SemiWiki – Page 681 – The Open Forum for Semiconductor Professionals

January 7, 2016

Doubling of qubits, Superconducting States and Law for Quantum Computing!

Doubling of qubits, Superconducting States and Law for Quantum Computing!
by Vaibbhav Taraate on 01-07-2016 at 4:00 pm
Categories: EDA

If we consider the miniaturization era from year 1963 to 2014 then the computing power of classical computer has increased multi-fold and with the increasing growth in the computing power for every two years the cost per chip has dropped exponentially from few million dollar to few dollars, or even less than dollar per chip. The fabrication processes and manufacturing techniques have evolved dramatically in the past few decades. In the classical computer system the data operates on Bit. The computing power has doubled in approximately 24 months according to Moore’s law. From year 2014 onward for almost next few decades the computing power of classical computer has to be doubled in almost 36 to 38 months due to the limitation of shrinking. But if we try to perceive the quantum computing using the qubits then as multiple states are processed simultaneously the computing power will rise exponentially in ‘N’ years.

If we consider ‘n’ dimensional plane with n qubits, and if we try to perceive the behavior of energy at atomic and sub-atomic level the 2^n superconducting states can be processed simultaneously. So the computing system with ‘n’ qubits can be considered as universe. As energy associated with every universe is constant but still transmutation of the energy from one universe to another universe is possible. If we consider the computing system with ‘n’ qubits in one of the universe then all possible states can be transmuted to another universe of ‘n’ qubits and thus exponential improvement in the computing performance by 2 to the power of 2n. The way in which human brain works using the various clusters, where every cluster can be treated as information processing universe, the same concept if we apply to imagine the multiple universe as parallel processing engine then it is possible to imagine the billions of superconducting states at the same time instances and the computation speed similar to the speed of universe.

So according to the theory of multi-universe proposed by respected Stephen Hawking and the basic mathematics the universal law for superconducting states can be stated. If we consider the single object or the atom with ‘n’ states then the object can transmute the ‘n’ states or all possible states to the series or parallel universe. So effectively every series-parallel universe can consists of the unique number of such possible states.

Now consider simple mathematical analysis using the linear approximation. Assumption is power doubles or multi-folds depending on exponential rise of qubits. But depending on all or minimum possible entanglement of n qubits with the other universe.

q1: Number of qubits during year y1
q2: Number of qubits during year y2
Then by using linear approximation theory we can establish relation as following
q2=q1*2 ^ (Δy/N),Where Δy= y2-y1
N= Number of years required to double the qubits

So according to the data availability from previous few years, the number of qubits has doubled in approximately N years

Observation I: During year 2011: q1=128, during year 2015: q2 is approximately equal to 1024

Therefore q2 = 2^3 * q1and we will get the mathematical analysis as 2^3 *q1 = q1 * 2 ^ ((2015-2011)/ N)
Therefore 2^3 = 2 ^ (4/N)
Where, N is equal to number of years to double the qubits.
Therefore 3= 4/N and N=1.33 years

That is almost around 16 months

Observation II: During year 2005: q1=4, during year 2011: q2 is approximately equal to 128

Therefore q2 = 2^5* q1and we will get the mathematical analysis as 2^5 *q1 = q1 * 2 ^ ((2011-2005)/ N)
Therefore 2^5 = 2 ^ (6/N)
Where, N is equal to number of years to double the qubits.

Therefore 5= 6/N and N=1.20 years

That is almost around 14 months

Observation III: During year 2002: q1=1, during year 2015: q2 is approximately equal to 1024

Therefore q2 = 2^10 * q1and we will get the mathematical analysis as 2^10 *q1 = q1 * 1 ^ ((2015-2002)/ N)
Therefore 2^10 = 2 ^ (13/N)
Where, N is equal to number of years to double the qubits

Therefore 10= 13/N and N=1.33 years

That is almost around 16 months

So the law for quantum computing can be stated as: The number of qubits has to be doubled in approximately 14 to 16 months to have exponential rise of computing power which may be multi-fold in comparison with the classical computers.

