IMEC Technology Forum (ITF) – IC Innovation

IMEC Technology Forum (ITF) – IC Innovation
by Scotten Jones on 05-25-2016 at 7:00 am

IMEC is a technology research center located in Belgium that is one of the premier semiconductor research centers in the world today. The IMEC Technology Forum (ITF) is a two-day event attended by approximately 1,000 people to showcase the work done by IMEC and their partners.

Luc Van Den Hove is the president and CEO of IMEC and he… Read More


3D NAND – Moore’s Law in the third dimension

3D NAND – Moore’s Law in the third dimension
by Scotten Jones on 05-07-2016 at 4:00 am

For more than a decade 2D NAND has been the leading driver of lithography shrinks, for example, Samsung went from 120nm in 2003 to 16nm in 2014 with shrinks on an almost yearly basis, but the shrinks came at a price. At 16nm Self Aligned Quadruple Pattering (SAQP) was required for the most critical layers and patterning related costs… Read More


Is the Future Finally Here? What a GaAs!

Is the Future Finally Here? What a GaAs!
by Mitch Heins on 05-05-2016 at 4:00 pm

Back in 1983 I was working for Texas Instruments during the beginning of the push to let common electrical engineers develop their own CMOS application specific ICs (ASICs). This would eventually the be the fuel that fed the semiconductor engine to reach over $335 billion in 2015. At that time, I was a young guy and I had a rascally … Read More


Silicon Photonics – Back to the Future – Part Deux?

Silicon Photonics – Back to the Future – Part Deux?
by Mitch Heins on 04-10-2016 at 8:00 pm

I cut my teeth in silicon IC design at Texas Instruments during the early 1980’s working on what would eventually become the ASIC and Fabless IC industries that enabled the explosive growth of the electronics industry over the last three decades. Of late I’ve become involved in the silicon photonics space and I am getting an incredible… Read More


SPIE – Interview with Greg Mcintyre of IMEC

SPIE – Interview with Greg Mcintyre of IMEC
by Scotten Jones on 03-15-2016 at 7:00 am

One of the things I really like about major technical conferences is the opportunity to meet with people for networking and interviews. On Wednesday at the Advanced Lithography Conference I had the opportunity to interview Greg Mcinttyre, the director of advanced patterning at IMEC.

IMEC researchers are the first author on 32… Read More


5nm Chips? Yes, but When?

5nm Chips? Yes, but When?
by Pawan Fangaria on 01-31-2016 at 7:00 am

For any invention, technical proof of concept or prototyping happens years ahead of the invention being infused into actual products. When we talk about 5nm chip manufacturing, a test chip was already prototyped in last October, thanks to Cadence and Imec. Details about this chip can be found in a blog at Semiwiki (link is given … Read More


Coventor ASML IMEC: The last half nanometer

Coventor ASML IMEC: The last half nanometer
by Scotten Jones on 01-19-2016 at 4:00 pm

On Tuesday evening December 8[SUP]th[/SUP] at IEDM, Coventor held a panel discussion entitled the “The last half nanometer”. Coventor is a leading provider of simulation software used to design processes. This is my third year attending the Coventor panel discussion at IEDM and they are always excellent with very strong panels… Read More


IEDM Blogs – Part 7 – IMEC Technology Forum – Part 2

IEDM Blogs – Part 7 – IMEC Technology Forum – Part 2
by Scotten Jones on 01-08-2016 at 7:00 am

On Sunday evening December 6[SUP]th[/SUP] before IEDM, IMEC held the IMEC Technology Forum (ITF). In part 1 of this blog I discussed the introduction and the first two presentations given by An Steegen and Mark Rodder. In this blog I will discuss the final two presentations. Part 1 can be accessed here.… Read More


IEDM Blogs – Part 6 – IMEC Technology Forum – Part 1

IEDM Blogs – Part 6 – IMEC Technology Forum – Part 1
by Scotten Jones on 01-05-2016 at 10:00 am

On Sunday evening December 6[SUP]th[/SUP] before IEDM, IMEC held the IMEC Technology Forum (ITF). The ITF was held at the Belgium ambassador’s residence, a really beautiful setting for a meeting.

The ITF began with a brief welcome by the Belgium ambassador followed by a brief introduction to IMEC. IMEC is a research institute … Read More