Primarius 2B

Extreme Ultra Violet (EUV)

Extreme Ultra Violet (EUV)
by Paul McLellan on 07-15-2012 at 8:15 pm

EUV is the great hope for avoiding having to go to triple (and more) patterning if we have to stick with 193nm light. There were several presentations at Semicon about the status of EUV. Here I’ll discuss the issues with EUV lithography and in a separate post discuss the issues about making masks for EUV.

It is probably worth … Read More


How has 20nm Changed the Semiconductor Ecosystem?

How has 20nm Changed the Semiconductor Ecosystem?
by Daniel Nenni on 07-15-2012 at 7:30 pm


What does mango beer have to do with semiconductor design and manufacturing? At a table of beer drinkers from around the world I would have never thought fruity beer would pass a taste test, not even close. As it turns out, the mango beer is very good! Same goes for 20nm planar devices. “Will not work”, “Will not yield”, “Will not scale”,… Read More


Scoreboards and Results Predictors in UVM

Scoreboards and Results Predictors in UVM
by Daniel Nenni on 07-15-2012 at 10:56 am

If verification is the art of determining that your design works correctly under all specified conditions, then it is imperative that we are able to create an environment that can tell you if this is truly the case.

Scoreboards are verification components that determine that the DUT is working correctly, including ensuring that… Read More


Silicon on Insulator (SOI)

Silicon on Insulator (SOI)
by Paul McLellan on 07-14-2012 at 5:51 pm

I attended a panel session followed by a party during Semicon to celebrate Soitec’s 20th birthday. Officially it was titled An Insider’s Look at the Future of Mobile Technologies. But in reality it was a look at the future possibilities for SOI.

Silicon on Insulator (SOI) has been a sort of bastard child of semiconductor.… Read More


Direct Write E-beam

Direct Write E-beam
by Paul McLellan on 07-13-2012 at 2:08 pm

One of the presenters at the standing-room only litho session at Semicon this week was Serge Tedesco, the litho program manager at CEA-Leti in Grenoble France. He is running a program called IMAGINE for maskless lithography. Chips today are built using a reticle (containing the pattern for that layer of the chip) which is exposed… Read More


Using Accurate Models to Debug Cellphones

Using Accurate Models to Debug Cellphones
by Paul McLellan on 07-13-2012 at 10:54 am

There is an interesting Gizmodo review of an HTC Android-based smartphone. The basically positive review (as good as the iPhone, best Android phone at the time) ends up with an update:UPDATE: After more extensive testing there’s something a little weird going on. You’ll probably only see this while gaming, but there’s… Read More


Nokia: the Epic Version

Nokia: the Epic Version
by Paul McLellan on 07-12-2012 at 2:00 pm

Whenever I write about the handset industry, lots of people seem to be interested. As I’ve said before, my go to person for the industry but especially for Nokia, is Tomi Ahonen. He has written a long (and I mean long, it is nearly 30,000 words) indictment of Elop’s tenure at Nokia and how he has destroyed one of the most … Read More


Semicon West

Semicon West
by Paul McLellan on 07-11-2012 at 7:08 pm

I have been spending some time at Semicon West at the Moscone center the last couple of days. Since it was only a month ago that I was there for DAC, the first contrast is the size of the show. DAC didn’t fill Moscone South. Semicon fills Moscone South, and North, and the corridor between. And Moscone West on the other side of 4th … Read More


Atrenta Technology Forum, Japan

Atrenta Technology Forum, Japan
by Paul McLellan on 07-11-2012 at 6:32 pm

The 1st Atrenta Technology Forum in Japan (well, it used to be the user group meeting, so it’s only the first in a very technical sense) is next week on July 19th from 1pm until 5.15pm. It will be held in the Shin-Yokohama Kokusai Hotel (how to access it here).

In the unlikely event that non-Japanese are reading this blog, here’s… Read More


Using Synopsys Analysis Tools for AMS Design

Using Synopsys Analysis Tools for AMS Design
by Daniel Payne on 07-11-2012 at 12:05 pm

I attended the Synopsys webinar today for a tool called Custom Explorer Ultra (CXU). Product details on the Synopsys web site are here. The CXU tool would be used by AMS designers that want to setup, control and view results from simulators like HSPICE, CustomSim or VCS on transistor-level and AMS designs.… Read More