Category Archives: Semiconductors

Semiconductor Research Corporation (SRC) and the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) today announced the second phase of the Nanoelectronics Research Initiative (NRI). For this phase, SRC and NIST will provide a combined $5 million in annual funding for three multi-university research centers tasked with demonstrating non-conventional, low-energy technologies that outperform current technologies on critical applications in 10 years and beyond.

The second phase of NRI also features joint projects with the National Science Foundation (NSF) and the multi-university research network involves 34 universities in 17 states. The three research centers are:

  • the Institute for Nanoelectronics Discovery and Exploration (INDEX) at SUNY’s College of Nanoscale Science and Engineering (CNSE);
  • the Center for Nanoferroic Devices (CNFD) at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln; and
  • the South West Academy of Nanoelectronics (SWAN) 2.0 at the University of Texas at Austin.

“In 2012, the first phase of NRI culminated with a comprehensive assessment of the various NRI device concepts through performance benchmarking,” said Tom Theis, the new SRC program executive director. “NRI 2.0 will focus on key research opportunities identified in the benchmarking study and will explore the ultimate scalability of emerging digital device concepts and their functionality beyond digital logic. For example, researchers will explore magnetoelectric devices that promise improved energy efficiency and the ability to combine memory and logic.”

NIST will provide $2.6 million to the effort each year for up to five years, matched by $2.4 million each year from NRI. NRI is made up of participants from the semiconductor industry including GLOBALFOUNDRIES, IBM, Intel, Micron Technology and Texas Instruments.

“NIST collaborations with the NRI are one of the fastest ways to move pre-competitive technology forward,” said Under Secretary of Commerce for Standards and Technology and Director of NIST Patrick Gallagher. “We’re excited to see what innovative nanoelectronic devices and concepts the next phase of this partnership with SRC will produce.”

Additional universities involved in the NRI network include:

  • INDEX at SUNY’s College of Nanoscale Science and Engineering (CNSE): Purdue, Virginia, Cornell, Georgia Institute of Technology and Columbia.
  • CNFD at University of Nebraska-Lincoln: Wisconsin-Madison, Oakland, SUNY Buffalo, UC Irvine, Delaware.
  • SWAN 2.0 at University of Texas at Austin: UT Dallas, North Carolina State, Texas A&M, UC San Diego, Stanford and Harvard.

In collaboration with the National Science Foundation, NRI also supports Nanoscale Interdisciplinary Research Teams (NIRTs) as part of the National Nanotechnology Initiative’s Signature Initiative "Nanoelectronics for Beyond 2020.” Funding for these projects flows to many other leading U.S. universities.

NRI 2.0 is the successor to an earlier multi-year collaboration between NRI and NIST that focused on the long-term goal of “developing the next logic switch,” or the basic logic elements that serve as the building blocks of electronic devices. The NRI initiative was originally launched by the Semiconductor Industry Association (SIA) in 2005. The NRI and the collaboration with NIST are managed by the Nanoelectronics Research Corporation (NERC), a special purpose subsidiary of SRC, the world’s leading university-research consortium for semiconductors and related technologies.

The Nanoelectronics Research Initiative is one of three research program entities of SRC aimed at extending the frontiers of semiconductor electronics.

Global shipments of solid state drives (SSD) in PCs are set to rise by a factor of seven by 2017, allowing them to claim more than one-third of the market for PC storage solutions by that time, according to an IHS iSuppli Storage Market Tracker Report from information and analytics provider IHS.

SSD shipments in PCs will rise to 227 million units in 2017, up more than 600 percent from 31 million in 2012, as presented in the figure below. Meanwhile, shipments of PC hard disk drives (HDD) will decline to 410 million in 2017, down 14 percent from 475 million in 2012.

SSDs and HDDs by 2017

The divergent outlook for the two products will allow SSDs to climb and claim 36 percent of the PC storage market in 2017, up from just 6 percent in 2012. At the same time, HDDs will see their long-term dominance in PCs erode, with their share falling to 64 percent in 2017, down from a commanding 94 percent in 2012.

The SSD space includes the cache SSD segment where NAND flash is used alongside a hard disk drive, as well as a separate segment in which NAND flash is embedded on top of an HDD in an integrated, hybrid form factor.

“For SSDs, the major factors driving growth this year will be Ultrabooks and other ultrathin notebook PCs, especially as Intel’s upcoming Haswell processors bring about a robust combination of performance and efficiency for the superthin computers,” said Fang Zhang, analyst for storage systems at IHS. “In the coming years, Ultrabooks and ultrathins—combined with appealing touch-screen displays and convertible form factors—are likely to become more compelling as the machines attempt to lure consumers away from smartphones and tablets, boosting demand for SSDs used in these systems. Meanwhile, SSDs will become more attractive to PC makers and buyers alike as costs decline for the NAND flash memory at the heart of the storage devices.”

