Standard Cell Scaling
Complex logic designs are built up from standard cells, in order to continue to scale logic we need to continually shrink the size of standard cells.
Figure 1 illustrates the dimensions of a standard cell.
Figure 1. Standard Cell Dimensions.
From figure 1 we can see that shrinking standard cell sizes requires… Read More
One of the sessions I enjoyed at the Synopsys Verification Day 2021 was a presentation on applying formal to a couple of non-traditional problem domains. I like talks of this kind because formal can sometimes be boxed into a limited set of applications, under-exploiting the potential of the technology. Intel have built a centralized… Read More
Semiconductor capital expenditures (CapEx) are on track for strong growth in 2021. For many companies the increase should continue into 2022. TSMC, the dominant foundry company, expects to spend $30 billion in CapEx in 2021, a 74% increase from 2020. TSMC announced in March it plans to invest $100 billion over the next three years,… Read More
Analysts missed all warning signs until Intel spelled it out
12% stock drop shows disconnect and misunderstanding
No quick fix, this is a long term, uncertain problem & solution
Everyone ignored the obvious until it ran them over
A 12% stock drop is fault of investors/analysts not Intel
Whenever a stock drops 12% in one day there… Read More
The Apple event today was essentially a reveal of the latest and greatest silicon coming out of the Apple/TSMC partnership and how far ahead of everything else it is. The Mac was simply an aluminum container for the new silicon.
More importantly the event and specs of the TWO new chips, the M1 Pro and the M1 Max demonstrate that the M1… Read More
Anyone who has read my previous articles about IEDM knows I consider it the premier conference on process technology.
Last year due to COVID IEDM was virtual and although virtual offers some advantages the hallway conversations that can be such an important part of the conference are lost. This year IEDM is returning as a live event… Read More
Back in May of 2020 I published some comparisons of the cost to run a TSMC fab in Arizona versus their fabs in Taiwan. I found the fab operating cost based on the country-to-country difference to only be 3.4% higher in the US and then I found an additional 3.8% because of the smaller fab scale. Since that time, I have continued to encounter… Read More
The semiconductor shortage has really caught the world’s attention. Friends and family who don’t really know what a semiconductor is now ask me to explain it. This is great news for the semiconductor industry for different reasons which I will discuss here. We can also discuss the downside risks.
First, let’s look at a bit of semiconductor… Read More
Dan is joined by Dylan Patel of Semianalysis.com covering Intel, GF, TSMC, the semiconductor shortage and more. This is a candid discussion between analysts on current semiconductor events.
The views, thoughts, and opinions expressed in these podcasts belong solely to the speaker, and not to the… Read More
-Intel’s access to high-NA EUV tools may be their elixir of life
-TSMC’s EUV adoption helped it vault faltering Intel & Samsung
-Maybe ASML should invest in Intel like Intel invested in ASML
-Shoe is on the other foot- But cooperation helps chip industry
Intel is dependent upon ASML for its entire future
If Intel… Read More
