Testing More To Boost Profits


Not all chips measure up to spec, but as more data becomes available and the cost of these devices continues to rise, there is increasing momentum to salvage and re-purpose chips for other applications and markets. Performance-based binning is as old as color-banded resistors, but the practice is spreading — even for the most advanced nodes and packages. Over the last three decades, engine... » read more

200mm Demand Surges


A surge in demand for various chips is causing shortages for select 200mm foundry capacity as well as 200mm fab equipment, and it shows no signs of abating in 2021. Foundry customers will face a shortfall of 200mm capacity at select foundries at least in the first half of 2021, and perhaps beyond. Those customers will need to plan ahead to ensure they obtain enough 200mm capacity in 2021. Ot... » read more

Adaptive Test Gains Ground


Not all devices get tested the same way anymore, and that’s a good thing. Quality, test costs, and yield have motivated product engineers to adopt test processes that fall under the umbrella of adaptive test, which uses test data to modify a subsequent test process. But to execute such techniques requires logistics that support analysis of data, as well as enabling changes to a test based ... » read more

Week In Review: Auto, Security, Pervasive Computing


Automotive Bosch licensed Arteris IP’s FlexNoC interconnect products for Bosch’s automotive chips. “Arteris IP provides the easiest and fastest means to assemble the complex chips we require while allowing us to implement innovative functional safety mechanisms within our designs,” said Oliver Wolst, senior vice president integrated circuits at Bosch. Mentor, a Siemens business, int... » read more

Deals That Change The Chip Industry


Nvidia's pending $40 billion acquisition of Arm is expected to have a big impact on the chip world, but it will take years before the effects of this deal are fully understood. More such deals are expected over the next couple of years due to several factors — there is a fresh supply of startups with innovative technology, interest rates are low, and market caps and stock prices of buyers ... » read more

Bridging The Gap Between Driven And Driverless Cars


Today, 91% of car accidents worldwide are caused by some form of human error. Moving to ADAS functions, such as Automatic Emergency Braking or Lane Keep Assist, and autonomous vehicles (AVs) will significantly improve road safety and reduce costs associated with accidents, such as car and highway repair, police, ambulance, and insurance. However, to be fully autonomous will take many years, if ... » read more

Week In Review: Auto, Security, Pervasive Computing


Pervasive computing — data center, edge, IoT SEMI formed a new standards committee to develop global standards for flexible hybrid electronics (FHE). The SEMI Standards Flexible Hybrid Electronics Global Technical Committee will develop FHE standards for design, materials, manufacturing, packaging and systems and to drive industry growth. IPC is also working on FHE standards as an industry s... » read more

Manufacturing Bits: April 28


Gate-all-around reliability The 2020 IEEE International Reliability Physics Symposium (IRPS) will kick off this week, this time as a virtual event. IRPS is a conference that focuses on the latest research in microelectronics reliability. The event starts off with keynotes from Infineon, Intel and Texas Instruments. IRPS also involves a multitude of papers and presentations. On the logi... » read more

System-Level Electro-Thermal Analysis of RDS(ON) for Power MOSFET


Authors: Rajen Murugan1, Nathan Ai2, and C.T. Kao2 1 Texas Instruments, Inc., Dallas, Texas, 75044, USA 2 Cadence Design Systems, Santa Clara, California, USA A coupled-electro-thermal RDS(ON) (drain to source ON resistance) co-analysis methodology for Power MOSFET is proposed. The methodology contains two functional modules: 1) physical field solvers and 2) equivalent circuit/network so... » read more

System Electrothermal Transient Analysis of A High Current (40A) Synchronous Step Down Converter


Authors: Rajen Murugan, Jie Chen, and Todd Harrison of Texas Instruments, Inc. and C.T. Kao and Nathan Ai of Cadence Design Systems; from Proceedings of the ASME 2019 International Technical Conference and Exhibition on Packaging and Integration of Electronic and Photonic Microsystems, IPACK2019, October 7-9, 2019, Anaheim, CA, USA In this paper, we detailed the system electrothermal transi... » read more

← Older posts Newer posts →