Wafer Cleaning Becomes Key Challenge in Manufacturing 3D Structures

Cleaning is critical to yield and reliability, but cleaning what you can't see requires new approaches, materials, and equipment | Continue reading


@semiengineering.com | 1 year ago

What's different about next-gen transistors

Advanced etch holds key to nanosheet FETs; evolutionary path for future nodes. | Continue reading


@semiengineering.com | 1 year ago

Bespoke Silicon Rattles Chip Design Ecosystem

From specific design team skills, to organizational and economic impacts, the move to bespoke silicon is shaking things up. | Continue reading


@semiengineering.com | 1 year ago

Foundational Changes in Chip Architectures

New memory approaches and challenges in scaling CMOS point to radical changes — and potentially huge improvements — in semiconductor designs. | Continue reading


@semiengineering.com | 1 year ago

RISC-V Virtual Prototype

A new technical paper titled “Advanced Embedded System Modeling and Simulation in an Open Source RISC-V Virtual Prototype” was published by researchers at DFKI GmbH and University of Bremen. Abstract... » read more | Continue reading


@semiengineering.com | 1 year ago

Training a ML Model on an Intelligent Edge Device Using Less Than 256KB Memory

A new technical paper titled “On-Device Training Under 256KB Memory” was published by researchers at MIT and MIT-IBM Watson AI Lab. “Our study enables IoT devices to not only perform... » read more | Continue reading


@semiengineering.com | 1 year ago

Dealing with Heat in Near-Memory Compute Architectures

Shortening data paths between processor and memory may help, but not always. | Continue reading


@semiengineering.com | 1 year ago

Designing a Better Clock Network

Optimal power, performance, and timing hinge on making the right decisions about the clock network architecture. | Continue reading


@semiengineering.com | 1 year ago

Beyond Autonomous Cars

The ecosystem of semi-autonomous vehicles goes far beyond self-driving cars, and so do the design challenges. | Continue reading


@semiengineering.com | 1 year ago

IC Architectures Shift as OEMs Narrow Their Focus

As chip companies customize designs, the number of possible pitfalls is growing. Tighter partnerships and acquisitions may help. | Continue reading


@semiengineering.com | 1 year ago

Auto Safety Tech Adds New IC Design Challenges

More electronics everywhere and more connectivity create issues involving power, performance, cost, and security. | Continue reading


@semiengineering.com | 1 year ago

Improving Redistribution Layers for Fan-Out Packages and Sips

Good adhesion, stress management, and warpage control are features of high performing RDLs. | Continue reading


@semiengineering.com | 1 year ago

Why Geofencing Will Enable L5

Fully self-driving cars will require AI that can learn as they drive. | Continue reading


@semiengineering.com | 1 year ago

A.I. Power Consumption Exploding

Exponential increase is not sustainable. But where is it all going? | Continue reading


@semiengineering.com | 1 year ago

Cryogenic CMOS Becomes Cool

But that doesn't mean it's going to be mainstream anytime soon. | Continue reading


@semiengineering.com | 1 year ago

Prefetch Side Channels Undermine Isolation Between User, Kernel on AMD CPUs

This new technical paper titled “AMD Prefetch Attacks through Power and Time” is from researchers at Graz University of Technology and CISPA Helmholtz Center for Information Security. Note, this is a prepublication paper for the USENIX Security Symposium in Boston in August 2022. … | Continue reading


@semiengineering.com | 1 year ago

Securing Heterogeneous Integration at the Chiplet, Interposer, and Sip Levels

A new research paper titled “ToSHI – Towards Secure Heterogeneous Integration: Security Risks, Threat Assessment, and Assurance” was published by researchers at the Florida Institute for Cybersecurity (FICS) Research, University of Florida. Abstract “The semiconductor industry is … | Continue reading


@semiengineering.com | 1 year ago

Overlay Keeps Pace with EUV Patterning

As tolerances tighten and density increases, these tools help ensure sufficient yield. | Continue reading


@semiengineering.com | 1 year ago

Chip Backdoors: Assessing the Threat

Steps are being taken to minimize problems, but they will take years to implement. | Continue reading


@semiengineering.com | 1 year ago

Can Analog Make a Comeback?

