On-chip interconnects have not been scaling at the same speed as transistors. When TSMC went from 20nm to 16/14nm, for example, they decided to replace the bulk MOSFET with a FinFET, but they left the interconnect stack as is. In part, interconnect scaling has been slow because companies don’t want to make too many major changes at the same time and introduce risk. Costs, of course, are also an issue.…
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Extreme Stress for Existing Foundry/Fabless Model
Dr. Roawen Chen, senior vice president of global operations at Qualcomm, will provide the keynote talk at The ConFab 2014 this year. The event will be held June 22-25 at The Encore at The Wynn in Las Vegas. In his talk, Dr. Chen, will describe how the increased performance and the rapid shift from traditional handsets to consumer computing device post a number of manufacturing and supply chain challenges for…
At The ConFab 2014: The Outlook for the Semiconductor Industry
The semiconductor market will continue at a steady growth rate for the next several years. For a semiconductor company to achieve significant growth in this ultra-competitive environment, it needs to identify market opportunities and predict the future, in terms of markets, both regionally and globally, anticipate technological advancements, as well as envision new applications. At The ConFab in June, Session 1 will provide an overview of these critical issues. The…
The ConFab R&D Panel is Set
A panel session at The ConFab, to be held June 22-25 in Las Vegas, will focus on how the semiconductor industry can continue to innovate in an environment where lower revenue growth is combined with rising development costs and consolidation. The panel will discuss where the next big growth drivers will come from and the ability of the industry to continue scaling and remain on Moore’s Law through the introduction…
MEMS – Enter with Care
By Karen Lightman, MEMS Industry Group MEMS – enter with care. I think that will be my tagline for MEMS Industry Group’s third annual MEMS Executive Congress Europe 2014 recently held in Munich, Germany. The official theme of the conference was the “MEMS-Enabled Life,” and the keynotes and panelists did talk about how MEMS is currently and will continue to improve our quality of life. However, what struck me the…
Webcast on 3D Integration/Advanced Packaging, Lithography
If you’ve been following the field of 3D integration for any time at all, then you’re familiar with Sitaram Arkalgud. In addition to being a great guy, he led the charge on 3D integration at SEMATECH in the early days. He’s now at Invensas and I’m very much looking forward to hearing from him again, this Thursday at 1:00 Eastern. You can hear from him too, by tuning into our…
Qualcomm’s Dr. Roawen Chen to keynote at The ConFab
I’m delighted to report that Dr. Roawen Chen, Senior Vice Present of global operations at Qualcomm, has accepted our invitation to deliver the keynote talk at The ConFab, on Monday June 23rd. As previously announced, Dr. Gary Patton, Vice President of IBM’s Semiconductor Research and Development Center in East Fishkill, New York, will deliver the keynote on the second day, on Tuesday June 24th. I’m thrilled to have these two…
Dr. Gary Patton to provide keynote at The ConFab
I’m very pleased to announce that IBM’s Dr. Gary Patton will provide the keynote talk at The ConFab on Tuesday, June 24th. Gary is Vice President of IBM’s Semiconductor Research and Development Center in East Fishkill, New York. He has responsibility for IBM’s semiconductor R&D roadmap, operations, and technology development alliances, with primary locations in East Fishkill, New York, Burlington, Vermont, and the Albany Nanotech Research Center in Albany, New…
Mission accomplished. Now what?
In the late ‘80s and ‘90s, when our magazine staff gathered for dinner we often made a toast: “Here’s to chip silicon!” I really believed (and still do) that making electronics more affordable would increase their use and make our lives better and the world a better place to be. I haven’t toasted to cheap silicon for a while. Why? Because that mission has been accomplished. At SEMI’s ISS, Paul…
Take the NCMS survey, but first figure out your nano position
I recommend taking the new survey out by the National Center for Manufacturing Sciences (NCMS) – www.usnanosurvey.org — but you may first want to give some thought as to what is and what isn’t “nanotechnology.” That’s been something of a puzzle for the semiconductor and related industries over the last 10+ years. Some put semiconductor manufacturing, where matter is regularly manipulated on an atomic scale, squarely in the nanotechnology camp.…