So if we consider the classical computer versus quantum computing then the data transfer speed in the classical computer is limited due to speed of light. But in case of quantum computing if ‘n’ qubits with the superposition and entanglement with another universe in series or parallel then distance of the universe and speed of light is immaterial or not be considered as limiting factors. But according to my mathematical analysis this may be true till year 2053. Now imagine the ‘n’ superconducting states in the universe entangled with another universe, ‘n’ or all possible states in this universe can communicate without the limitation of speed of light with the another universe. So effectively the quantum superposition and entanglement can create exponential growth in computing power. The 1024 qubit quantum computing machine can act as the supreme super computer where billions of superconducting states at a time to solve the critical problems and optimization in just one step.

But if we consider the up or down spin of electron where the quantum wavelength is the fundamental limit to measure the spin or position of particle. Concept even applicable to photons. If the factor of2^ (Δy/N) is multiplied by Compton Wavelength λc= (2.426*10^ (-12)) then to get the maximum value of 1 using N=1.2 years and y1=2002 , we will get result as y2= 2048.5

If we consider the doubling of qubits in 1.33 years then for N=1.33 years and y1=2002, we will get result as y2=2053.20.

For classical computer using the transistors the miniaturization limit may reach during 2030 to 2035. As there is limitation for shrinking using the lower process nodes below 10 nan0-meter. By using the spin-up and spin-down state, correlation the universe can communicate with another universe and even it can give the birth to the programmable interconnect using the light as source to transfer and receive the energy. Even as programmable interconnect the photon spin-up and spin-down state can be used to transfer information from one of the qubit to another qubit. But according to this analysis the quantum computing limit can reach during period 2048 to 2053 and we will witness one more technological shift in the form of new evolution in computing.

So as the history always repeats with the cyclic technological shift. And we will witness the similar kind of evolution which we have witnessed using silicon transistors. The similar situation we are witnessing in the present scenario as the cost of quantum computing machine is few million dollars. There will be evolution of the interconnects and pathways from one of the universe to another universe using the atomic and sub-atomic energy. The cost of quantum computing machines will reduce during next decade from million dollars to few thousand dollars and will be available to the mass with hundreds of dollars during year 2030. It is like the super-computing power to the mass.

But the era of super-computing or parallel processing can give us the discrete optimization algorithms, space search, brain programming, multi universe communication etc in the next few decades. The real multi-world, multi-universe concept using the relativity can be proved by using the quantum computing superconducting states. So let us hope for the great era of super-computing!

January 7, 2016June 14, 2019

IP Development in Japan

IP Development in Japan
by Pawan Fangaria on 01-07-2016 at 12:00 pm
Categories: EDA, Fractal Technologies, IP

As semiconductor IP is growing bigger in size and more complex in providing complete solution for a particular functionality in an SoC, regions from across the world are joining to provide various types of services in the overall value-chain of IP development, verification, and its integration into SoCs.
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January 7, 2016

Seven Predictions for 2016

Seven Predictions for 2016
by Alex Lidow on 01-07-2016 at 7:00 am
Categories: Automotive, Foundries, IoT

Wireless Power Will Become Mainstream:
Wireless power will continue to gain traction with increased consumer demand charged by new products and applications. There are two different standards vying for consumer adoption; Qi and Rezence, but the consumer need not worry about a standards war because companies like Hewlett Packard are launching multi-mode systems that work on all standards. Consumers, in the meantime, will demand and buy these products in droves, further propelling development, as people put an end to their frustration with batteries and wires. In short, 2016 will be the year that wireless power “arrives.”

Augmented Reality Stakes Its place alongside Virtual Reality:
A seemingly unlimited amount of ink was spilled in 2015 discussing the promise of virtual reality. In 2016, however, there will be as much talk about augmented reality, as developers generate a slew of exciting applications across a variety of industries that add interactivity to the virtual world. Augmented reality will increasingly be used for such purposes as 3D product design, remote surgery, and education training (to name a few). While virtual reality is primarily confined to entertainment, the use cases for augmented reality are seemingly limitless. The affordability of augmented reality products will begin to become its own reality in 2017.