The industry reached an inflection point where analog is getting a fresh look, but digital will not cede ground readily. | Continue reading


@semiengineering.com | 1 year ago

What Future Processors Will Look Like

AMD CTO Mark Papermaster talks about why heterogeneous architectures will be needed to achieve improvements in PPA. | Continue reading


@semiengineering.com | 1 year ago

Security Risks Widen with Commercial Chiplets

Choosing components from a multi-vendor menu holds huge promise for reducing costs and time-to-market, but it's not as simple as it sounds. | Continue reading


@semiengineering.com | 1 year ago

Flip-Chip Integration of a GaSb Semiconductor Optical Amplifier W Si Photonics

New research paper titled “Hybrid silicon photonics DBR laser based on flip-chip integration of GaSb amplifiers and µm-scale SOI waveguides” by researchers at Tampere University (Finland). Abstract: “The development of integrated photonics experiences an unprecedented growth dyna … | Continue reading


@semiengineering.com | 1 year ago

Risks Rise as Robotic Surgery Goes Mainstream

New technology requires robust security, bandwidth, and electronic systems performance. | Continue reading


@semiengineering.com | 1 year ago

Toward Democratized IC Design and Customized Computing

How to make IC design more accessible to more people. | Continue reading


@semiengineering.com | 1 year ago

Who Does Processor Validation?

Heterogeneous designs and AI/ML processing expose the limitations of existing methodologies and tools. | Continue reading


@semiengineering.com | 1 year ago

How to Optimize a Processor

There are at least three architectural layers to processor design, each of which plays a significant role. | Continue reading


@semiengineering.com | 1 year ago

What Quantum Batteries Have in Store

Why this technology could have a big impact on EV charging times. | Continue reading


@semiengineering.com | 1 year ago

High-NA EUV May Be Closer Than It Appears

Tools are coming, but advanced resists and masks need to keep pace. | Continue reading


@semiengineering.com | 1 year ago

Variation Making Trouble in Advanced Packages

Disaggregating SoCs into multiple chips introduces potential issues that may take years to show up. | Continue reading


@semiengineering.com | 1 year ago

Keeping IC Packages Cool

Engineers are finding ways to effectively thermally dissipate heat from complex modules. | Continue reading


@semiengineering.com | 1 year ago

DRAM Thermal Issues Reach Crisis Point

Increased transistor density and utilization are creating memory performance issues. | Continue reading


@semiengineering.com | 1 year ago

The Race to Zero Defects in Auto ICs

100% inspection, more data, and traceability will reduce assembly defects plaguing automotive customer returns. | Continue reading


@semiengineering.com | 1 year ago

Chip Substitutions Raising Security Concerns

Lots of unknowns will persist for decades across multiple market segments. | Continue reading


@semiengineering.com | 1 year ago

Sensors in Fire Detection

Fire detection and simulation systems are growing more sophisticated and span larger distances. | Continue reading


@semiengineering.com | 1 year ago

AI-Powered Verification

AI can be used in several ways to help existing verification processes, but the biggest gain may come from rethinking some fundamentals. | Continue reading


@semiengineering.com | 1 year ago

Digitalizing Water Monitoring

Water sensors are getting smaller, lighter, cheaper, and much smarter. | Continue reading


@semiengineering.com | 1 year ago

Formal Verification Ensured the Perseverance Rover Landed Safely on Mars

How clock domain crossing verification helped land a spacecraft on a challenging site. | Continue reading


@semiengineering.com | 1 year ago

Big Changes in Materials and Processes for IC Manufacturing

Brewer Science's CTO drills down into everything from purity and bonding to scaling and variation. | Continue reading


@semiengineering.com | 1 year ago

Strategies for Faster Yield Ramps on 5nm Chips

Smart software finds more EUV stochastic defects and missing vias, improving wafer yield. | Continue reading


@semiengineering.com | 2 years ago

Battery Management Getting Competitive for EVs

Increased density, new materials, and longer lifetimes top the list for improving range and reducing cost. | Continue reading


@semiengineering.com | 2 years ago

Highly Selective Etch Rolls Out for Next-Gen Chips

Manufacturing 3D structures will require atomic-level control of what's removed and what stays on a wafer. | Continue reading


@semiengineering.com | 2 years ago

Extending Copper Interconnects to 2nm

From low resistance vias to buried power rails, it takes multiple strategies to usher in 2nm chips. | Continue reading


@semiengineering.com | 2 years ago

What else can you do while driving a car?

New vehicle designs will include many features determined by the end customer, and the list grows longer as vehicles become more autonomous. | Continue reading


@semiengineering.com | 2 years ago

The Migration of Engine ECU Software from Single-Core to Multi-Core

A multi-core engine ECU using this migration technology can be applied in real-world automotive vehicles, leading to a significant improvement in performance. | Continue reading


@semiengineering.com | 2 years ago

Software-Driven and System-Level Tests Drive Chip Quality

A new system-level test for SoCs is gaining traction because it catches problems not detected at wafer probe and package test. | Continue reading


@semiengineering.com | 2 years ago

Automobile chipmakers seek 10 parts per billion reliability

Driving to 10 defective parts-per-billion quality is all about finding, predicting nuanced behavior in ICs. | Continue reading


@semiengineering.com | 2 years ago

RISC-V is succeeding

Interest in this particular ISA is expanding, but the growth of other open-source hardware is less certain. | Continue reading


@semiengineering.com | 2 years ago