Category: Semiconductor

Semiconductor/IC

  • Room-Temp Covalent Wafer Bonding

    MEMS elements are delicate. They sit there in their little cavities, expecting to operate in some sort of controlled environment – perhaps a particular gas…

  • MIMO: Hardware or Software?

    A while back we covered CEVA’s move to multicore for their communications-oriented XC architecture. One of the motivating elements was the complexity of requirements for…

  • 3D Spintronics

    I stumbled across a work by a team from Cambridge that takes spintronics into 3D. The idea reflects the obvious fact that 3D storage should…

  • The Scribe and the Princess and the Pea

    OK, perhaps “scribe line” is more accurate, but I do love a double entendre (even if not salacious). I had a discussion with KLA-Tencor at…

  • 3D-IC Planning

    During Cadence’s recent CDNlive event, I had a discussion with Kevin Rinebold to talk about 3D-IC planning and design. Actually, it’s more than that, covering…

  • An AC-Biased Microphone

    I’ll round out the last of the things that caught my attention at this year’s ISSCC with a proposal and implementation of an AC-biased microphone.…

  • Dry Etch Edges Wet

    Two announcements have come out recently regarding dry etch systems. Now… dry etch is nothing new. Although it is newer than wet etch, which is…

  • 20 to 14: Less Bad Than You Thought?

    Conventional wisdom should suggest the following points: Each new process node affects all layers Moving to FinFETs will be a big change for designers Turns…

  • Teasing Apart FBAR Loading and Temperature Effects

    We hear stories of a not-so-distant future when we can wave our tricorder-like devices around and detect all kinds of substances that might be in…

  • One + One > Two

    The latest, greatest mobile standards appear to be beastly affairs. Added to the old ones, and the number of algorithms that a poor cellphone –…