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Amorphous Silicon and TFTs

Amorphous Silicon and TFTs
by Daniel Payne on 11-07-2014 at 7:00 am

Most ICs are fabricated with crystalline silicon (c-Si), which is a tetrahedral structure forming a well-ordered crystal lattice. There’s another form of semiconductor material called amorphous silicon (a-Si) which has no long-range periodic order. It turns out that a-Si is a great material for the active layer in thin-film… Read More


What does the Ford Mustang and Intel’s Gordon Moore Have in Common with Local Motors?

What does the Ford Mustang and Intel’s Gordon Moore Have in Common with Local Motors?
by Charles DiLisio on 11-06-2014 at 11:00 pm

1964 Vision, Volume and Moore’s Law

The 1964 New York World’s Fair saw Lee Iacocca, then a young 40 year old General Manager, introduce a car that inspired “total performance” and was for a “young America out to have a good time.” This young America would become the baby boomer generation. The Mustang was revolutionary in its affordability,… Read More


Lucio and the Kaufman Award

Lucio and the Kaufman Award
by Paul McLellan on 11-06-2014 at 4:30 pm

Tuesday was the Kaufman award dinner. This year it was awarded to Lucio Lanza. Last week I wrote about how Lucio ended up in EDA, although that was not where he finished up. He is currently a venture capitalist running Lanza Technology Ventures, one of the few VCs to make any investments in the EDA/IP/semiconductor space. Also, unlike… Read More


Semiconductor Safety

Semiconductor Safety
by Daniel Nenni on 11-06-2014 at 7:00 am

Semiconductors and automotive are now like peanut butter and jelly. Certainly you can have one without the other but why would you? I remember when a car first talked to me telling me that the door was ajar. It sounded more like, “the door is a jar” but I got the point. Now my car tells me just about everything including what is wrong with… Read More


Daylight Savings Time and the IoT

Daylight Savings Time and the IoT
by Daniel Payne on 11-05-2014 at 6:00 pm

On Sunday in the USA we changed our clocks back one hour to account for Daylight Savings Time and I was reminded of how far we have to go in getting all of our devices to understand and automatically account for the time. Despite all of the talk about IoT and how it has the promise to automate our lives, we still have to manually set the time.… Read More


MQTT not IoT “god protocol”, but getting closer

MQTT not IoT “god protocol”, but getting closer
by Don Dingee on 11-05-2014 at 12:00 pm

One protocol, and its descendants, drove the success of the World Wide Web. IP, or Internet Protocol, is the basis of every browser connection and the backbone of IT data centers. Some assumed that the Internet of Things would follow suit,… Read More


Samsung 14nm is the one delayed!

Samsung 14nm is the one delayed!
by Daniel Nenni on 11-05-2014 at 6:00 am

As you may have read, the CEO of Ultratech made some unfortunate statements on the recent quarterly conference call in regards to FinFET Yield. As a result there has been a lot of speculation about the who, what, and why. I blogged about it because it interested me personally plus I wanted to collect more data on the subject. Some of … Read More


FD-SOI, an Opportunity for China?

FD-SOI, an Opportunity for China?
by Paul McLellan on 11-04-2014 at 11:00 pm

Last month in Shanghai was a meeting of the FD-SOI consortium. The focus of the meeting was largely on the suitability of using FD-SOI to serve the Chinese market. The fabs in China are not right on the bleeding edge and are very cost-sensitive so 28nm is probably as advanced as they will get for a long time if not indefinitely. China … Read More


In-Design DFM Signoff for 14nm FinFET Designs

In-Design DFM Signoff for 14nm FinFET Designs
by Pawan Fangaria on 11-04-2014 at 4:00 pm

While FinFET yield controversy is going on, I see a lot being done to improve that yield by various means. One prime trend today, it must be, it’s worthwhile, is to pull up various signoffs as early as possible during the design cycle. And DFM signoff is a must with respect to yield of fabrication. This reminds me about my patents filed… Read More


Its a bouncing baby IEEE standard!

Its a bouncing baby IEEE standard!
by Beth Martin on 11-04-2014 at 12:00 am

Pass the cigars! On November 3rd, 2014, the IEEE-SA Standards Board finally approved IEEE P1687 as a new standard. From now on, you can drop the “P” and just call it 1687, or to its friends, IJTAG. Now would be a good time to sign up for an IJTAG technical workshop.

The new IEEE 1687 Internal JTAG (IJTAG) standard is changing… Read More