In the rapidly evolving landscape of semiconductor technology, imec’s recent breakthroughs in wafer-to-wafer hybrid bonding and backside connectivity are paving the way for CMOS 2.0, a paradigm shift in chip design. Introduced in 2024, CMOS 2.0 addresses the limitations of traditional CMOS scaling by partitioning… Read More
Tag: imec
Exploring TSMC’s OIP Ecosystem Benefits
Now that the dust has settled let’s talk more about TSMC’s Open Innovation Platform. Launched in 2008, OIP represents a groundbreaking collaborative model in the semiconductor industry. Unlike IDMs that controlled the entire supply chain, OIP fosters an “open horizontal” ecosystem uniting TSMC… Read More
Rapidus, IBM, and the Billion-Dollar Silicon Sovereignty Bet
Can cash and IBM collaboration put Japan into premier-league chipmaking? Rapidus is betting billions it can.
When Japan announced the creation of Rapidus in 2022, the news was met with a mix of enthusiasm and skepticism. The company would enter the market at a time of escalating demand for semiconductor fabrication capacity to… Read More
Advancements in High-Density Front- and Backside Wafer Connectivity: Paving the Way for CMOS 2.0
In the rapidly evolving semiconductor landscape, imec’s recent breakthroughs in wafer-to-wafer hybrid bonding and backside technologies are reshaping the future of compute systems. As detailed in their article, these innovations transition CMOS 2.0 from a conceptual framework to practical reality, enabling denser,… Read More
Podcast EP305: On Overview of imec’s XTCO Program with Dr. Julien Ryckaert
Dan is joined by Dr. Julien Ryckaert who joined imec as a mixed-signal designer in 2000, specializing in RF transceivers, ultra-low power circuit techniques, and analog-to-digital converters. In 2010, he joined imec’s process technology division in charge of design enablement for 3DIC technology. Since 2013, he oversees… Read More
IMEC’s Advanced Node Yield Model Now Addresses EUV Stochastics
It lays the foundation for the Stochastics Resolution Gap
Chris Mack, the CTO of Fractilia, recently wrote of the “Stochastics Resolution Gap,” which is effectively limiting the manufacturability of EUV despite its ability to reach resolution limits approaching 10 nm in the lab [1,2]. As researchers have inevitably found, … Read More
XTCO: From Node Scaling to System Scaling
imec XTCO (Cross-Technology Co-Optimization) is the natural successor to DTCO and STCO in an era where no single layer of the stack can deliver scaling alone. Instead of optimizing devices, interconnect, packaging, architecture, and software in isolation, XTCO treats them as one tightly coupled system with a shared budget … Read More
3D IC Design Ecosystem Panel at #61DAC
At #61DAC our very own Daniel Nenni from SemiWiki moderated an informative panel discussion on the topic of 3D IC Design Ecosystem. Panelists included: Deepak Kulkarni – AMD, Lalitha Immaneni – Intel Foundry, Trupti Deshpande – Qualcomm, Rob Aitken – CHIPS, Puneet Gupta – UCLA, Dragomir Milojevic – imec. Each panelist had a brief… Read More
SEMICON West- Jubilant huge crowds- HBM & AI everywhere – CHIPS Act & IMEC
– We just finished the most happy SEMICON West in a long time
– IMEC stole the show- HBM has more impact than size dictates
– Has Samsung lost its memory mojo? Is SK the new leader?
– AI brings new tech issues with it – TSMC is still industry King
Report from SEMICON West
The crowds at Semicon West were both… Read More
IEDM 2023 – Imec CFET
At IEDM 2023, Naoto Horiguchi presented on CFETs and Middle of Line integration. I had a chance to speak with Naoto about this work and this write up is based on his presentation at IEDM and our follow up discussion. I always enjoy talking to Naoto, he is one of the leaders in logic technology development, explains the technology in … Read More
