When more than one person is working on any project, coordination is imperative. When the team size grows, being in sync becomes essential. When it comes to SoC design management, registers and bit fields are used to communicate status of results and execute conditional controls. The Register Management function plays an essential… Read More
A Crisis in Engineering Education – Where are the Microelectronics Engineers?
At the recent VLSI Symposium on Technology and Circuits, a panel discussion presented a jarring forecast. The theme of the panel was “Building the 2030 Workforce: How to Attract Great Students and What to Teach Them?”, with participants from academia and industry, as well as a packed (and vocal) audience.
On the one hand, the … Read More
Supply Chain Verification: Critical Enabler for Next-Generation Medtech Innovations
Chip design verification has long been a key component of any design project developing silicon intended to go into manufacturing. As designs become more complex, so does the manufacturing risk, and the focus on thorough verification becomes ever more critical.
Another dimension of complexity coming into play and considered… Read More
The Lines Are Blurring Between System and Silicon. You’re Not Ready.
3D-ICs bring together multiple silicon dies into a single package that’s significantly larger and complex than traditional systems on a chip (SoCs). There’s no doubt these innovative designs are revolutionizing the semiconductor industry.
3D-ICs offer a variety of performance advantages over traditional SoCs. Because … Read More
Cadence Execs Look to the Future
Everything is becoming digital, and everything digital requires semiconductors. Cadence’s President and CEO, Dr. Anirudh Devgan, highlighted this at the recent CadenceLIVE user conference and discussed many of the company’s accomplishments and future directions. Dr. Devgan also sees the emergence of data—especially … Read More
Imec Buried Power Rail and Backside Power Delivery at VLSI
At the VLSI Technology Symposium Imec presented on Buried Power Rails (BPR) and Backside Power Delivery (BSPD) in a paper entitled: “Scaled FinFETs Connected by Using Both Wafer Sides for Routing via Buried Power Rails”. I recently had a chance to interview one of the authors, Naoto Horiguchi about the work. I have interviewed … Read More
TSMC 2022 Technology Symposium Review – Advanced Packaging Development
TSMC recently held their annual Technology Symposium in Santa Clara, CA. The presentations provide a comprehensive overview of their technology status and upcoming roadmap, covering all facets of the process technology and advanced packaging development. This article will summarize the highlights of the advanced packaging… Read More
Multiphysics, Multivariate Analysis: An Imperative for Today’s 3D-IC Designs
Semiconductor manufacturers are under constantly increasing and intense pressure to accelerate innovative new chip designs to market faster than ever in smaller package sizes while assuring signal integrity and reducing power consumption. Three-dimensional integrated circuits (3D-ICs) promise to answer all these demands… Read More
ASML EUV Update at SPIE
At the 2022 SPIE Advanced Lithography Conference, ASML presented an update on EUV. I recently had a chance to go over the presentations with Mike Lercel of ASML. The following is a summary of our discussions.
0.33 NA
The 0.33 NA EUV systems are the production workhorse systems for leading edge lithography today. 0.33 NA systems are… Read More
TSMC 2022 Technology Symposium Review – Process Technology Development
TSMC recently held their annual Technology Symposium in Santa Clara, CA. The presentations provided a comprehensive overview of their status and upcoming roadmap, covering all facets of process technology and advanced packaging development. This article will summarize the highlights of the process technology updates… Read More


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