In order to beat Moore’s Law NAND Flash memories have moved from a planar topology to 3D construction. This allows for increased memory sized in much the same way a multistory building provides more building square footage on the same size building lot. Just like in building construction, adding a third dimension to the mix increases… Read More
Rethinking Formal Verification in the AI EraBy Kanav Arora, ML Researcher at ChipAgents Most…Read More
CEO Interview with Ann Wu and Akash Levy of SilimateAnn Wu is Co-founder & CEO of Silimate.…Read More
From Process Learning to Production Control: Characterization for the Era of Heterogeneous SystemsEvery generation of semiconductor innovation has relied on…Read More
Five Myths about the Current Memory BoomThe current semiconductor memory boom is mainly an…Read More
How Fast Can a Performance Model Actually Be Built?By Thang Tran, CEO of Simplex Micro and…Read MoreWhy is Intel Still Short on Chips?
Intel is again apologizing to customers for 14nm chip shortages. As a result PC makers are revising down revenue expectations for 2020. Something does not smell right here. I have also read that due to the continued shortages Intel will be second sourcing CPU chips to Samsung 14nm. This smells even worse, absolutely.
First and foremost,… Read More
ASML Will Take Semiconductor Equipment Lead from Applied Materials in 2019
For the first time since 1990, Applied Materials is poised to lose its lead in the semiconductor equipment market, according to my recently published report “The Global Semiconductor Equipment: Markets, Market Shares, Market Forecasts.”
Applied Materials, which has been losing market share in the wafer front end (WFE) equipment… Read More
Intel vs AMD vs Google vs Amazon vs NUVIA
Arguably the cloud was the quickest road to riches for chip designers large and small. As an emerging company, if you wanted to raise money just put “Datacenter” in your pitch deck and you were assured millions. You would be competing with semiconductor’s version of David and Goliath (AMD and Intel) but that was a good thing, right?… Read More
Webinar Recap: IP Security Threats in your SoC
Three years ago my youngest son purchased a $17 smart watch on eBay, but then my oldest son read an article warning about how that watch would sync with your phone, then send all of your contact info to an address in China. My youngest son then wisely turned the watch off, and never used it again. Hackers have been able to spoof and hide … Read More
GM’s CES No Show: EmBARRAssing!
After failing in 2017 and 2018 to put a single woman on-stage to deliver a high profile keynote, the Consumer Technology Association featured four female keynoters in 2019. Until recently, two women were on the docket for the 2020 show in January, but news arrived last week that General Motors’ CEO Mary Barra had cancelled… Read More
Webinar Recap: Challenges of Autonomous Vehicle Validation
Autonomous vehicle progress is in the daily news, so it’s quite exciting to watch it develop with the help of SoC design, sensors, actuators and software from engineering teams spanning the entire globe. Tesla vehicles have reached Level 2 autonomy, Audi e-tron is at Level 3, and Waymo nearly at Level 5 with robot taxis being… Read More
MEMS Actuation and the Art of Prototyping
I mentioned a while back that I’m really getting into the role that sensors play in our new hyper-connected world – in the IoT, intelligent cars, homes, cities, industry, utilities, medicine, agriculture, etc, etc. If we can think of a way to sense it and connect it, someone is probably already doing it. But there’s more to … Read More
Mentor unpacks LVS and LVL issues around advanced packaging
Innovations in packaging have played an important role in improving system performance and area utilization. Advances like 2.5D interposers and fan-out wafer-level packaging (FOWLP) have allowed mixed dies to be used in a single package and have dramatically reduced the number of connections that need to go all the way to the… Read More
Where has the ASIC Business Gone?
As the traditional ASIC business disappears before our eyes with the recent divestitures and acquisitions, I have been asking questions amongst the fabless semiconductor ecosystem and am getting few answers.
Who or what is going to step in to enable start-ups and new to silicon systems companies with application specific chips?… Read More


ASML High-NA EUV is Not Ready for High-Volume Production