Autonomous Cars Will Advance But Keep Both Hands On The Wheel For Now:
While the technology to enable autonomous vehicles will advance, we are still a few years away from the proliferation of consumer driven autonomous vehicles, as we work out the technology and the regulatory issues. In future years, autonomous vehicles will enable much greater use of smartphones as drivers become passengers. Which, in turn, will drive demand for greater wireless bandwidth, 5G implementation,and wireless charging in our cars to prevent smartphones from running out of battery power. In the meantime, we will see more and more autonomy of vehicles under specific driving circumstances such as parking, freeway driving, and low speed stop-and-go.

Internet Enablement In Underdeveloped Nations Will Grow at a Greater Clip:
While most people on the planet are still without Internet access, coverage via wireless technologies will continue to accelerate. Balloons (such as Google Loon), satellites (such as the Google-SpaceX venture), and high altitude drones (Facebook) are the most likely solutions to serve much of the underdeveloped world in the coming years and decades.

Improved Medical Diagnostics Will Gain More Attention:
New, early detection techniques such as nano-RNA and micro imagining will make significant inroads towards early detection of certain types of cancers. For example, XRAY-in-a-pill colonoscopies will gain European approval in 2016 and will eliminate the key barriers to early detection of Colon Cancer. US approval is expected in 2017.

Moore’s Law Continues its Decline:
Moore’s Law – the technology pact conceived by Intel co-founder Gordon Moore some 50 years ago – will continue its marked decline. Even Intel is backing away from this promise. As silicon fails to deliver on the advancement delivered in yesteryear the pace of technology progress will continue to stall, leading to reduced innovation and slowed end-market development. Technology companies will continue looking for alternative solutions to propel advancement to previous performance increase and cost reduction standards in order to fuel their new product pipelines and foster innovation.

GaN Will Continue To Power Advancement:
The ability to fuel technology advancement, including the applications above, will require significantly increased speed, voltage, bandwidth and efficiency, not to mention meaningful miniaturization. As silicon reaches its performance limitations, other new entrants are delivering significantly greater performance with rapidly decreasing costs and hundreds of new applications in mainstream markets. Independent GaN companies will set the pace while established power silicon producers will downplay the significance of the technology.

January 6, 2016

My Choice for Coolest Thing from CES 2016 (Day 1)

My Choice for Coolest Thing from CES 2016 (Day 1)
by Bernard Murphy on 01-06-2016 at 4:00 pm
Categories: IoT, Mobile

I’ll admit up-front I’m cheating. I’m writing this from the comfort of my home office without having to go anywhere near the CES madness (I was there last year; 170,000 people packed into the center of Las Vegas, block-wrapping lines to get taxis, never again). I’m relying instead on the Wired preview of the first day and what they thought was cool.

One thing in particular caught my attention – the ili (that’s eye-el-eye) wearable translator. This is a little gadget, a little like the old iPod gumstick, that you wear around your neck. You push a button and talk; ili translates what you are saying into English, Chinese or Japanese (with more languages planned). And the person you are speaking with can use ili to talk back to you and will translate back to your native language. You speak into one side and what you say is translated out through a speaker on the other side.

If you ever read Douglas Adams’ “Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy”, you should immediately see where I’m going with this. It’s the Babel fish – a primitive, bulky (and inanimate) Babel fish to be sure, but the same objective and within striking distance of the same size. For those unfortunate souls who haven’t read the book (or seen the movie), the Babel fish is a universal translator. You stuff it in your ear, then you can understand anything spoken to you in any language and you can respond in the same language. Such is the power of science fiction to shape science reality.

The ili translator will fall short of this ideal goal in many ways I’m sure – limited vocabulary, accuracy of voice recognition, etc, etc. But these are details to be ironed out. What’s more important is that they have started along the path. This will be a truly useful wearable – maybe today, maybe after some evolution. Kudos to the the Japanese founders for launching this product and winning CES Innovation of the Year awards both this year and last year. Good to see great tech coming out of Japan again.

