Goals of Going Green


The chip industry is stepping up efforts to be seen as environmentally friendly, driven by growing pressure from customers and government regulations. Some manufacturers have been addressing sustainability challenges for more than a decade, but they are becoming more aggressive in their efforts, while others are joining them. A review of sustainability reports across the semiconductor indust... » read more

Week In Review: Semiconductor Manufacturing, Test


SEMICON West returned in force this week, with a focus on AI and deep learning  in semiconductor manufacturing, security, heterogenous ICs, and the march toward a $1 trillion chip market. Lam Research President and CEO, Tim Archer, opened with the keynote presentation. Fig. 1: SEMICON West panel: AI’s influence on growth, China-U.S. trade war, and the importance of climate policy were... » read more

DAC/Semicon West Addresses Top Issues, Trends For Chips


The Design Automation Conference (DAC) 2023 and Semicon West returned in full force this week, drawing in more attendees and sponsor companies than since before the pandemic. At times, booth traffic was four to five deep, blocking aisles, and standing room only was common at presentations. Hot topics included generative AI and the underlying semiconductor technology, data security, reliabili... » read more

Mission-Critical Devices Drive System-Level Test Expansion


System-level testing is becoming essential for testing complex and increasingly heterogeneous chips, driven by rising demand for reliable parts in safety- and mission-critical applications. More and more chip manufacturers are jumping on the SLT bandwagon for high-volume manufacturing (HVM) of these devices. Unlike ATE and packaged device testing, SLT mimics actual semiconductor system opera... » read more

Pinpointing Timing Delays in Complex SoCs


Telemetry circuits are becoming a necessity in complex heterogeneous chips and packages to show how these devices are behaving post-production, but fusing together relevant data to identify the sources of problems adds its own set of challenges. In the past, engineering teams could build margin into chips to offset any type of variation. But at advanced nodes and in advanced packages, tolera... » read more

Week In Review: Semiconductor Manufacturing, Test


China retaliated against a U.S. embargo on advanced semiconductor equipment exports by restricting exports of gallium and germanium. Both metals are widely used in semiconductors and electric vehicles. Despite export controls for advanced chips and equipment imposed on Chinese foundries by the U.S. and its allies, TrendForce predicts China's 300mm market share likely will increase from 24% ... » read more

Journey From Cell-Aware To Device-Aware Testing Begins


Early results of using device-aware testing on alternative memories show expanded test coverage, but this is just the start. Once the semiconductor industry realized that it was suffering from device failures even when test programs achieved 100% fault coverage, it went about addressing this disconnect between the way defects manifest themselves inside devices and the commonly used fault mod... » read more

Ramping Up Power Electronics For EVs


The rapid acceleration of the power devices used in electric vehicles (EVs) is challenging chipmakers to adequately screen the ICs that power these vehicles.[1] While progress toward autonomous driving is grabbing the public’s attention, the electrification of transportation systems is progressing quietly. For the automotive industry, this shift involves a mix of electronic components. Amo... » read more

Testing High Power Discrete Devices


Emerging markets are driving the evolution of discrete power devices. Increased power requirements mean more power is being driven through a smaller device, creating challenges in both device design and test. This video series, 3 for 3, provides 3 answers for 3 pressing questions about trends in semiconductor test, and how testing for high power discrete devices is evolving. » read more

Chiplet Planning Kicks Into High Gear


Chiplets are beginning to impact chip design, even though they are not yet mainstream and no commercial marketplace exists for this kind of hardened IP. There are ongoing discussions about silicon lifecycle management, the best way to characterize and connect these devices, and how to deal with such issues as uneven aging and thermal mismatch. In addition, a big effort is underway to improve... » read more

← Older posts Newer posts →