EUV and DSA from Imec and #semiconwest

EUV and DSA from Imec and #semiconwest
by Paul McLellan on 07-14-2014 at 7:00 am

All the details of how we will build semiconductors going forward depend on whether we have EUV in our arsenal or not. Imec is very close to this since they work closely with ASML (who are about an hour and half’s drive away just outside Eindhoven in the Netherlands). At the imec technology symposium we were given a quick summary… Read More


Imec’s Process Secret Decoder Ring

Imec’s Process Secret Decoder Ring
by Paul McLellan on 07-12-2014 at 11:00 am

To wrap up Semicon West, let’s go back to Monday and the imec presentations. In fact, An Steegen’s presentation titled The Semiconductor Roadmap. She covered a lot of ground, but some of her slides contain a wealth of information. Let’s look at the options for 10nm, 7nm and a little 5nm, what imec call N10, N7 and… Read More


Bob Metcalfe Keynote at #semiconwest

Bob Metcalfe Keynote at #semiconwest
by Paul McLellan on 07-10-2014 at 9:00 am

My PhD is in distributed file systems so one of the key networking papers was Metcalfe and Boggs, 1976. It was titled Ethernet: Distributed Packet Switching for Local Computer Networks. This was the paper that introduced the world to Ethernet and to Bob Metcalfe. He was on stage yesterday here at Semicon West to give the afternoon… Read More


IMEC Technology Symposium

IMEC Technology Symposium
by Paul McLellan on 07-08-2014 at 12:52 pm

Yesterday I attended the IMEC Technology Forum at Semicon West. As always with IMEC, they present so much information it is like drinking from a firehose. I’ll say more about the future of process technology in a blog later this week, but this blog is about IMEC itself. It is an amazing success story. Let’s face it, if you were going … Read More


Internet of Things (IoT) Startup Showcase @ SEMICON West!

Internet of Things (IoT) Startup Showcase @ SEMICON West!
by Daniel Nenni on 06-24-2014 at 3:00 pm

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It’s hard to believe that SEMICON West is upon us once again at the Moscone Center in San Francisco. This is the premier semiconductor conference for cutting-edge equipment, processes, and materials, to solutions to today’s design and manufacturing challenges. Remember, it’s not what you know (because … Read More


SEMICON West 2014 Preview

SEMICON West 2014 Preview
by Paul McLellan on 05-27-2014 at 12:46 pm

There is a really big conference coming up in San Francisco…no, not DAC although of course that is coming up too. I’m talking about SEMICON West which is much bigger, filling all 3 Moscone exhibit halls. It is July 8-10th. It is, of course, the semiconductor equipment industry (and solar) show.

The opening keynote on… Read More


More Moore or No More?

More Moore or No More?
by Daniel Nenni on 05-22-2014 at 11:30 pm

Moore’s is still the law, and device scaling remains the key focus of front-end process research, however next-generation technologies–and the Big Data, cloud computing world that supports mobile, IoT, and other next-gen applications–are the new drivers, bringing new demands and challenges running Read More


Should the Design Automation Conference Colocate with SEMICON West?

Should the Design Automation Conference Colocate with SEMICON West?
by Daniel Nenni on 07-03-2013 at 8:10 pm

My friend and fellow blogger Kurt Shuler wrote recently, “DAC Is Dead? Long Live DAC!”, which is worth a click over. In addition to providing a nice attendance graph and the top three reasons why it is NOT all rosy, Kurt suggests colocating DAC with other conferences (DESIGN West) but fails to mention SEMICON West.

SEMICON West is Read More


SEMICON West: My Top Picks

SEMICON West: My Top Picks
by Paul McLellan on 06-20-2013 at 11:21 am

I will be at Semicon West from 9th to 11th July in Moscone, San Francisco. Of course there are lots of interesting sessions but here are two that I think are especially important to get a good impression of the way things are going in the future from experts. The two most interesting questions about the future are what comes after 14nm,… Read More


IC Test Sessions at SEMICON West 2012

IC Test Sessions at SEMICON West 2012
by Beth Martin on 07-02-2012 at 1:43 pm

SEMICON West is coming up this July 10-12 at the Moscone Center in San Francisco. It covers a broad swath of the microelectronics supply chain, but I was particularly interested in the test sessions. Here are two that I recommend.

The Value of Test for Semiconductor Yield Learning” on Tuesday, July 10, at 1:30p. The… Read More