tag: TSMC

The Fading Art of Person-to-Person Communication
By Mike Gianfagna - 24 Apr, 2014 - Comments: 0

Have you ever sat in your cube at work and received an email from the person sitting next to you? Have you watched your kids text their friends when they’re all in the same room? Face it, typing is replacing talking. All this always-on technology is contributing to the demise of simple, person-to-person communication. I sometimes wonder if future generations of well-to-do people will hire pro... » read more

Executive Insight: CH Wu
By Ed Sperling - 21 Apr, 2014 - Comments: 0

Semiconductor Engineering sat down with CH Wu, president and CEO of Advantest Taiwan, to talk about business, politics, and his philosophy on what really motivates people. What follows are excerpts of that conversation. SE: Tell us a little about who you are and your background. Wu: I graduated from college with a degree in electrical engineering and started at Philips Electric, then moved ... » read more

The Week In Review: Design
By Ed Sperling - 18 Apr, 2014 - Comments: 0

Certifications TSMC certified Mentor Graphics’ DFM, place and route and custom IC tools, as well as its SPICE simulator, for the 16nm finFET process.  The foundry also certified Cadence’s digital and custom/analog tools for that process, including physical verification, QRC extraction, timing sign off and its power integrity solution. And it certified Synopsys’ digital and custom soluti... » read more

The Week In Review: Manufacturing
By Mark LaPedus - 18 Apr, 2014 - Comments: 0

There is more evidence of a fab tool slowdown. In fact, ASML itself sounded the alarm during its earnings conference call this week. “ASML noted uncertainty regarding the timing of both the 16/14 nm finFET ramp at foundries (the company is seeing a delay from customers as the technology is still in development, in our view) and 3D NAND,” said Weston Twigg, an analyst from Pacific Crest Secu... » read more

What If EUV Fails?
By Mark LaPedus - 17 Apr, 2014 - Comments: 2

It’s the worst kept secret in the industry, but extreme ultraviolet (EUV) lithography will likely miss the 10nm node. So, chipmakers will likely extend and use today’s 193nm immersion lithography down to 10nm. This, of course, will require a complex and expensive multiple patterning scheme. Now, chipmakers are formulating their lithography strategies for 7nm and beyond. As it stands now,... » read more

Real Countries Have Fabs
By Ed Sperling - 17 Apr, 2014 - Comments: 3

Persistent rumblings about the sale of IBM’s semiconductor unit might have seemed absurd a couple decades ago—before IBM sold off its PC unit to Lenovo and lost the gaming chip business to AMD’s x86 chips—but no one is scoffing at the possibility these days. The reality is that IBM will never reach the volume necessary to be the No. 1 or No. 2 player in its segment. It’s not even i... » read more

Billions And Billions Invested
By Mark LaPedus - 17 Apr, 2014 - Comments: 4

Over the years, next-generation [getkc id="80" kc_name="lithography"] (NGL) has suffered various setbacks and delays. But until recently, the industry basically shrugged its shoulders and expressed relatively little anxiety about the NGL delays. After all, optical lithography was doing the job in the fab and NGL would eventually materialize. Today, however, the mood is different. In fact, th... » read more

Time To Revisit 2.5D And 3D
By Mark LaPedus - 17 Apr, 2014 - Comments: 2

Chipmakers are reaching various and challenging inflection points. In logic, many IC makers face a daunting transition from planar transistors at 20nm to finFETs at 14nm. And on another front, the industry is nearing the memory bandwidth wall. So perhaps it’s time to look at new alternatives. In fact, chipmakers are taking a hard look, or re-examining, one alternative—stacked 2.5D/3D chi... » read more

Favorite Forecast Fallacies
By Barry Pangrle - 14 Apr, 2014 - Comments: 0

It’s difficult to make predictions, especially about the future. – An Old Danish Proverb. The GSA Silicon Summit was held on Thursday, April 10th at the Computer History Museum in Mountain View, CA. The opening panel session was entitled Advancements in Nanoscale Processing. The panelists were Rob Aitken (ARM), Adam Brand (Applied Materials), Peter Huang (TSMC), Nick Kepler (VLSI Researc... » read more

The Week In Review: Manufacturing
By Mark LaPedus - 04 Apr, 2014 - Comments: 1

GlobalFoundries has emerged as the leading candidate to buy IBM's semiconductor unit, according to Reuters, which cited the Wall Street Journal as it source. IBM, which recently put its semiconductor unit on the block, has held discussions with GlobalFoundries, Intel and Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. Ltd. GlobalFoundries did not respond to the reports by press time. GlobalFoundries ... » read more

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