Manufacturing Bits: Aug. 12

By Ed Sperling - 12 Aug, 2014 - Comments: 0

Origami Robots It may sound like something out of the movie Transformers, but MIT and Harvard have created origami robots that be reconfigured using timed sequencing. The robots were built from laser-cut parts using five layers of materials. A layer of etched copper is embedded between two structural layers of paper, with outer layers made of a polymer that folds when heated, according to... » read more

Power/Performance Bits: Jan. 28

By Ann Mutschler - 28 Jan, 2014 - Comments: 0

E-whiskers From the world of nanotechnology, researchers with Berkeley Lab and UC Berkeley are on the verge of electronic whiskers -- tactile sensors from composite films of carbon nanotubes and silver nanoparticles similar to the highly sensitive whiskers of cats and rats. These new e-whiskers respond to pressure as slight as a single Pascal, which is about the amount of pressure exerted o... » read more

What’s After CMOS?

By Mark LaPedus - 24 Jan, 2014 - Comments: 3

Chipmakers continue to scale the CMOS transistor to finer geometries, but the question is for how much longer. The current thinking is that the CMOS transistor could scale at least to the 3nm node in the 2021 timeframe. And then, CMOS could run out of gas, prompting the need for a new switch technology. So what’s after the CMOS-based transistor? Carbon nanotubes and graphene get the most a... » read more

System Bits: Dec. 17

By Ann Mutschler - 17 Dec, 2013 - Comments: 0

Simple, Inexpensive Graphene Treatment Could Unleash New Uses To help realize the promise of graphene in electronics, solar power, and sensors, researchers from MIT and UC Berkeley have created what they said is a simple, inexpensive treatment that they believe may help realize the potential of the material. While pure graphene lacks some key properties needed for electronic devices, modify... » read more

Power/Performance Bits: Nov. 26

By Brian Bailey - 26 Nov, 2013 - Comments: 0

Many people are predicting that power will be the issue that brings Moore’s Law to an end. Power creates heat and that heat can be destructive to chips, so there are two paths forward – the first is to reduce heat and the second is to get it off chip. It seems as if magnets may be the common key to both approaches. Magnetic Transistors New work by researchers at UC Berkeley soon could t... » read more

Manufacturing Bits: Nov. 19

By Mark LaPedus - 19 Nov, 2013 - Comments: 0

Toothpick Fab Tools NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md. has developed a specialized atomic layer deposition (ALD) system and a "virtual toothpick" to enable ultra-thin films on chips and systems. NASA has built an ALD reactor chamber, which measures three inches in diameter and two feet in length. The system can deposit films inside pores and cavities, giving ALD the abilit... » read more

Power-Performance Bits: Nov. 19

By Brian Bailey - 19 Nov, 2013 - Comments: 0

Different Species of Carbon Nanotubes We all know that humans can be either left or right handed, but what about carbon nanotubes? Apparently, single-walled carbon nanotubes come in a plethora of different “species,” each with its own structure and unique combination of electronic and optical properties. Researchers with the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE)’s Lawrence Berkeley National... » read more

Power/Performance Bits: July 23

By Ann Mutschler - 23 Jul, 2013 - Comments: 0

Thinnest light absorber Expected to potentially reduce the cost and improve the efficiency of solar cells, Stanford University scientists report they have created the thinnest, most efficient absorber of visible light on record. The nanoscale structure is thousands of times thinner than an ordinary sheet of paper. The researchers said achieving complete absorption of visible light with a mi... » read more

New Incentives For Lowering Power

By Ed Sperling - 08 Nov, 2012 - Comments: 0

By Ed Sperling Despite all the focus by design teams on lowering power over the past few years, in many applications power is still the last consideration for many companies in the power-performance-area equation. That’s beginning to change, however, even for applications that in the past have not been particularly power-sensitive. There are several reasons for this shift. No. 1 on the li... » read more

Quantum Shifts

By Ed Sperling - 25 Oct, 2012 - Comments: 0

By Ed Sperling Intel, STMicroelectronics and some of the leading memory providers already are working on 10nm process technology, and advanced researchers in universities and industry-leading companies are looking at 7nm, 5nm and even beyond. Those who have glimpsed this technological future have similar observations. There is no single technology problem that has to be solved at these node... » 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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