State-of-the-art electronics demand high performance, low power consumption, small footprint and high reliability from their semiconductor products. While this imperative is true across many different market segments, it is critical for applications such as the automotive/autonomous driving and data centers. As electronic… Read More
Kirin 9030 Hints at SMIC's Possible Paths Toward >300 MTr/mm2 Without EUVEarlier this month, TechInsights did a teardown of…Read More
Why TSMC is Known as the Trusted FoundryTaiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) is widely regarded…Read More
Journey Back to 1981: David Patterson Recounts the Birth of RISC and Its Legacy in RISC-VIn a warmly received keynote at the RISC-V…Read More
Assertion-First Hardware Design and Formal Verification ServicesGenerative AI has transformed software development, enabling entire…Read More
TSMC's Customized Technical Documentation Platform Enhances Customer ExperienceTaiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company, the world's leading dedicated…Read MorePairing RISC-V cores with NoCs ties SoC protocols together
Designers have many paths for differentiating RISC-V solutions. One path launches into various RISC-V core customizations and extensions per the specification. Another focuses on selecting and assembling IP blocks in a complete system-on-chip (SoC) design around one or more RISC-V cores. A third is emerging: interconnecting… Read More
The Quest for Bugs: “Verification is a Data Problem!”
Verification Data Analytics
Hardware Verification is a highly data-intensive or data-heavy problem. Verification Engineers recognise this and spend much of their time dealing with large and complex datasets arising from verification processes.
In “The Dilemmas of Hardware Verification” we explored the key challenges … Read More
Samtec Increases Signal Density Again with Analog Over Array™
Samtec is well-known for its innovative signal channel solutions. Whether the application requires copper or fiber, Samtec can deliver incredible performance and flexibility. The quality of the company’s models, eval kits and design support are well-known. There is another aspect of Samtec’s innovation. I touched on it in… Read More
Transformers Transforming the Field of Computer Vision
Over the last few years, transformers have been fundamentally changing the nature of deep learning models, revolutionizing the field of artificial intelligence. Transformers introduce an attention mechanism that allows models to weigh the importance of different elements in an input sequence. Unlike traditional deep learning… Read More
Lowering the DFT Cost for Large SoCs with a Novel Test Point Exploration & Implementation Methodology
With the increasing on-chip integration capabilities, large scale electronic systems can be integrated into a single System-on-Chip or SoC. New manufacturing test challenges are raised for more advanced technology nodes where both quality and cost during testing are affected. A typical parameter is test coverage which impacts… Read More
Cyber-Physical Security from Chip to Cloud with Post-Quantum Cryptography
In our interconnected world, systems ranging from smart cities and autonomous vehicles to industrial control systems and healthcare devices have become everyday components of our lives. This fusion of physical and digital systems has led to a term called cyber-physical system (CPS). Ubiquitous connectivity is exposing the… Read More
Extension of DUV Multipatterning Toward 3nm
China’s recent achievement of a 7nm-class foundry node using only DUV lithography [1] raises the question of how far DUV lithography can be extended by multipatterning. A recent publication at CSTIC 2023 indicates that Chinese groups are currently looking at extension of DUV-based multipatterning to 5nm, going so far… Read More
The True Power of the TSMC Ecosystem!
The 15th TSMC Open Innovation Platform® (OIP) was held last week. In preparation we did a podcast with one of the original members of the TSMC OIP team Dan Kochpatcharin. Dan and I talked about the early days before OIP when we did reference flows together. Around 20 years ago I did a career pivot and focused on Strategic Foundry Relationships.… Read More
Micron Chip & Memory Down Cycle – It Ain’t Over Til it’s Over Maybe Longer and Deeper
- The memory down cycle is longer/deeper than many thought
- The recovery will be slower than past cycles- a “U” rather than “V”
- AI & new apps don’t make up for macro weakness
- Negative for overall semis & equip- Could China extend downcycle?


Quantum Computing Technologies and Challenges