Selecting an ASIC Package

Selecting an ASIC Package
by Daniel Nenni on 05-29-2019 at 10:00 am

Semiconductor chip package technologies have evolved throughout the years to the point where hundreds of package types are available today. 

Most applications will require the more general, single-element packaging for integrated circuits and the other components such as resistors, capacitators, antenna etc. However,… Read More


56th DAC Empyrean Stepping Up ALPS with GPU Implementation

56th DAC Empyrean Stepping Up ALPS with GPU Implementation
by Daniel Nenni on 05-27-2019 at 11:00 am

As a testament to the technology advances developed and implemented into Empyrean ALPS™ by the engineering team, the product has seen a steady growth in the adoption by users. In addition, hearing directly from the users at DAC 2018 turned out to be an all-around success for the product as well as the product team to see ALPS beating… Read More


Silvaco Samsung and Excitement at 56thDAC

Silvaco Samsung and Excitement at 56thDAC
by Daniel Nenni on 05-25-2019 at 8:00 am

There were quite a few announcements at the Samsung Foundry Forum but my favorite was the IP partnership between Samsung and Silvaco. IP is a critical part of the fabless ecosystem and one of the advantages an IDM foundry has over a pure-play is the vast amounts of internal IP that have been silicon proven over the years. With Samsung… Read More


Mentor Excitement at 56thDAC!

Mentor Excitement at 56thDAC!
by Daniel Nenni on 05-23-2019 at 10:00 am

Mentor continues to invest in conferences such as DAC, no matter the location, for which I am very grateful. They have a long list of activities this year but I wanted to point out my top three:

Wally Rhines has a talk in the DAC Pavilion which is first on the list. Wally’s expert industry perspective is the result of tireless research… Read More


IC to Systems Era

IC to Systems Era
by Daniel Nenni on 05-16-2019 at 12:00 pm

One of my favorite EDA disruptions is the Siemens acquisition of Mentor, pure genius. Joe Sawicki now runs the Mentor IC EDA business for Siemens so we will be seeing him at more conferences and events than ever before. Joe did a very nice keynote at the recent U2U conference that I would like to talk about before we head to the 56thDAC… Read More


56thDAC ClioSoft Excitement

56thDAC ClioSoft Excitement
by Daniel Nenni on 05-15-2019 at 12:00 pm

As the number one 56thDAC supporting portal we will publish what’s happening in the conference, on the exhibit floor, and outside activities. The SemiWiki bloggers will be out in full force with live coverage and behind the scenes looks. Remember, SemiWiki bloggers are actual semiconductor professionals with hundreds… Read More


The Evolution of the Extension Implant Part V

The Evolution of the Extension Implant Part V
by Daniel Nenni on 05-13-2019 at 7:00 am

Part 4 of this series discussed how a transistor Extension could be fabricated in a planar device without using an implant operation, and is instead formed using a preferential etch followed by a selective epitaxial deposition. This final installment of the series will present the formation of an Extension in a FinFET transistor… Read More


The SiFive Tech Symposiums are Heading to Six Cities in Europe in May!

The SiFive Tech Symposiums are Heading to Six Cities in Europe in May!
by Daniel Nenni on 05-12-2019 at 4:00 pm

Hello Cambridge, Grenoble, Stockholm, Moscow, Munich and Amsterdam
Our 2019 global symposiums and workshops have been hugely successful in promoting the RISC-V ISA and fostering expansive collaboration within the open-source community. It’s invigorating to see how the worldwide semiconductor ecosystem is energized and… Read More


The Evolution of the Extension Implant Part IV

The Evolution of the Extension Implant Part IV
by Daniel Nenni on 05-10-2019 at 2:00 pm

Perhaps the most innovative and effective Extension implant does not involve an implant at all, but is instead an etch followed by a selective epitaxial deposition.

In this Extension fabrication methodology the Source/Drains regions in a planar device are etched away in the normal fashion to accommodate the replacement Source/Drain… Read More


Three Reasons Why You Should NOT Miss 56thDAC

Three Reasons Why You Should NOT Miss 56thDAC
by Daniel Nenni on 05-10-2019 at 7:00 am

Reason number ONE:The next five DACs will be in San Francisco and this will probably be the last one held in Las Vegas so you absolutely do NOT want to miss it. One of my most memorable DACs was in Las Vegas in 1985. My wife came with me for our second honeymoon and, by definition, it was just that, a honeymoon. This year we will probably spend… Read More