One more thing – this device doesn’t need the Internet to work. This is a personal hobby-horse of mine. Connecting to the Internet is great if it adds significant value to a product but it doesn’t have to be the defining requirement of new personal and other electronic applications. The IoT sometimes seems to blinker us to great “Things” because we can’t figure out how the Internet plays in the idea. Revelation – it doesn’t have to. “T”s can have high value on their own. Add the “Io” only if it makes sense.

You can learn more about ili HERE. You can read the Wired article HERE. Ever wanted a (real, working) wooden keyboard? The Wired article has that covered also.

Intel reaches for all-new experience at CES2016

Intel reaches for all-new experience at CES2016
by Don Dingee on 01-06-2016 at 1:30 pm
Categories: Foundries, Intel Foundry, IoT

When Gary Shapiro introduced Brian Krzanich for Intel’s keynote at #CES2016, he just possibly may have been the last person to say “Moore’s Law” outside of a museum ever again. Krzanich was about to take Intel into new territory, where “Copy Exactly” and tick-tock also don’t matter.
Continue reading “Intel reaches for all-new experience at CES2016”

January 6, 2016

Interface IP year 2015: Winners and Losers

Interface IP year 2015: Winners and Losers
by Eric Esteve on 01-06-2016 at 1:00 pm
Categories: IP

The global Interface IP market is still growing in 2015, no doubt about it. It’s interesting to zoom in the various protocols to check their respective behavior. Which protocol generates an IP business growing more than the average market? Which protocol generates a disappointing IP business? In other words, which are the winners and the losers in 2015 when we review USB 2, USB 3, PCI Express, (LP)DDRn, HDMI, MHL, DisplayPort, MIPI, Ethernet or the VHS SerDes?

Continue reading “Interface IP year 2015: Winners and Losers”

January 6, 2016

More Medical Tech –Smart Bandages for Wound Management

More Medical Tech –Smart Bandages for Wound Management
by Bernard Murphy on 01-06-2016 at 12:00 pm
Categories: IoT

I have a bias (as you may have noticed) for solutions in a domain that take advantage of technology but are developed within that domain. A recently example is intelligent bandages, developed at Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard, Purdue and several other research centers. The purpose of such a bandage is to monitor a wound as it heals and in some cases to improve healing. (I should add there are lots of applications for smart bandages in monitoring other aspects of health. Here I’m only touching on wound care and prevention.)

Monitoring can take many forms – one application is simply to determine levels of oxygenation around the wound site. Healing requires large levels of oxygen; any shortfall will slow healing or lead to tissue death. That creates two interesting constraints for a bandage; it must be flexible and it must be permeable to oxygen (just like a Band-Aid™). A method to display oxygen concentration in wounds using phosphorescent bandages has already been demonstrated; presumably this could easily be adapted to deliver digital information. An even more interesting prototype not only detects low levels of oxygen but also uses this to trigger a chemical reaction in the bandage which then generates oxygen – a beneficial chemical feedback loop.

Some of these prototypes are currently half an inch thick and six to eight inches long – not quite the thin bandages we think of today, but no doubt this will improve with time. The intelligent part (processing and communication) is, area-wise, actually a very small part of the bandage; the bulk is sensing and chemistry. The chemistry can be further extended – some researchers have shown the ability to deliver pain and anti-bacterial medications directly from the bandage, also though a feedback loop or through wireless control.

A very interesting application is to minimize scarring as the tissue heals. Scars have psychological impact but can also be physically-limiting when new skin stretches too tight around the eyes, mouth and other areas. Intelligent bandages can help by controlling growth through a matrix which guides that growth. Current research uses nano-fibers and similar materials to prompt this growth. There is also a protein called fibronectin which can accelerate growth; initial experiments based on embedding this in the bandage are promising and appear to encourage growth of soft skin (unlike typically taut scar tissue). I would imagine (without proof) that selective electrical stimulation may also be helpful in guiding skin growth.

Another quite different application is to detect early development of bedsores. These start under the skin as a result of prolonged pressure on one area, limiting blood supply to that area. A challenge for doctors is that bedsores cannot be detected until they reach the surface of the skin, by which time it is usually too late to take corrective action. A Berkeley group detects potential problems using impedance measurements through the skin and into underlying tissue, driven by electrodes printed onto a flexible patch. The current technology seems to be just the electrode array but you could easily imagine automation being added.

