and FCBGA Integration at Amkor; William Chen, fellow at ASE; Dick Otte, CEO of Promex Industries; and Sander Roosendaal, R&D director at Synopsys Photonics Solutions. What fo... » read more

ADAS Adds Complexity To Automotive Sensor Fusion


Sensor fusion is becoming increasingly popular and more complex in automotive designs, integrating multiple types of sensors into a single chip or package and intelligently routing data to wherever it is needed. The primary goal is to bring together information from cameras, radar, lidar, and other sensors in order to provide a detailed view of what's happening inside and outside of a vehicl... » read more

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