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How yieldHUB Helps Bring a New Product to Market

How yieldHUB Helps Bring a New Product to Market
by Mike Gianfagna on 07-24-2020 at 10:00 am

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Collecting and analyzing semiconductor test data is a subject that holds a special place for me. Developing a factory data collection and analysis system was my first job out of school. The company was RCA, and the factories were in Findlay, Ohio (analog/mixed signal) and West Palm Beach, Florida (digital). There was a pilot… Read More


Thermo-compression bonding for Large Stacked HBM Die

Thermo-compression bonding for Large Stacked HBM Die
by Tom Dillinger on 07-24-2020 at 8:00 am

HMB stack

Summary

Thermo-compression bonding is used in heterogeneous 3D packaging technology – this attach method was applied to the assembly of large (12-stack and 16-stack) high bandwidth memory (HBM) die, with significant bandwidth and power improvements over traditional microbump attach.

Introduction

The rapid growth of heterogeneous… Read More


Semiconductors up in 2020? Not so fast

Semiconductors up in 2020? Not so fast
by Bill Jewell on 07-24-2020 at 6:00 am

Semiconductor Forecast 2H 2020

Two months ago most forecasts called for a decline in the semiconductor market in 2020 as reported in our Semiconductor Intelligence May 2020 newsletter. The outlook changed in June, as the Worldwide Semiconductor Trade Statistics (WSTS) consensus forecast projected 3.3% growth in 2020. This month IC Insights revised its IC

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Intel 7NM Slip Causes Reassessment of Fab Model

Intel 7NM Slip Causes Reassessment of Fab Model
by Robert Maire on 07-23-2020 at 5:00 pm

Intel vs TSMC

Waving white surrender flag as TSMC dominates-
The quarter was a success but the patient is dying-
Packaging now critical as Moore progress stumbles-
Intel reported a great quarter but weak H2 guidance-
But 7NM slip and “fab lite” talk sends shockwaves-

Intel reported a great quarter beating numbers all around with… Read More


The Polyglot World of Hardware Design and Verification

The Polyglot World of Hardware Design and Verification
by Daniel Nenni on 07-23-2020 at 10:00 am

SemiWiki article

It has become a cliché to start a blog post with a cliché, for example “Chip designs are forever getting larger and more complex” or “Verification now consumes 60% of a project’s resources.” Therefore, I’ll open this post with another cliché: “Designers need to know only one language, but verification engineers must know many.”… Read More


Alchip Delivers Cutting Edge Design Support for Supercomputer Processor

Alchip Delivers Cutting Edge Design Support for Supercomputer Processor
by Mike Gianfagna on 07-23-2020 at 6:00 am

MN 3 Supercomputer

Alchip issued a press announcement recently entitled Alchip Provides Supercomputer Processor Design Support. The release is literally a tour de force of technology, with many advanced design and packaging accomplishments. First, let’s examine the basics of the design.

Preferred Networks, Inc (PFN) is the customer. They … Read More


Die shrink: How Intel scaled down the 8086 processor

Die shrink: How Intel scaled down the 8086 processor
by Ken Shirriff on 07-22-2020 at 2:00 pm

Intel 8086 Comparison

The revolutionary Intel 8086 microprocessor was introduced 42 years ago this month so I’ve been studying its die.1 I came across two 8086 dies with different sizes, which reveal details of how a die shrink works. The concept of a die shrink is that as technology improved, a manufacturer could shrink the silicon die, reducing… Read More


How About a Faster Fast SPICE? Much Faster!

How About a Faster Fast SPICE? Much Faster!
by Tom Simon on 07-22-2020 at 10:35 am

Analog FastSPICE eXTreme

When Analog FastSPICE was first introduced in 2006 it changed the landscape for high performance SPICE simulation. During the last 14 years it has been used widely to verify advanced nanometer designs. Of course, since then the most advanced designs have progressed significantly, making verification even more difficult. Just… Read More


Accelerating High-Performance Computing SoC Designs with Synopsys IP

Accelerating High-Performance Computing SoC Designs with Synopsys IP
by Daniel Nenni on 07-22-2020 at 6:00 am

Synopsys DesignWare IP

Semiconductor IP is one of the most talked about topics on SemiWiki. Always has been, always will be. Synopsys is also one of the most talked about topics on SemiWiki and IP is a very big part of that, absolutely.

After reading Eric Esteve’s latest IP Report I Googled around and found some interesting things. First, I found a Brief HistoryRead More


PLDA – Delivering Quality IP with a Solid Verification Process and an Extensive Ecosystem

PLDA – Delivering Quality IP with a Solid Verification Process and an Extensive Ecosystem
by Mike Gianfagna on 07-21-2020 at 10:00 am

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For those who design advanced and complex SoCs, the term “off-the-shelf IP” can be elusive. While this approach works for a wide range of IP titles, the pressure for maximum performance or minimum power can lead to custom-tailoring requirements for the IP.

PLDA has seen these requirements for the class of complex, high-performance… Read More