In a recent marketing campaign, WhatsApp (and by extension, its parent company Meta) mocks the ubiquitous but unsecure messaging vehicle, SMS, saying anyone can read plain texts and mobile users should use some means of secure messaging. Apps like WhatsApp, Messenger, iMessage, and WeChat have each attracted over 1 billion … Read More




DSP Innovation Promises to Boost Virtual RAN Efficiency
5G is already real, though some of us are wondering why our phone connections aren’t faster. That perspective misses the real intent of 5G – to extend high throughput (and low latency) communication to a vast number and variety of edge devices beyond our phones. One notable application is Fixed Wireless Access (FWA), promising … Read More
Multi-Die Systems Key to Next Wave of Systems Innovations
These days, the term chiplets is referenced everywhere you look, in anything you read and in whatever you hear. Rightly so because the chiplets or die integration wave is taking off. Generally speaking, the tipping point that kicked off the move happened around the 16nm process technology when large monolithic SoCs started facing… Read More
Calibre IC Manufacturing papers at SPIE 2023
The Siemens Calibre group was very busy last week at SPIE. Calling Calibre industry leading really is an understatement. Calibre is one of the reasons Moore’s Law has continued to this day. This tool is legendary. You can get more information on the Calibre landing page including product information, resource guide, blogs
Report from SPIE- EUV’s next 15 years- AMAT “Sculpta” braggadocio rollout
-We attended the SPIE lithography Conference in San Jose
-No significant news or announcements on EUV
-Focus on 500WPM target and High & Hyper NA rollout
-AMAT overblown Sculpta-Not exactly what its cracked up to be
SPIE Lithography 2023
We have been attending SPIE for many years now and are happy to see a return to pre Covid levels… Read More
Semiconductors and Mobile Communications: 5G and Beyond
Mobile World Congress (MWC) is the world’s largest gathering of mobile industry innovators where one can hear the latest on advanced technologies and solutions. This year, it took place from February 27 through March 2. Soitec was there to share their insights on how mobile communications are going to evolve with 5G and beyond … Read More
Podcast EP146: How Rapid Silicon Will Change Innovation with Naveed Sherwani
Dan is joined by Dr. Naveed Sherwani, a well-known semiconductor industry veteran with over 35 years of entrepreneurial, engineering, and management experience. He is widely recognized as an innovator and leader in the field of design automation of ASICs and microprocessors. Naveed now serves as CEO of Rapid Silicon, aiming… Read More
The Billion Dollar Question – Single or Double Digit Semiconductor Decline
In 2021, we shocked the industry with our predictions of a double-digit ‘supercycle’ in 2022, followed by a crash in 2023. Despite industry skepticism, bordering on outright disbelief, our predictions were on point, based on decades of semiconductor experience and data analysis.
Now, as the industry finally accepts the impending… Read More
Resolution vs. Die Size Tradeoff Due to EUV Pupil Rotation
The many idiosyncrasies of EUV lithography affect the resolution that can actually be realized. One which still does not get as much attention as it should is the cross-slit pupil rotation [1-3]. This is a fundamental consequence of using rotational symmetry in ring-field optical systems to control aberrations in reflective… Read More
Defacto’s SoC Compiler 10.0 is Making the SoC Building Process So Easy
We have been working with Defacto since 2016 and it has been quite a journey. Putting an entire system on a chip is a driving force in the semiconductor industry. With the complexity of designing a modern SoC constantly increasing, new tools and methodologies are required and it all starts with RTL.
Defacto Technologies is an innovative… Read More
Musk’s new job as Samsung Fab Manager – Can he disrupt chip making? Intel outside