Sep 10, 2015 · By Bill Martin · Blogs
I am fortunate to work with Prof. Madhavan Swaminathan, Founder, CTO, E-System Design, and inventor of our algorithms. Long ago, as an undergraduate engineering student at University of Illinois focused on integrated circuit (IC) design, I enrolled in the required ElectroMagnetics (EM) course to discover it was all about large...Sep 10, 2015 · By Herb Reiter · 3D In Context
In a recent blog sharing my impressions of July’s Semicon West, I complained a bit about the lack of substantial IC packaging topics at this large IC manufacturing conference and also mentioned that I had observed the same problem at June’s Design Automation Conference. I am glad that I was fairly...Sep 02, 2015 · By Francoise von Trapp · Blogs
Tessera Technologies has been testing the 3D waters for several years, with the launch of its wholly owned subsidiary, Invensas, in 2011, which focused first on what they called “bridge technologies” that leverage existing packaging technologies to meet higher density requirements while waiting for full implementation of 3D ICs. In...Aug 31, 2015 · By Francoise von Trapp · 3D In-Depth
The 3D NAND floodgates just opened a little wider with today’s announcement from BeSang that it has developed 3D Super-NAND technology, based on a monolithic 3D IC process, True 3D™ IC, claiming to be the “lowest cost-per-bit in the NAND market.” With all the recent 3D NAND discussion and announcements...Aug 30, 2015 · By Francoise von Trapp · Blogs
Chalk up another industry first for Tezzaron Semiconductor, who announced just today (or tomorrow, if you are there for the excitement at IEEE 3DIC in Sendai, Japan) that along with their manufacturing subsidiary, Novati Technologies, they have successfully manufactured the world’s first eight-layer 3D IC wafer stack containing active logic. (Figure 1). According...Aug 25, 2015 · By Herb Reiter · 3D In Context
In July and August schools are closed and many people like to take vacation. Typically nothing major happens during these months. Not this year! It was a lively August, if you consider the recent “adjustments” in the stock markets worldwide as a series of events disrupting the summer doldrums. But...Aug 20, 2015 · By Francoise von Trapp · Blogs
Last time I checked in with Kim Pollard, Technology Manager, Dynaloy, was a few years ago, when we talked about the importance of cleans for 3D ICs. Dynaloy, a subsidiary of Eastman Chemical Company, develops and creates chemistries specifically for the removal of photoresist, etch residues and other polymers. At...Aug 19, 2015 · By Andrew Walker · Blogs
It’s been many years since I realized that semiconductor conferences were not purely scientific but had a certain mix of marketing razzmatazz. Well, the 3D NAND razzmatazz was in full swing last week at the 2015 Flash Memory Summit in Santa Clara, California. I went along for two reasons. The first...Aug 17, 2015 · By Andrew Walker · Blogs
An epiphany struck me last week when I attended the Flash Memory Summit in Santa Clara, California. I had come specifically to attend “A Conversation with Eli Harari” which turned out to be an inspiring affair both from a scientific and entrepreneurial viewpoint. As I wandered around the glitz and...Aug 14, 2015 · By Francoise von Trapp · Blogs
I’m sure by now you’ve all heard or read about the big news at Google: The creation of Alphabet as a holding company, of which Google is now a subsidiary; along with new spin-out companies that were “wacky projects” under the old business model. (David Goldman, CNNMoney’s words, not mine). You...Aug 13, 2015 · By Bill Martin · Blogs
If my fitness regimen can be Internet enabled, why can’t my magazine subscription renewals be? We all get them. Some come in emails while most use the phone call approach. You know, the “unrecognizable number” call that has a ‘few’ questions to answer that turns into many minutes of either...Aug 05, 2015 · By Scott Jones · Resource Library
The semiconductor industry invests more in R&D than any other industry except pharmaceuticals. At the same time, It is dealing with shortening product life cycles. How is the industry expected to continue innovating while still profiting from their R&D investments needed to deliver transitions in main areas such as lithography...Aug 03, 2015 · By John Ferguson · Blogs
Unlike the traditional system-on-chip (SoC) design process, which has fully qualified verification methods embodied in the form of process design kits (PDKs), chip design companies and assembly houses have no integrated circuit (IC) package co-design sign-off verification process to help ensure that an IC package will meet manufacturability and performance...Jul 30, 2015 · By Paul Werbaneth · Blogs
Yann Guillou, Membership & Business Development, SEMI Europe, talked with 3D InCites / 3D+ about the upcoming European MEMS Summit 2015, which will be held in Milan, Italy, on 17-18 September. 3D InCites / 3D+: Yann, thank you for taking the time to talk with us today about the European...Jul 30, 2015 · By Paul Werbaneth · Blogs
The semiconductor fabrication industry has been wandering in something of a wilderness recently, what with the continued delays in EUV lithography as a production-ready technology, 450mm gone quiet, ‘teenage’ FinFET costs zooming, and the baton in single-digit nanometer FinFET passing from Intel to IBM and its partners. It’s a situation...Jul 29, 2015 · By Francoise von Trapp · Blogs
There is no rest for the weary. Just because we can finally declare that 3D ICs are in production doesn’t mean we’re done working on it. To the contrary, efforts are ongoing at research institutes like imec in Belgium and Leti in France to take 3D integration to the next...Jul 27, 2015 · By Francoise von Trapp · Blogs
No SEMICON West would be complete without a few laps around Moscone North and South, and some one-on-one chats with suppliers. I stopped in to see several semiconductor supplier companies who annually request an audience with the Queen of 3D to talk about their latest accomplishments, as well as gain...Jul 22, 2015 · By Francoise von Trapp · Blogs
It’s official. Die stacking and interposer integration have been implemented in a high volume consumer application. AMD officially launched the Fiji GPU processor, the first to feature die stacking and high bandwidth (HBM) technology, amidst quite a bit of media fanfare at the E3 gaming conference in Los Angeles and...Jul 22, 2015 · By Scott Jones · Resource Library
At the 2015 3D InCites Awards Breakfast, which took place July 16, 2015 at the Impress Lounge during SEMICON West, Scott Jones, Director, Alix Partners presented a talk in which he described the positive financial impact interposer and 3D integration will have on the semiconductor manufacturing supply chain. He suggested we think like...Jul 21, 2015 · By Herb Reiter · 3D In Context
A few weeks ago, San Francisco’s Moscone Center hosted the Design Automation Conference (DAC 2015), with many EDA experts and their customers focused on how to design the new wave of 10nm chips, this year and next. Last week the Moscone Center was buzzing again, this time with material suppliers,...