STT-MRAM – Coming soon to an SoC near you

STT-MRAM – Coming soon to an SoC near you
by Tom Dillinger on 07-05-2016 at 4:00 pm

An increasing percentage of SoC die area is being allocated to memory arrays, as applications require more data/instruction storage and boot firmware. Indeed, foundries invest considerable R&D resources into optimizing their array technology IP offerings, often with more aggressive device features than used for other… Read More


Circuit Simulation Panel Discussion at #53DAC

Circuit Simulation Panel Discussion at #53DAC
by Daniel Payne on 06-29-2016 at 12:00 pm

Four panelists from big-name semiconductor design companies spoke about their circuit simulation experiences at #53DAC in Austin this year, so I attended to learn more about SPICE and Fast SPICE circuit simulation. I heard from the following four companies:… Read More


Highlights of the 28nm FD-SOI San Jose Presentations

Highlights of the 28nm FD-SOI San Jose Presentations
by Adele Hars on 06-05-2016 at 8:00 pm

Samsung FDSOI productionstatus SanJose16c

Most of the presentations from the FD-SOI Symposium in San Jose last month (April 2016) are now available on the SOI Consortium website (click here to see the full list — if they’re posted, you can download them freely from there). If you don’t have time to wade through them all, here are some of the highlights. … Read More


Samsung Could Have A Winner With The Gear 360 VR Camera

Samsung Could Have A Winner With The Gear 360 VR Camera
by Patrick Moorhead on 05-09-2016 at 12:00 pm

For success, VR playback and content must be robust
The world of VR is split into two different areas, tethered PC VR and mobile VR. The reason why so many companies are going after mobile VR is because that’s where all of the volume is expected to be in VR. As a result, you have companies like Samsung Electronics and LG Electronics introducing… 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


No reason for FD-SOI Roadmap to follow Moore’s law!

No reason for FD-SOI Roadmap to follow Moore’s law!
by Eric Esteve on 04-26-2016 at 4:00 pm

We in Semiwiki are writing about FD-SOI since 2012, describing all the benefits offered by the technology in term of power consumption, price per performance compared with FinFET, etc. Let me assess again that I am fully convinced that FD-SOI is a very smart and efficient way to escape from the Moore’s law paradox: the transistor… Read More


Intel And Qualcomm Partner (Yes, Really)

Intel And Qualcomm Partner (Yes, Really)
by Patrick Moorhead on 04-24-2016 at 4:00 pm

For the longest time, the 802.11ad space, also known as WiGig by others, was a conglomeration of different 60 GHz Wi-Fi technologies. There have been many companies that have announced technologies utilizing 60 GHz Wi-Fi technologies including Intel, Nitero, Peraso, Qualcomm, Samsung Electronics and SiBEAM. Even though many… Read More


EUV is coming but will we need it?

EUV is coming but will we need it?
by Scotten Jones on 04-12-2016 at 4:00 pm

I have written multiple articles about this year’s SPIE Advanced Lithography Conference describing all of the progress EUV has made in the last year. Source power is improving, photoresists are getting faster, prototype pellicles are in testing, multiple sites around the world are exposing wafers by the thousands and more. Read More


Book Review Mobile Unleashed The History of ARM

Book Review Mobile Unleashed The History of ARM
by Martin Sauter on 04-09-2016 at 8:00 am

After having taken a closer look at x86 processor with “Inside The Machine” I came across “Mobile Unleashed“, a book about the history of a non-Silicon Valley company and technology for a change that has significantly shaped the world of computing as we know it today: ARM.

Written by Daniel Nenni and Don Dingee the book tells the story… Read More


Mobile Unleashed…Reviewed

Mobile Unleashed…Reviewed
by Paul McLellan on 04-07-2016 at 10:00 am

I finished reading Don Dingee and Dan Nenni’s book, Mobile Unleashed, the Origin and Evolution of ARM Processors in Our Devices. I guess by way of disclosure I should say that Don and Dan both blogged with me here on SemiWiki for several years before I joined Cadence, and Dan’s last book Fabless was co-authored with me… Read More