U.S. Fab Investments Rise

By Jeff Dorsch - 09 May, 2017 - Comments: 1

Thin Film Electronics is opening a chip fabrication facility in San Jose, Calif., that will produce devices on rolls of flexible materials, using technology similar to inkjet printing, rather than the standard semiconductor production equipment geared toward silicon wafers. At the same time, Samsung Electronics and GlobalFoundries are expanding their wafer fabrication plants in Austin, Texas... » read more

What Autonomy Level Is Your Car?

By Ed Sperling - 04 May, 2017 - Comments: 0

Over the past couple of months, you've probably heard semiconductor industry executives dropping numbers about the levels of autonomy for vehicles. And despite Tesla's highly touted autonomous capabilities, current models are just a Level 2. Or maybe it's a Level 3. If these numbered levels were meant to lessen the confusion, it's not clear the plan is working. Until last September, there we... » read more

Verification And The IoT

By Ed Sperling - 04 May, 2017 - Comments: 0

Semiconductor Engineering sat down to discuss what impact the IoT will have on the design cycle, with Christopher Lawless, director of external customer acceleration in [getentity id="22846" e_name="Intel"]'s Software Services Group; David Lacey, design and verification technologist at Hewlett Packard Enterprise; Jim Hogan, managing partner at Vista Ventures; Frank Schirrmeister, senior group d... » read more

What The Chevy Bolt Really Means For The Electric Vehicle Market

By Brian Derrick - 06 Apr, 2017 - Comments: 0

CES and the North American Auto Show are fading from view. As expected, both events generated media coverage about jockeying among traditional tier 1/2 suppliers and tech companies for supremacy in the new auto supply chain, being turned upside down by the pursuit of autonomous vehicles, electrified powertrains and the like. And while there were some interesting early 2017 announcements (Amazon... » read more

What Does An AI Chip Look Like?

By Ed Sperling - 01 Mar, 2017 - Comments: 5

Depending upon your point of reference, artificial intelligence will be the next big thing or it will play a major role in all of the next big things. This explains the frenzy of activity in this sector over the past 18 months. Big companies are paying billions of dollars to acquire startup companies, and even more for R&D. In addition, governments around the globe are pouring additional... » read more

The Multiplier And The Singularity

By Brian Bailey - 12 Jan, 2017 - Comments: 8

In 1993, Vernor Vinge, a computer scientist and science fiction writer, first described an event called the Singularity—the point when machine intelligence matches and then surpasses human intelligence. And since then, top scientists, engineers and futurists have been asking just how far away we are from that event. In 2006, Ray Kurzweil published a book, "The Singularity is Near," in whic... » read more

Automotive Technology Trends Reshaping An Industry

By Brian Derrick - 05 Jan, 2017 - Comments: 0

The automotive industry is being disrupted as never before in its history. Casual observers might think this disruption is only about the march toward self-driving cars, which has captured a majority share of the headlines and online chatter. Autonomy is a huge development, to be sure, but two other major technology trends, electrification and connectivity, need equal air time. More than a y... » read more

CEO Outlook: Chip Design 2017

By Ed Sperling - 22 Dec, 2016 - Comments: 0

After two consecutive flat to slightly down years, the semiconductor industry is poised for growth in 2017. Cowan this month predicted 4.7% growth in semiconductor sales in 2017, while World Semiconductor Trade Statistics (WSTS) put that figure at 3.3%. And last month, International Business Strategies (IBS) pegged the number at 4.6%, according to statistics compiled by the Global Semiconduc... » read more

Reflecting Back on 2016: Markets

By Brian Bailey - 08 Dec, 2016 - Comments: 0

Anyone can make a prediction, and sometimes the more outlandish they are the more they get noticed. But at the end of the year some people hit the mark while others may have been way off. Many people simply make projections based on the current trajectory of trends, while others look for the potential discontinuities that may lie ahead. Semiconductor Engineering examines the projections made... » read more

Where Is The New Competition?

By Ed Sperling - 22 Nov, 2016 - Comments: 0

Consolidation is a regular topic of discussion at semiconductor industry conferences and trade shows. Anyone who has been to these gatherings over the past couple decades can see there are fewer companies presenting and exhibiting, fewer startups taking the place of those that were bought, and a dramatic increase in one-day, one-vendor-sponsored events where top experts are gathered to talk abo... » read more

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Knowledge Centers
Entities, people and technologies explored

Shift Left Is The Tip Of The Iceberg

A transformative change is underway for semiconductor design and EDA. New languages, models, and abstractions will need to be created.

by Brian Bailey

Partitioning In The Chiplet Era

Understanding how chiplets interact under different workloads is critical to ensuring signal integrity and optimal performance in heterogeneous designs.

by Ann Mutschler

3.5D: The Great Compromise

Pros and cons of a middle-ground chiplet assembly that combines 2.5D and 3D-IC.

by Ed Sperling

AI’s Role In Chip Design Widens, Drawing In New Startups

Focus is on letting engineers do much more with the same or fewer resources — and less drudgery.

by Karen Heyman

Key Technologies To Extend EUV To 14 Angstroms

Alongside high-NA EUV will be better-performing photoresists, reduced roughness using passivation and etch, and lateral etching to reduce tip-to-tip dimensions.

by Laura Peters

What Comes After HBM For Chiplets

The standard for high-bandwidth memory limits design freedom at many levels, but that is required for interoperability. What freedoms can be taken from other functions to make chiplets possible?

by Brian Bailey

Memory Fundamentals For Engineers

eBook: Nearly everything you need to know about memory, including detailed explanations of the different types of memory; how and where these are used today; what's changing, which memories are successful and which ones might be in the future; and the limitations of each memory type.

by The SE Staff

Why Small Fab And Assembly Houses Are Thriving

Megafabs churning out the most advanced processors are not the only game in town.

by Bryon Moyer

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