Week In Review: Manufacturing, Test


OEMs and chipmakers Apple has reduced its revenue outlook to $84 billion for the quarter, down from $89 billion to $93 billion in its original forecast. The consensus on Wall Street was $91 billion. “The guide down was mostly attributed to weaker-than-expected iPhone demand in emerging markets, predominantly China,” said John Vinh, an analyst with KeyBanc Capital Markets, in a research not... » read more

Week In Review: Design, Low Power


Arm debuted two new image signal processors, Mali-C52 and Mali-C32. Both are capable of processing for high dynamic range (HDR), noise reduction, and color management at 4k resolution at 60fps. They can process 600 megapixels/sec. The Mali-C52 can be configured either for image quality or area for a range of applications, while the C32 is optimized for area and lower-power, cost-sensitive appli... » read more

What’s the Right Path For Scaling?


The growing challenges of traditional chip scaling at advanced nodes are prompting the industry to take a harder look at different options for future devices. Scaling is still on the list, with the industry laying plans for 5nm and beyond. But less conventional approaches are becoming more viable and gaining traction, as well, including advanced packaging and in-memory computing. Some option... » read more

Week In Review: Manufacturing, Test


Tariffs The United States and China are in the midst of a trade war. New data shows that tariffs on imported Chinese products now cost the technology industry an additional $1 billion per month, according to the Consumer Technology Association (CTA). Nearly 70% of tariffs paid by the hi-tech industry come from the $200 billion product list enacted Sep. 24. Tariffs on CTA-identified tech pro... » read more

Foundries See Growth, New Issues In 2019


The silicon foundry business is poised for growth in 2019, although the industry faces several challenges across a number of market segments next year. Generally, foundry vendors saw steady growth in 2018, but many are ending the year on a sour note. Weak demand for Apple’s new iPhone XR and a downturn in the cryptocurrency market have impacted several IC suppliers and foundries, causing t... » read more

Mixed Outlook For Fab Equipment


As 2018 dawned, the semiconductor industry appeared to be poised for a rare fourth consecutive year of equipment investment growth. That rosy outlook is about to change as clouds gather in what until now has been the sunny sky. The latest edition of the World Fab Forecast Report, published by SEMI in December 2018, reveals a downward revision of total fab equipment spending growth for 2018 ... » read more

Achieve High Hotspot Detection Accuracy by Pattern Scoring


In this paper, we combined the hotspot pattern library and the rule-based scoring system into a modularized hotspot-checking rule deck running on an automatic flow. Several DFM (design for manufacture) properties criteria will be defined to build a “score board” for hotspot candidates. When hotspots in the input design are highlighted, the scoring system can identify whether a hotspot is a ... » read more

Week In Review: Manufacturing, Test


Intel Mark Bohr, a senior fellow and director of process architecture and integration at Intel, is retiring, according to the company. Bohr, who will retire at the end of February 2019, held various technology positions during his 41-year career at Intel. Here is a quick bio on Bohr. Others have also recently retired from Intel’s manufacturing unit amid a massive reorganization in the depart... » read more

Week In Review: Design, Low Power


The MIPI Alliance released MIPI I3C Basic v1.0, a subset of the MIPI I3C sensor interface specification that bundles 20 of the most commonly needed I3C features for developers and other standards organizations. The royalty-free specification includes backward compatibility with I2C, 12.5 MHz multi-drop bus that is over 12 times faster than I2C supports, in-band interrupts to allow slaves to not... » read more

Week In Review: Manufacturing, Test


Chipmakers GlobalFoundries has announced that its advanced silicon-germanium (SiGe) offering is available for prototyping on 300mm wafers. GF’s SiGe technology has been shipping on its 200mm production line in Burlington, Vt. The technology, a 90nm SiGe process, is moving to 300mm wafers at GF’s Fab 10 facility in East Fishkill, N.Y. The SiGe technology is called 9HP. “The increasing ... » read more

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