Most of this work is very much still in the research stage. Perhaps the biggest part of the problem is the complexity of wound biology and the many different factors that must be considered, monitored and addressed: bacterial infections, immune response, oxygenation and skin re-growth. There are plenty of challenges and opportunities for tech in this area that go well beyond the health monitors we think of today.

You can read more about oxygen detection in wounds HERE, intelligent bandages HERE (ACM paper – may require membership or purchase) and HERE. There’s a good video from Science Nation on the topic HERE. The Berkeley application for bedsores is HERE.

EDA and the Big Short!

EDA and the Big Short!
by Daniel Nenni on 01-05-2016 at 8:00 pm
Categories: EDA

A funny thing happened while I was reading “The Big Short: Inside the Doomsday Machine”. The book explains the subprime mortgage crisis in painful detail by profiling several key players who predicted and profited from the bubble pop. As a home owner and faux slumlord I had a front row seat to this horror show so it was an interesting read, but I can’t imagine paying to see the movie.

During the introduction of one of the characters it listed an investment in “The alarmingly named Avant!” as one of his big “ick investment” wins. An ick investment is a stock that inspires a first reaction of ick! As a longtime semiconductor professional and former Avant! employee I found this part laugh out loud funny. This guy bought Avant! stock at $12 and watched it go down to $2 before the Synopsys buyout at $22. The best passage is: “Avant! still makes me feel I’m sleeping with the village slut. No matter how my needs are met I doubt I will ever brag about it”.

Here is a little known fact about the Avant! acquisition: Gerry Hsu had a handshake agreement to be acquired by Mentor for significantly less than the $830M Synopsys paid. But, Gerry being Gerry, he then went to Synopsys and not only got a higher price, he got a bigger exit package. Just think what EDA would look like today if Gerry honored his handshake and Mentor acquired Avant! instead of Synopsys?!?!?!?

Speaking of EDA, 2016 is shaping up to be a very interesting year. We are already seeing an EDA traffic surge on SemiWiki and I think it will continue. I also fielded a couple of Wall Street calls on EDA at the end of the year so let’s talk about that.

Yes, I believe semiconductor consolidation will continue in 2016 and no, I don’t think EDA will take a big hit as a result. I definitely see deals being pushed out during the acquisition period and there may be less seats to fill as a result of “expense optimization” but I do not see rampant discounting and those empty seats will be quickly filled by the system companies and the next wave of IoT design starts. Remember, the systems companies (Apple, Samsung, Amazon, Google, etc…) can write MUCH bigger checks to EDA companies than fabless semiconductor companies, just ask TSMC.

I do see however, an EDA landscape change evolving. Among the big three I see Cadence as the best situated for market share growth via the Synopsys IC Compilor monopoly. I have also heard VERY good things about the new Cadence emulator from Cupertino and San Diego. The Cadence AMS and the Mentor Calibre monopolies however seem safe for now. Maybe #53DAC will bring technological disruption in those areas but probably not.

The dark horse here of course is ANSYS if they acquire Mentor for example. That would certainly shake things up a bit. Not only would that take Mentor into a whole new level of exposure outside traditional EDA, it would get ANSYS securely inside the semiconductor ecosystem and give Synopsys and Cadence cause for concern, absolutely. In regards to the other small to medium EDA companies I see more squeezing by the big three, continued consolidation, and fewer emerging companies.

January 5, 2016

Do You Need a 3D Printer Yet?

Do You Need a 3D Printer Yet?
by Tom Simon on 01-05-2016 at 4:00 pm
Categories: General

There is no question: you will own a 3D printer – it’s only a matter of time. The situation today is like it was with the early personal computers, at first it was the hobbyists who had them and most other people wondered what they would use one for. But over time their usefulness became obvious and the difficulty of acquiring, using and supporting them diminished by leaps and bounds. So, with 3D printers where do we stand today?

