At the recent ISSCC conference, Mozhgan Mansuri from Intel gave an enlightening (extended) short course presentation on all thing related to clocking, for both wireline and wireless interface design. [1] The presentation was extremely thorough, ranging from a review of basic clocking principles to unique circuit design … Read More
Chip Channel Check- Semi Shortage Spreading- Beyond autos-Will impact earnings
– Semiconductor shortage is like toilet paper shortage in early Covid
– Panic buying, hoarding, double ordering will cause spike
– Could cause a year+ of dislocation in chip makers before ending
– Investors, Govt & Mgmt will get a wake up call from earnings hit
Auto industry is just a prominent tip … Read More
Semiconductor Shortage – No Quick Fix – Years of neglect & financial hills to climb
– Semi Situation Stems from long term systemic neglect
– Will require much more than money & time than thought
– Fundamental change is needed to offset the financial bias
– Auto industry is just the hint of a much larger problem
Like recognizing global warming when the water is up to your neck
The problem… Read More
Features of Resistive RAM Compute-in-Memory Macros
Resistive RAM (ReRAM) technology has emerged as an attractive alternative to embedded flash memory storage at advanced nodes. Indeed, multiple foundries are offering ReRAM IP arrays at 40nm nodes, and below.
ReRAM has very attractive characteristics, with one significant limitation:
- nonvolatile
- long retention time
- extremely
TSMC ISSCC 2021 Keynote Discussion
Now that semiconductor conferences are virtual there are better speakers since they can prerecord and we have the extra time to do a better job of coverage. Even when conferences go live again I think they will also be virtual (hybrid) so our in depth coverage will continue.
ISSCC is one of the conferences we covered live since it’s… Read More
A Perfect Storm for GLOBALFOUNDRIES
GF has played some groundbreaking roles in the semiconductor ecosystem. The spinout of the AMD fabs and the acquisition of the IBM semiconductor division just to name two. Another big one would be the GF Initial Public Offering which may come as early as 2022.
When the IPO was first mentioned during a chat with GF CEO Tom Caulfield … Read More
Expert Advice for the New Intel CEO
Intel is a semiconductor legend. Founded on July 18, 1968, the name Intel is short for Integrated Electronics. After leading Silicon Valley, the United Sates, and the world into the era of semiconductors through technical excellence, Intel has hit some challenging times. There has been quite a bit of CEO drama that we will look … Read More
Intel Node Names
There is a lot of interest right now in how Intel compares to the leading foundries and what the future may hold.
Several years ago, I published several extremely popular articles converting processes from various companies to “Equivalent Nodes” (EN). Nodes were at one time based on actual physical features of processes but had… Read More
How SerDes Became Key IP for Semiconductor Systems
We have seen that the interface IP category is seeing incredibly high growth rate over the last two decades and we expect this category to generate an ongoing high source of IP revenues for at least another decade. But if we dig into the various successful protocols like PCI Express, Ethernet or USB, we can detect a common function … Read More
Will EUV take a Breather in 2021?
-KLAC- Solid QTR & Guide but flat 2021 outlook
-Display down & more memory mix
-KLAC has very solid Dec Qtr & guide but 2021 looks flattish
-Mix shift to memory doesn’t help- Display weakness
-Despite flat still looking at double digit growth
-EUV driven business may see some slowing from digestion
As always, … Read More


AI RTL Generation versus AI RTL Verification