Week In Review: Auto, Security, Pervasive Computing


Joby Aviation and Alef Automotive each received a Special Airworthiness Certificate from the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) for an electric vertical take-off and landing (eVTOL) aircraft. Joby will now begin flight testing the prototype, and the aircraft will move to Edwards Air Force Base in 2024 as part of a contract with the U.S. Air Force. Alef’s model is the first U.S. govern... » read more

Week In Review: Design, Low Power


Worldwide semiconductor industry sales dropped 21% year-over-year in May to $40.7 billion, mostly driven by decreases in the Americas (-22%), Asia Pacific/All Other (-23%), and China (-29%). But there also were hints of a recovery. The three-month moving average showed a 1.7% increase in sales, with the largest increases in China (+3.9%) and Europe (+2%). “Despite continuing market sluggishne... » read more

Week In Review: Semiconductor Manufacturing, Test


Restrictions on China continue to grow. The Biden Administration is considering more restrictions on selling advanced AI chips to China, according to multiple media reports. Meanwhile, the Dutch government is expected to limit the sale of manufacturing equipment. JIC Capital, the wholly owned subsidiary of Japan Investment Corporation (JIC), will purchase materials company JSR Corp. through ... » read more

Week In Review: Semiconductor Manufacturing, Test


Imec released its semiconductor roadmap, which calls for doubling compute power every six months to handle the data explosion and new data-intensive problems. Imec named five walls (scaling, memory, power, sustainability, cost) that need to be dismantled. The roadmap (below) stretches from 7nm to 0.2nm (2 angstroms) by 2036, and includes four generations of gate-all-around FETs followed by thre... » read more

Week In Review: Auto, Security, Pervasive Computing


The United States Justice of Department asked Tesla for documents relating to its Autopilot driver assistance system and its Full Self-Driving (FSD). Among other tech company woes, some of which are leading to layoffs, Apple sales dropped 5% year over year and it missed its earnings target this quarter. The U.S. state of Kansas will commit $304M to Kansas-based OSAT Integra Technologies t... » read more

Where All The Semiconductor Investments Are Going


Companies and countries are funneling huge sums of money into semiconductor manufacturing, materials, and research — at least a half-trillion dollars over the next decade, and maybe much more — to guarantee a steady supply of chips and know-how to support growth across a wide swath of increasingly data-centric industries. The build-out of a duplicate supply chain that can guarantee capac... » read more

Week In Review: Manufacturing, Test


President Biden signed an executive order on Sept. 15, limiting foreign investments in U.S. technology by "competitor or adversarial nations" that are deemed a threat to national security. In the past, the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS) largely limited its actions to the sale of U.S. companies. The new directive expands that to include investments involving "U.S. s... » read more

How Quickly Can SiC Ramp?


Device makers across the globe are ramping silicon carbide (SiC) manufacturing, with growth set to really take off starting in 2024. It’s been almost five years since Tesla and STMicroelectronics threw down the gauntlet with SiC in the Model 3. Now, no one doubts the market pull for electric vehicles, but consumers are still clamoring for better range and faster charging. SiC devices are a... » read more

Wafer Shortage Improvement In Sight For 300mm, But Not 200mm


The supply chain for bare wafers is off-kilter. Demand is appreciably higher than the wafer suppliers can keep up with, creating shortages that could last for years. For 300mm starting wafers, the top five big players — SEH and Sumco of Japan, Siltronic of Germany, GlobalWafers of Taiwan, and SK Siltron of Korea — finally took action over the last year, spending billions on new wafer fac... » read more

Parasitic Characterization Comes To Power Design Simulation


Two power design challenges are taking teams into unfamiliar territory. Wide bandgap (WBG) semiconductors target greater efficiency and density. Stricter EMI compliance regulations now come standard in mission-critical industries. Power design practices are still catching up. Simulation often takes a back seat to respinning hardware prototypes until success. What’s missing that could make sim... » read more

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