I’ll confess that I’m on the vanguard, but it’s pretty clear where things are headed. Today’s 3D printers, and by that I mean the whole ecosystem supporting them, has moved past the really early “you have to build and understand everything yourself” days. Think back to when owning a computer meant you had a build it yourself. 3D printers have moved beyond this stage.

Unlike the early days, now Amazon lists many 3D printers you can buy assembled and ready to use. Of course you can still buy a kit. Though ready made printers are essential for mass adoption. Still, most all of the assembled printers require the kind of fussing that a consumer would not bother with. The prices for assembled printers start at ~$300 and go up from there. There are a few for that kind of low price that are useful and probably even worth it. But to avoid headaches it is advisable to spend over $1,000.

Virtually no printer that says it is a consumer product is really telling the truth. Because they are mechanical beasts, luck also plays a role in user experience. Some cheap printers work well for some users, and not well for other users. Higher prices mean better quality design and, importantly, better materials and build quality.

The number one issue that needs to be ‘solved’ before 3D printers are something that you pick up at Best Buy and just plug in is bed leveling. Most printers print things using a layer thicknesses of 0.1 to 0.3mm. That is 100 to 300 microns for us chip guys. The very first layer that goes down on the print bed is make or break for everything that comes after. If the print head, which is usually extruding a 0.4mm strand of molten plastic, is too high the plastic does not adhere and simply wads up into a sticky ball at the end of the extruder nozzle. This then gums up everything that is done after. If the head is too low, then the print head is jammed against the bed and the filament can’t some out. This can lead to melted plastic gumming up the heater and extruder internals. Most often though it will temporarily block the nozzle, but regardless the print will not begin properly.

Printers do all sorts of things to improve results when they print the first layer, such as using a heated bed to improve adhesion, running slowly to make sure the first layer sticks well, and extruding a bit more material to make sure the first layer mushrooms out a bit to increase surface area and pressure against the bed. All of these operations are controlled by what is called slicer software. This software reads .STL files and slices up the shape to determine the tool paths for each of the hundreds or thousands of 0.2mm layers needed to complete a print.

Bed leveling needs to be done so every point on the bed is the right distance from the extruder tip, usually 0.1mm, at the start of the print job. Today this process is most often done with checking to see if a sheet of paper will “just” slide under the tip, not too easily and not too stiffly. The thing is, this takes several rounds of moving the print head to the corners and adjusting wing nuts. The print head sometimes can have gobs of hardened plastic on it, which will throw off the process. The whole operation will need to be repeated at varying intervals to keep things working.

Some expensive printers, and at least one cheap one, boasts auto-leveling. But this should be classified today as an unsolved problem for consumer level devices.

At the start of this article I posited that there is a 3D printer in your future. Despite the truth of the saying that a 3D printer is not a tool, it is a hobby, they have immense usefulness. After having a printer at home for many months, I decided that I needed one at my vacation home for over the holidays. I had become used to the notion of thinking of something useful and then having the ability to find or design it, and hold it in my hand shortly thereafter. Online there is a vast collection of free things that can be printed easily. If you have never looked at Thingiverse.com, I suggest you do. Thousands of people have submitted their designs for everything imaginable, so that you or I can simply download them for free and print them.

It is true that the first thing you print with a 3D printer is new or improved parts for it. However, there are many other applications. When it hits you that you can get exactly what you need with out going to the store – it is a revelation. Or even more importantly, you can get something you could never find in any store. Here are few of the things I printed in the last few weeks, while out of town.

I designed and printed this phone stand based on the Linkmount system.

If you own a Go Pro you know how hard it is to open the enclosure. This was downloaded from Thingiverse.com after a quick search and was easily printed at home.

When I am waxing my skis the anti-skid arms are always in the way, so I designed this custom bracket to hold the arms down so I can wax the board without bumping into them. See the ski behind to see how the arms usually stick up.

