Thermal modeling has become a hot topic for designers of today’s high-speed circuits and complex packages. This has led to the adoption of better and more sophisticated thermal modeling tools and flows as exemplified in this presentation by Micron at the IDEAS Digital Forum. The presentation is titled “Thermal Aware Memory Controller… Read More
The field of DRAM is fascinating as it continues to grow and innovate. For the past ten years, I have often read that DRAM is running out of steam because of its difficulty to scale the capacitor, and yet it continues to evolve since invented by Dr. R. Dennard at IBM. In 1966, he introduced the concept of a transistor memory cell consisting… Read More
At the 2021 VLSI Technology Symposium, Imec presented on Ruthenium (Ru) and Molybdenum (Mo) as alternate Word Line (WL) materials for 3D NAND Flash “First Demonstration of Ruthenium and Molybdenum Word lines Integrated into 40nm Pitch 3D NAND Memory Devices”. I had an opportunity to interview one of the authors: Maarten Rosmeulen.… Read More
-A repeat of the auto industry bailout of self inflicted issues?
-Not just money but systemic change is needed
-Perhaps chips need an Elon led revolution like autos & space
-Govt $ need focus not thrown into existing spend avalanche.
Are chips a replay of the auto industry bailout a decade ago? Deja Vu all over again.
The… Read More
Worldwide semiconductor shipments were $123.1 billion in 1Q 2021, up 3.6% from 4Q 2020 and up 17.8% from a year ago, according to WSTS. The 3.6% quarter-to-quarter growth was the highest for a first quarter since 1Q 2010, eleven years ago. The strong growth in 1Q21 implies strong growth in the following quarters and for the year 2021.… Read More
– Micron shuts down once promising XPoint
– Lehi Utah fab to be sold off- Had been a $400M drain
– Unique memory couldn’t follow flash down cost/yield curve
– Savings helps Micron but its now just another memory maker
XPoint “Coulda been a contender”
XPoint should have amounted to more… Read More
Two bits of recent news has excited people in the semiconductor manufacturing space. First TSMC (bit.ly/384joVr) announced their intention to invest $12 B dollars in a Fab in Arizona. Then came the Corona-driven bipartisan proposed $23B federal government investment in semiconductor manufacturing (nyti.ms/2YZzFqnl). … Read More
An industry caught in the crosshairs of geopolitics needs global emeritus leadership
The semiconductor industry is at the epicenter of great power politics. An ascendant China is on a quest for a unified global system with China as the leading power. The United States seeks to maintain its position as leader of the liberal democratic… Read More
Each year on the Sunday before the SPIE Advanced Lithography Conference, Nikon holds their LithoVision event. This year I had the privilege of being invited to speak for the third consecutive year, unfortunately, the event had to be canceled due to concerns over the COVID-19 virus but by the time the event was canceled I had already… Read More
As we approach the end of 2019 I wish everybody a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. This will be my last update for a few weeks as I will also take a little break over the holiday season.
Despite a lot of people winding down for the year, there was still lots of interesting news from last week with lots of data points pointing to an even
