In this article, we will explore the use of self-aligned litho-etch-litho-etch (SALELE) double patterning for BEOL metal layers in the 7nm node (40 nm minimum metal pitch [1]) with DUV, and 5nm node (28 nm minimum metal pitch [2]) with EUV. First, we mention the evidence that this technique is being used; Xilinx [3] disclosed the… Read More
Dan and Mike are joined by Terry Daly for a thoughtful and informative overview of global semiconductor supply challenges and an excellent overview of the CHIPS for America Act, an ambitious piece of US legislation aimed at establishing investments and incentives to support U.S. semiconductor manufacturing, research and development,… Read More
Semiconductor sales in 2020 were $439.0 billion, up 6.5% from $412.3 billion in 2019, according to World Semiconductor Trade Statistics (WSTS).
We at Semiconductor Intelligence have been tracking the accuracy of semiconductor market forecasts from various sources for several years. We look at publicly available projections… Read More
Electromagnetic (EM) simulations have been performed on die metal structures since the 1990s. Originally, the analysis was restricted to a single device (e.g., a spiral inductor). The number of on-die devices simulated simultaneously grew with the increasing capabilities of the computers performing the computations. This… Read More
Dan and Mike are joined by Dr. Bernard Murphy. Bernard has recently published a book on entrepreneurship and the importance of storytelling. In this podcast, Bernard talks about his journey from a PhD in Nuclear Physics at Oxford University to a storied career in EDA and verification. Bernard discusses a fundamental shift in… Read More
The third quarter 2020 semiconductor market totaled $114 billion, up 11.0% from second quarter 2020, according to World Semiconductor Trade Statistics (WSTS). The 3Q20 growth was the highest since 11.6% in 3Q16. The strong 3Q20 growth follows a 2.1% decline in 2Q20 versus 1Q20. The second quarter is normally a healthy growth … Read More
The semiconductor industry today is faced with several substantial issues—the continuing rise in design costs for complex SoCs, the decrease in the incidence of first-time-right designs and the increase in the design cycle time against shrinking market windows and decreasing product life cycles. An additional factor has … Read More
The semiconductor foundry business has been front page news of late and for good reason, it’s an exciting time in the semiconductor industry and the foundries are where it all begins. Unfortunately, most of the “exciting” news has been overblown but this topic is of great interest, to me at least. Having been intimately involved… Read More
If you search on “the six signs” you will find references to a fantasy novel, “The Dark is Rising Sequence” by Susan Cooper. In this fantasy work there are six signs: wood, bronze, iron, water, fire and stone. Their purpose has something to do with driving away the Dark. Here is a quote from the book that puts these six signs in some context:… Read More
Wally Rhines is President and CEO of Cornami, Inc., a company named for its “tsunami of cores”. The company has developed a “TruStream” programming environment that generates independent executable streams of data and control. They have also designed a chip that provides the computational fabric for multi-core execution of… Read More
