The semiconductor industry has never been more exciting than it is today, at least not in my 30 years of experience. Things are moving faster than ever before making collaboration at all levels a requirement. At SemiWiki we are afforded the privilege of passes to semiconductor conferences around the world. We also have access to… Read More
FD-SOI at Samsung
Various foundries have made announcements about licensing FD-SOI technology from ST Microelectronics and then fallen quiet. GlobalFoundries made an announcement a couple of years ago. Samsung made an announcement just before DAC last year. But neither company has said anything much since. Of course the big noise at 14/16nm… Read More
Has the Semiconductor Industry Gone Mad?
The weather in Taiwan last week was very strange. It was so cold I tried to turn on the heat in my hotel room only to find out it was not possible. If you want more heat they bring a portable heater because who needs central heat in Hsinchu? Even stranger is all of the media hyperbole on the next process nodes:
Intel CFO: We’re so far… Read More
Ready to Wear Sensor Hubs
Atmel Corp. has beefed up its sensor hub offerings for wearable devices with SAM D20 Cortex M0+ MCU core to add more functionality and further lower the power bar for battery-operated devices. The SAM D20 Cortex M0+ microcontrollers offer ultra-low power through a patented power-saving technique called “Event System” that allows… Read More
Samsung Continues to Top 300mm Wafer Capacity
In 1992, when Samsungbecame the largest producer of memory chips, it was not in top10 list of semiconductor companies. It was ranked at #11. Since then it has strived to attain higher ranks in the top10 list. In around 2000, it climbed to the ranks of top5 and then since 2002 until now it is at #2 in the worldwide semiconductor sales which… Read More
10 Cyber Security Predictions for 2015!
In 2014 worries about security went from a simple “meh” to “WTF!” Not only did high-profile attacks get sensational media coverage, but those incidents led to a pivotal judicial ruling that corporations can be sued for data breaches. And as hard as it is to believe, 2015 will only get worse because attack surfaces are expanding as… Read More
Intel to Launch 10nm Chips in Early 2017?
As I have mentioned before, Intel and the foundries approach process development from different starting points. Intel is committed to Moore’s law in reducing the transistor cost by increasing the process density in a near linear fashion. The foundries on the other hand work closely with partners and customers to determine the… Read More
STMicroelectronics and SoCs
What does system on chip (SoC) actually mean? How this tech moniker came into being? There is quite a bit of enigma about SoC in the technology press and what this term really stands for. Roger Shepherd, consultant at Parallel Computer Systems, shares on Quora his version of the SoC story. He says that he first heard about SoCs when … Read More
Apple’s Implications for Semiconductor
Apple’s iPhone 6 alone represents at least 50K wafer starts/month plus the iPad (A8X). What could the Iphone 6S/7 & A9 mean? What about the iWatch? Apple is the technology and volume driver of the semiconductor industry so lets take a look at the broader implications.
If we do the math the A8 is 89mm2 and 8.47 X 10.5mm. Using… Read More
Translating Intel
Some of Intel’s technology posts make some pretty specific statements and I have seen a number of posts where people seem to have misinterpreted what Intel was actually saying.
Multi Patterning
I have seen a lot of confusion on this one with some people saying Intel didn’t use multi patterning at 22nm and others saying Intel used … Read More
Bluetooth 6.0 Channel Sounding is Here