TSMC has had an interesting year thus far. 28nm is ramped and will dominate the mobile market for years to come. 20nm is in development with tape outs scheduled for the end of this year. FinFETS are coming making it a very exciting time in the semiconductor ecosystem. … Read More
Intel’s Tri-Gate May Have Moore Problems Than You Think!
Clever title but it’s not mine. Piper Jaffray Analysts Auguste Richard and Jennifer Baxter released a report last week which echoed the concerns of others, including myself. The concerns reported are with the 22nm process and not the chipsets themselves. To me this is all part of ramping a leading edge process but the concerns are… Read More
TSMC Tops Intel, Samsung in Capacity!
While I was marlin fishing in Hawaii last week I missed some interesting comments from TSMC executives at the Technology Symposium in Taiwan, a much different show than the one here in San Jose I’m told. It is good to see TSMC setting the record straight and taking a little credit for what they have accomplished! I’m sorry I missed it… Read More
TSMC 20nm Challenges!
Now that the 28nm challenges are dead
It is time to look ahead
The tabloid pundits may not agree
But Moore’s law again you will see
The semiconductor ecosystem is humming
(2X gate density -20%+ performance-20%+ power savings)
The 20nm design starts are coming!
Okay, I’m really bad at poetry. Gambling however, I do pretty well. Las… Read More
IC design at 20nm with TSMC and Synopsys
While the debate rages on about 28nm yield at foundry juggernaut TSMC, on Monday I attended a webinar on 20nm IC design hosted by TSMC and Synopsys. Double Patterning Technology (DPT) becomes a requirement for several layers of your 20nm IC design which then impact many of your EDA tools and methodology.… Read More
Intel says fabless model collapsing… really?
There is an interesting discussion in the SemiWiki forum in response to the EETimes article: Intel exec says fabless model ‘collapsing’. Definitely an interesting debate, one worth our time since the advertising click hungry industry pundits will certainly jump all over it. Clearly I’m biased since I helped build… Read More
TSMC 28nm Beats Q1 2012 Expectations!
TSMC just finished theQ1 conference call. I will let the experts haggle over the wording of the financial analysis, but the big news is that TSMC 28nm Q1 revenue was 5%, beating my guess of 4%. So all of you who bet against TSMC 28nm it’s time to pay up! Coincidentally, I’m in Las Vegas where the term deadbeat is taken literally!
Per my … Read More
TSMC versus Intel at 20nm!
The biggest news out of the TSMC Symposium last week was the 20nm update. Lots of debate and speculation, just why is TSMC releasing one version of 20nm (20nm SoC) versus multiple versions like in 40nm (LP, G, LPG) and 28nm (HP, HPM, HPL, LP)? Here are my thoughts, I would also be interested in your feedback in the comment section. This… Read More
Qualcomm Meets Jerry Sanders at 28nm
First the good news: 4G LTE design in activity is off the charts as OEMs building smartphones, tablets and Ultrabooks are buying into the capability for product rollouts that will occur starting in September. Now the bad news: there’s not enough to go around until probably well into 2013. For a Company sitting on over $26B in cash,… Read More
Introduction to FinFET technology Part I
This is the first of a multi-part series, to introduce FinFET technology to SemiWiki readers. These articles will highlight the technology’s key characteristics, and describe some of the advantages, disadvantages, and challenges associated with this transition. Topics in this series will include FinFET fabrication,… Read More