I own three printers. The first was the Micro3D – it was a Kickstarter that cost around $300. I bought it without knowing a lot about 3D printing. While I can say it works, it has many faults. But, remember it is just $300. It is a closed design that made many trade-offs to hold down costs. Most higher quality 3D printers use stepper motors – NEMA being the favored brand. The Micro3D uses low cost motors with a small gear to lower the shaft rotation rate. They also built their own print head. There are lots of print heads on other printers that have evolved into open standards – not unlike open source software. These have matured to work really well and replacement parts, upgrades, and problem solutions are readily available. With the Micro3D you have to live with their design, as is. There are other cost cutting measures in their design like the way the heater coil is used as the thermal sensor – requiring factory recalibration of the firmware when it needs to be replaced. Lastly it compensates for a range of design issues by running at a snail’s pace, making it frustrating when you build larger things.

My next printer is the FlashForge Creator Pro. Compared to the Micro3D, it is a serious piece of hardware. It performs really well and has required very little fussing. It is based on the open source design of the Replicator Makerbot, which means that advice, parts and upgrades are readily available. In fact, the FlashForge already comes with a number of community enhancements to the original design. It costs around $1200 on Amazon and prints at a much higher quality, size, speed and reliability than the Micro3D. Of course there is still some fussing with bed leveling and a few things you’ll want to do to make it work better. But it was up and running very quickly.

For my vacation home I went back to the low-end price range, but this time bought another printer based on an open source design. I bought the Wanhao i3, based on the Prusa i3. Actually I bought a re-labled version from Monoprice.com – called the Maker Select. It took a number of upgrades – most of them downloaded from Thingiverse.com – to get the best results. Also there are a few somewhat tricky things about keeping it calibrated. But there is an active Google group where advice can be gathered. When it is calibrated it prints as well as the FlashForge. For $350 with free shipping I cannot complain.

There is one model by Zortrax, the M200, that claims the highest ease of use and the least hassles for people who not not want a 3D printer hobby. At $1900 it is not the cheapest, but also by no means the most expensive. It requires their proprietary software and filaments. It also has a slightly cumbersome procedure for running prints. However, it is apparently the best no hassle printer available at the consumer level. Remember when the Apple II came out and was only available as a finished product and all the tinkerers said it was “too expensive” and not easily upgradable? Well, stay tuned to this one.

Here is a more ambitious project for a removable camera holder for a ski helmet.

I’d have to say that I “need” a 3D printer. Yes, I am an early adopter and I really cannot make a financial justification for owning one, let alone three. But just like the personal computer, prices will come down and the technology will improve dramatically. I cannot say if it will be in 5 years or 10 years, but your 3D printer will be there sitting on your counter next to the tool box (or coffee maker) sooner than you might think.

January 5, 2016

IEDM Blogs – Part 6 – IMEC Technology Forum – Part 1

IEDM Blogs – Part 6 – IMEC Technology Forum – Part 1
by Scotten Jones on 01-05-2016 at 10:00 am
Categories: Foundries

On Sunday evening December 6[SUP]th[/SUP] before IEDM, IMEC held the IMEC Technology Forum (ITF). The ITF was held at the Belgium ambassador’s residence, a really beautiful setting for a meeting.

The ITF began with a brief welcome by the Belgium ambassador followed by a brief introduction to IMEC. IMEC is a research institute located in Belgium. IMEC was formed in the 1983/84 time frame and has an annual budget of approximately 400 million euro. The introductions were followed by the formal presentations.

The technical program of the meeting was really good, unfortunately IMEC will not let me share the presentations but hopefully I can do a good job of summarizing what was presented.

An Steegen
An is the Vice President of Process Technology at IMEC.

IEMC presented 23 papers at IEDM this year and everything is connected. There is a need for more bandwidth at lower energy.

Three keys are:
[LIST=1]

Dimensional – lithography

Device – novel devices and materials

System scaling – 3D and optical

1) Dimensional – 0.7x scaling per generation. Argon Fluoride immersion lithography (ArFi) can achieve a pitch of approximately 80nm forcing multi-pattering for the latest generation processes. EUV can print 40nm or even 30nm with a single exposure. The 7nm logic node (N7) will have a 30-40nm pitch. For the 5nm logic node (N5) a 24nm pitch will be required driving the need for 1D patterns and EUV for cut/block (multi-patterning).

2) Devices – Silicon FinFETs currently. Next is FinFETs with III/V channels and then vertically stacked horizontal nanowires.

