Transforming Test For Co-packaged Optics


Data centers are undergoing a dramatic transformation to reduce the power consumption of high-speed data transmissions by 70% or more with co-packaged optics. By moving optical transceivers from the fronts of racks into the same package as the networking switch and HBMs, AI programs that used to take a week to run can now be completed in a day. To enable this change in production manufacturi... » read more

Chiplet Interfaces Embrace Failures


Redundancy in chiplet interfaces is now a prerequisite for achieving sufficient yield in high-performance computing devices, which today are packed with tens of thousands of interconnects. And as the number and density of those interconnects increases, the prospects for yield only worsen. For more than two decades, high-speed I/O interfaces have included reliability strategies to manage in-f... » read more

Redefining Sustainability: Operational Resilience Is the New Frontier


Powering everything from smartphones, energy infrastructure, electric transport, and AI systems, semiconductors have become a cornerstone of economic innovation. However, rapid progress has an impact. One recent survey shows that the semiconductor device manufacturing industry more than doubled its annual electricity consumption between 2015 and 2023 – an increase of 125% during that period. ... » read more

Chip Industry Week in Review


Apple plans to increase its U.S. investment by an additional $100 billion over four years, which includes the launch of an advanced manufacturing supply chain program, spurring a number of related chip industry announcements, including: Apple will invest in Amkor's new packaging and test facility in Arizona as its first and largest customer, and Amkor will package and test Apple silicon pr... » read more

Blog Review: Aug. 6


Cadence's Shyam Sharma checks out key features of the LPDDR6 specification, including data transfer speeds that can reach up to 14.4Gbps, two sub-channels per device, metadata built into the data packets, and row hammer mitigation. Synopsys' Frank Malloy and Vincent van der Leest describe the essential role that a hardware root of trust plays in providing a secure foundation for all other se... » read more

Testing At The Speed Of Light: Enabling Scalable Optical Testing For Silicon Photonics And CPO


Today, a single ChatGPT query consumes roughly ten times more power than a traditional Google search and will only continue to grow as AI extends to image and video generation. With this growth not only in AI, but also in cloud computing and high-performance computing (HPC), data center electricity consumption is projected to account for up to 9.1% of total U.S. electricity use by 2030. ... » read more

Easing The Stress For Package-Level Burn-In


Considered something of a necessary evil, burn-in of IC packages during production does a great job of weeding out latent defects so they don’t turn into failures in the field. But as AI and multi-chiplet packages become more common, and concerns about aging circuitry heighten, shifting stress testing to the wafer level looks increasingly attractive from a quality, throughput, and cost standp... » read more

Detecting Slips, Scratches, Cracks In Wafers And Dies Becoming Harder


Defect detection requirements on the order of 10 defective parts per million (DPPM) are driving improvements in inspection tools’ resolution and throughput at foundries and OSATs. However, defects that manifest as slips, scratches, and micro-cracks continue to bedevil the prevalent optical inspection methods. These defects can range in size from nanometers to millimeters, some of which are... » read more

Challenges In Using Sub-7nm ICs In Automotive


The automotive industry is producing vehicles with increasing levels of real-time decision-making, enabled by thousands of ICs, sensors, and multi-chip packages, but making sure these systems work flawlessly throughout their expected lifetimes is a growing challenge. Automotive chips traditionally were developed at mature process nodes in five- to seven-year cycles, but much has changed over... » read more

Rethinking Chip Reliability For Harsh Conditions


As semiconductors push into environments once considered untenable, reliability expectations are being redefined. From the vacuum of space and the inside of jet engines to deep industrial automation and electrified drivetrains, chips now must endure extreme temperature swings, corrosive atmospheres, mechanical vibration, radiation, and unpredictable power cycles, all while delivering increasing... » read more

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