The Global Semiconductor Alliance (GSA) will honor James (“Jim”) C. Morgan, Chairman Emeritus of Applied Materials, Inc., with the esteemed Dr. Morris Chang Exemplary Leadership Award at its highly-anticipated Annual Awards Dinner to be held in Santa Clara, Calif., on Dec. 5, 2019. Morgan is an industry leader and visionary who led Applied Materials for nearly three decades — one of the longest tenures of a Fortune 500 CEO. He served as CEO from 1977 to 2003 and chairman of the board from 1987 to 2009, growing Applied from less than $20 million to more than $9 billion in revenue during that time.
Semiconductors
Study Shows Ability to Detect Light From UV to the IR Optical Regimes Using Spin Currents
A University of Wyoming researcher and his team have shown that the spin Seebeck effect (SSE) can be used to detect light across a broad optical range – ultraviolet through visible to near-infrared. This work has future implications on novel spin current-based technologies. The SSE is one of three known ways to generate spin current, or a net movement of particle magnet moments. The SSE occurs when a thermal gradient is created across a material and, depending on how it is measured, results in an electrical potential. However, unlike its electrical analog, the SSE has been generated not just in ferromagnetic metals – such as cobalt, iron and nickel — and semiconductors, but also in magnetic insulators, making it widely applicable.
AKHAN Announces Major Patents Issued for Diamond Semiconductor Optics & Electronics Applications by US and Japan Patent Offices
AKHAN Semiconductor, a technology company specializing in the fabrication and application of lab-grown, electronics-grade diamond, announced today issuances by both the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) and Japan Patent Office (JPO) of patents covering AKHAN’s next-generation n-type diamond semiconductor system and diamond-based multilayer antireflective coating systems, key in military & aerospace sensor and detector applications, amongst others. The granted and issued patents, 6580644 in Japan and 10,422,928 & 10,410,860 in the US, are key additions to AKHAN’s breakthrough Miraj Diamond® intellectual property portfolio, and enable breakthrough performance in semiconductor devices as well as new capabilities in optical sensing, detecting, and transmission.
David Zinsner Appointed to Credo Board of Directors
Credo, a global innovation leader in Serializer-Deserializer (SerDes) technology which delivers high performance, low power connectivity solutions for 100G, 400G, and 800G port enabled networks, today announced the appointment of David Zinsner to Credo’s Board of Directors. He is currently Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer at Micron Technology, Inc. (Nasdaq: MU). Zinsner joined Micron in February 2018 with more than 20 years of financial and operations experience in the semiconductor and technology industry, after serving as President and Chief Operating Officer at Affirmed Networks. Previously, he was Senior Vice President of Finance and Chief Financial Officer at Analog Devices.
Fragmented Magnetism
Probing the properties of a Mott insulator, a team of researchers from Boston College, MIT, and U.C. Santa Barbara has revealed an elusive atomic-scale magnetic signal in the unique material as it transitions from insulator to a metal, the team reported recently in the journal Nature Physics. Working with a compound in the class of materials known as Mott insulators, the team used spin-polarizing scanning tunneling microscopy (SP-STM) to detail at the atomic level the underlying physics of one example of these insulators, which can be manipulated into a metallic state through the addition of an electronic charge, a process called doping, said Boston College Assistant Professor of Physics Ilija Zeljkovic, a lead author of the report.
Achieving Quantum Supremacy
Researchers in UC Santa Barbara/Google scientist John Martinis’ group have made good on their claim to quantum supremacy. Using 53 entangled quantum bits (“qubits”), their Sycamore computer has taken on — and solved — a problem considered intractable for classical computers. The milestone comes after roughly two decades of quantum computing research conducted by Martinis and his group, from the development of a single superconducting qubit to systems including architectures of 72 and, with Sycamore, 54 qubits (one didn’t perform) that take advantage of the both awe-inspiring and bizarre properties of quantum mechanics.
Power Integrations Announces Settlement of Patent Litigation
Power Integrations (Nasdaq: POWI) today announced a comprehensive settlement of its patent disputes with ON Semiconductor and its subsidiary, Fairchild Semiconductor. Consistent with the terms of the term sheet disclosed on October 9, the companies have entered into a definitive agreement that ends all litigation between them, including lawsuits in Delaware, California, Taiwan and China. Power Integrations (PI) has received a cash payment of $175M from ON; neither company granted any licenses to the other.
Dr. Necip Sayiner Joins Rambus Board of Directors
Rambus Inc. (NASDAQ: RMBS), a silicon IP and chip provider dedicated to delivering data faster and safer, today announced the appointment of Dr. Necip Sayiner to its Board of Directors, effective immediately. With over twenty-five years of semiconductor expertise, Dr. Sayiner is an experienced executive with a proven track record of successfully increasing company revenue growth and profitability. Prior to joining the Rambus board, he was executive vice president and general manager at Renesas Electronics Corporation, following their acquisition of Intersil, where he served as president and CEO.
Renesas Expands Access to Portfolio of Leading-Edge IP Licenses
Renesas Electronics Corporation (TSE:6723), a supplier of advanced semiconductor solutions, today announced expanded access to its highly sought portfolio of intellectual property (IP) licenses that allow designers to meet a broad range of customer requirements in a rapidly changing industry. Starting today, customers will have access to IPs such as advanced 7nm (nanometer) SRAM and TCAM, and leading-edge standard Ethernet time-sensitive networking (TSN) IP. Furthermore, Renesas is working on providing a system IP which includes PIM (processing in memory), which attracted attention as an AI accelerator, presented in a conference paper in June 2019.
Micron Brings 3D XPoint Technology to Market With the World’s Fastest SSD
Micron Technology, Inc. (Nasdaq: MU), today announced a breakthrough in nonvolatile memory technology with the introduction of the world’s fastest SSD, the Micron X100 SSD. The Micron X100 SSD is the first solution in a family of products from Micron targeting storage- and memory-intensive applications for the data center. These solutions will leverage the strengths of 3D XPoint technology and usher in a new tier in the memory-to-storage hierarchy with higher capacity and persistence than DRAM, along with higher endurance and performance than NAND.