3) System scaling – 3D stacking provides smaller size, less power and more bandwidth. Longer term move to optical interconnect.

IMEC provides infrastructure, people and partnerships. IMEC at a glance:

200mm CMOS pilot line
300mm CMOS pilot line
Expanding the cleanroon by 4,000m[SUP]2[/SUP]
Doing research on the 3nm logic generation (N3)
~2,300 staff, ~1,500 on the IMEC payroll and ~800 from partners

IMEC papers accepted at IEDM have been 18, 17, 17, 19, 16 and 23 for 2010, 20122, 2012, 2013, 2014 and 2015 respectively.

Mark Rodder
Mark Rodder from Samsung’s Advanced Logic labs went next and presented a whirlwind tour of challenges to continuing Moore’s law (he seriously challenged my ability to rapidly take notes with an incredible information dense presentation).

In 1983 we thought 500nm was the economical limit. In 1986 the half-micron apocalypse paper was published. In 1989 the author of the 1986 paper said scaling will continue. The concerns were similar to today’s challenges, but there are more challenges today, Moore’s law is exponential.

In a “standard” cell geometry contacted poly pitch (CPP) limits cell width, and back end of line (BEOL) pitch and routing limits the cell height. Cell height limits active space (effective channel width or effective channel width per fin). Cell area limits contact and via area and interconnect length.

CPP scaling through higher mobility materials – unstrained germanium mobility is similar to strained silicon. Strained germanium has better mobility than strained silicon. III/V materials are similar. III/V materials are more susceptible to surface roughness scattering than silicon, germanium is less susceptible. CCP scaling with III/V is less than ideal due to scattering issues. Germanium can increase leakage due to band to band tunneling (BTBT). New structures can reduce leakage but need to fit.

Parasitics can dominate performance – reduction of source/drain volume can increase contact resistance and the fundamental contact resistivity may be higher than expected. Further reductions in contact resistance may be limited but we aren’t at the fundamental limit yet.

BEOL parasitics are more critical – via and line resistance are grand challenges for upcoming nodes. At this point a graph was shown that illustrated that for various copper interconnect line lengths the resistance with scattering is >2x the resistance without scattering. BEOL congestion is also a problem for cell scaling with 1[SUP]st[/SUP] and 2[SUP]nd[/SUP] order rules limiting scaling. New cell designs are needed.

On die cache – additional cache memory is needed to address the gap between logic and memory performance. STTRAM can address the additional cache needs and is more compact than SRAM (1T – 1MTJ versus 6T). SSTRAM can be stacked in the BEOL versus front end of line (FEOL) SRAM. STTRAM is nonvolatile but the error rate needs to be addressed for fast on-die applications.

All of the above should get us to 2025, but remember all the past predictions about Moore’s law.

The net of this is:

Simple pitch shrinks are becoming more challenging.
Hetero-integration can be useful but requires the right materials and parasitic resistances.
BEOL has fundamental limits that need a breakthrough.
Extending Moore’s law for several more nodes may be difficult by any one of these technique – we may need breakthroughs for each new node.

Moore opportunities:

System performance can be boosted by Moore’s law or Moore than Moore such as 3D stacking, dense/non-volatile memory, new circuit designs.
TFETs – a steep sub threshold slope is possible.
2D materials – low temperature BEOL, band engineering, TFET use, etc., but requires materials and interface development.
Advanced interconnects such as optical.
New switches such as spintronics.
Dry brains (neuromorphic computing) or another efficient hardware implementation. Co-processors are much more efficient for certain tasks.

The market opportunity is huge, only 3 billion people are connected, there are 4 billion people still to connect. Opportunities in connected cars (we spend >1 hours per day in them), wearables (smart watches, fitness bands, activity tracker, etc.) and smart devices (home energy, home security, appliances, etc.)

One projection of IoT is for 20 billion connected devices by 2020.

“Challenges & solutions notwithstanding, there are many opportunities for value from the ever increasing number of connected devices and diverse application space – Whether by Moore’s Law, or by More than Moore”

In the next installment I will cover Aaron Thean and Malgorzata Jurczak’s presentations.