Privacy and security have always been a concern when it comes to computing. In prior decades for most people this meant protecting passwords and locking your computer. However, today more and more users are storing sensitive data in the cloud, where it needs to be protected at rest and while in motion. In a Synopsys webinar Dana Neustadter,… Read More




Cliosoft and Microsoft to Collaborate on the RAMP Program
We have all heard of many advanced technological inventions and products from the defense sector that subsequently got commercialized. While most of the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) projects are classified secrets, many military innovations have had great influence in the commercial sector in the fields… Read More
CES 2022 and the Electrification of Cycling
With the Omicron variant of the COVID-19 virus in the news, there have been some big corporate names withdrawing from CES ( Peleton, Super73), however the cycling innovation companies assembled once again in Las Vegas this year for CES 2022. Data from statista show the strong growth in bicycle revenues in March 2020, when the pandemic… Read More
Self-Aligned Via Process Development for Beyond the 3nm Node
The further scaling of interconnect and via lithography for advanced nodes is challenged by the requirement to provide a process window that supports post-patterning critical dimension variations and mask overlay tolerances. At the recent international Electron Devices Meeting (IEDM) in San Francisco, TSMC presented … Read More
A User View of Efabless Platform: Interview with Matt Venn
A few months ago, SemiWiki published an interview of Mike Wishart, CEO of Efabless. That interview provided insights into Efabless vision and its platform strategy. If you haven’t already read that post, please refer to it for background details. In essence, Efabless is about democratization of chip design and manufacturing.… Read More
Technology Design Co-Optimization for STT-MRAM
Previous SemiWiki articles have described the evolution of embedded non-volatile memory (eNVM) IP from (charge-based) eFlash technology to alternative (resistive) bitcell devices. (link, link)
The applications for eNVM are vast, and growing. For example, microcontrollers (MCUs) integrate non-volatile memory for … Read More
Demand for High Speed Drives 200G Modulation Standards
Right now, the most prevalent generation of Ethernet for data centers is 400 Gbps, with the shift to 800 Gbps coming rapidly. It is expected that by 2025 there will be 25 million units of 800 Gbps shipped. Line speeds of 100G are used predominantly for 400 Gbps Ethernet – requiring 4 lanes each. Initially 800 Gbps will simply … Read More
Advanced 2.5D/3D Packaging Roadmap
Frequent SemiWiki readers are no doubt familiar with the advances in packaging technology introduced over the past decade. At the recent International Electron Devices Meeting (IEDM) in San Francisco, TSMC gave an insightful presentation sharing their vision for packaging roadmap goals and challenges, to address the growing… Read More
Webinar: AMS, RF and Digital Full Custom IC Designs need Circuit Sizing
My career started out by designing DRAM circuits at Intel, and we manually sized every transistor in the entire design to get the optimum performance, power and area. Yes, it was time consuming, required lots of SPICE iterations and was a bit error prone. Thank goodness times have changed, and circuit designers can work smarter … Read More
White Paper: A Closer Look at Aging on Clock Networks
We all know that designers work hard to reach design closure on SOC designs. However, what gets less attention from consumers is the effort that goes into ensuring that these chips will be fully operational and meeting timing specs over their projected lifetime. Of course, this is less important for chips used in devices with projected… Read More
Intel’s Pearl Harbor Moment