Positive pointers from Samsung, GF, Renesas, NXP/Freescale, ST, Soitec – so will 2016 be the year of FD-SOI?

Positive pointers from Samsung, GF, Renesas, NXP/Freescale, ST, Soitec – so will 2016 be the year of FD-SOI?
by Adele Hars on 02-10-2016 at 4:00 pm

A little over a month into 2016 and we already have a raft of FD-SOI news from Samsung, GlobalFoundries, NXP/Freescale, Renesas and more. Quite a bit of it came out of the recent SOI Consortium forum in Tokyo. Many of the presentations are now available on the SOI Consortium website (click here to see what’s there) – but keep checking… Read More


Smart Phones and the Chinese Marketplace

Smart Phones and the Chinese Marketplace
by Daniel Payne on 02-10-2016 at 6:00 am

My first mobile phone was from Motorola and it was fondly called the “brick phone” because of its crude shape. That phone helped me be more efficient while living and working in Silicon Valley, because long commute times in the car were common. At one time Motorola was the best-selling mobile phone brand in the world,… Read More


Synopsys’ New Circuit Simulation Environment Improves Productivity — for Free

Synopsys’ New Circuit Simulation Environment Improves Productivity — for Free
by Pawan Fangaria on 02-07-2016 at 12:00 pm

When technology advances, complexities increase and data size becomes unmanageable. Fresh thinking and a new environment for automation are needed to provide the required increase in productivity. Specifically in case of circuit simulation of advanced-node analog designs, where precision is paramount and a large number… Read More


2016 Samsung Foundry Update!

2016 Samsung Foundry Update!
by Daniel Nenni on 01-30-2016 at 9:30 am

When sketching out the chapters for our book “Mobile UnLeashed” we sought out the events and technology that empowered the mobile devices that literally changed our world. One of the companies that enabled this change of course is Samsung. Cleverly embedded in chapter 8 “To Seoul, via Austin” is the story of how Samsung got into … Read More


Pure-play Foundries to Prevail in Future

Pure-play Foundries to Prevail in Future
by Pawan Fangaria on 01-17-2016 at 7:00 am

In a consolidating semiconductor business environment and innovation in semiconductor fabrication already scaling new heights with existing strong players, where do you think the wafer capacity should concentrate? It’s pure-play foundries or pure-play-like foundries, and those who supply high-volume common components… Read More


Mobile Unleashed Review

Mobile Unleashed Review
by Brianhayes on 01-08-2016 at 4:00 pm

The story starts for me back in the 1980s when one of my partners told us we had to buy a machine called a BBC micro and learn how to program it. When someone asked him what can it do, apart from play space invaders, I was told as a “for example”, I could store my wife’s recipes. To view results we would have to plug the machine… Read More


Semiconductors Future Hinges on a Single Pillar

Semiconductors Future Hinges on a Single Pillar
by Pawan Fangaria on 01-03-2016 at 7:00 am

A unique phenomenon has started manifesting itself under the slew of mergers and acquisitions this year in the semiconductor landscape. This phenomenon is bound to intensify in the near future and would positions itself as a key factor for the future of the semiconductor industry. The winners and losers in the game would be determined… Read More


IEDM Blogs – Part 5 – Intel and Micron 3D NAND

IEDM Blogs – Part 5 – Intel and Micron 3D NAND
by Scotten Jones on 12-29-2015 at 7:00 am

At IEDM Intel and Micron presented “A Floating Gate Based 3D NAND Technology With CMOS Under Array” authored by Krishna Parat and Chuck Dennison.

As I previously discussed in my blog on the IEDM memory short course and blog on IMEC’s work on high mobility 3D NAND channels, continuing to scale 2D Flash has become extremely difficult… Read More


IEDM Blogs – Part 4 – IMEC InGaAs Channel for 3D NAND

IEDM Blogs – Part 4 – IMEC InGaAs Channel for 3D NAND
by Scotten Jones on 12-28-2015 at 4:00 pm

At IEDM IMEC presented “MOCVD In[SUB]1-x[/SUB]Ga[SUB]x[/SUB]As high mobility channel for 3-D NAND Memory” authored by E. Capogreco, J. G. Lisoni, A. Arreghini, A. Subirats, B. Kunert, W. Guo, T. Maurice, C.-L. Tan, R. Degraeve, K. De Meyer, G. Van den bosch, and J. Van Houdt.

On December 15[SUP]th[/SUP] I had the opportunity … Read More


Semiconductor capital spending consolidating

Semiconductor capital spending consolidating
by Bill Jewell on 12-14-2015 at 10:00 pm

Shipments of semiconductor wafer fab equipment are expected to grow 2.5% in 2016 after 0.5% growth in 2015 according to the December forecast from Semiconductor Equipment and Materials International (SEMI). Gartner is more pessimistic, with its October forecast calling for fab equipment to decline 0.5% in 2015 and drop 2.5%… Read More