Hard times for hard drives

PC HDD shipments in 2013 are forecast to decline to 436.9 million units, down 8 percent from 475.4 million last year. In comparison, SSD shipments in PCs will jump to 68.9 million units, up a resounding 122 percent from 31.1 million. From 2012 to 2017, the compound annual growth rate for PC HDD shipments will be in negative territory at -2.9 percent, while that for PC SSDs comes out to an enviable 48.0 percent.

“The HDD industry is suffering the multilayered effects of a depressed market, resulting from a weak global economy, upgrades not being made for desktop and notebook PCs alike as replacement cycles get extended, and cannibalization by flashier devices like mobile handsets and tablets,” Zhang observed.

PC HDD revenue is expected to decline to $26.4 billion in 2013, down from last year’s record of $30.6 billion that resulted mainly from higher average selling prices after the devastating floods in Thailand.

State of euphoria for solid-state drives

Meanwhile the SSD space has been extremely competitive, closing out last year on record-high revenue and with the vigorous enterprise SSD segment enjoying dramatic expansion. The fourth quarter last year was a particularly strong period for computer-related SSDs with shipments of 12 million units, boosting year-end revenue to $6.8 billion. By 2017, PC SSD industry revenue of $22.6 billion will come close to PC HDD revenue of $23.5 billion.

Silver linings

Despite the rapid adoption of SSDs, hard disk drives will continue to lead the overall storage market because of their cost advantage on higher densities and dollars-per-gigabyte pricing. HDD shipments also will gradually pick up in the second half this year as Windows 8 and Ultrabooks gain traction among consumers, after failing to perform as expected upon launch last year.

In the enterprise HDD segment, competition is set to heat up as archrivals Western Digital and Seagate Technology contend for leadership, and Western Digital is expected to launch a 5-terabyte HDD sporting the new helium technology for higher disk capacity and lower power consumption. Other new HDD technologies are on the horizon as well, including nearline and hybrid hard disk drives.

HDDs also will continue to play a major role in cloud storage, remaining the final destination for the majority of digital content.

ODDs are DOA

While HDDs retain dominance despite declining shipments and SSDs maintain impressive growth momentum, a third segment of the storage industry is mired in poor results and deteriorating prospects.

Optical disk drives (ODD), used for playing CDs and DVDs in PCs, continue to worsen on both shipment and revenue terms. ODD shipments this year will amount to 262.6 million units, down from 287.4 million in 2012; while revenue will slip to $7.4 billion from $8.6 billion. By 2017, ODD shipments will shrink a further 100,000 units compared to 2012 levels, and revenue will reduce by half.

Intel Corporation today took the wraps off its brand new, low-power, high-performance microarchitecture named Silvermont.

Intel low-power, high-performance Silvermont

The technology is aimed squarely at low-power requirements in market segments from smartphones to the data center. Silvermont will be the foundation for a range of innovative products beginning to come to market later this year, and will also be manufactured using the company’s leading-edge, 22nm Tri-Gate SoC manufacturing process, which brings significant performance increases and improved energy efficiency.

"Silvermont is a leap forward and an entirely new technology foundation for the future that will address a broad range of products and market segments," said Dadi Perlmutter, Intel executive vice president and chief product officer. "Early sampling of our 22nm SoCs, including "Bay Trail" and "Avoton" is already garnering positive feedback from our customers. Going forward, we will accelerate future generations of this low-power microarchitecture on a yearly cadence."

The Silvermont microarchitecture delivers industry-leading performance-per-watt efficiency. The highly balanced design brings increased support for a wider dynamic range and seamlessly scales up and down in performance and power efficiency. On a variety of standard metrics, Silvermont also enables ~3x peak performance or the same performance at ~5x lower power over the current-generation Intel Atom processor core.

Intel’s Silvermont microarchitecture was designed and co-optimized with Intel’s 22nm SoC process using revolutionary 3-D Tri-gate transistors. By taking advantage of this industry-leading technology, Intel is able to provide a significant performance increase and improved energy efficiency.

Additional highlights of the Silvermont microarchitecture include:

  • A new multi-core and system fabric architecture scalable up to eight cores and enabling greater performance for higher bandwidth, lower latency and more efficient out-of-order support for a more balanced and responsive system.
  • New IA instructions and technologies bringing enhanced performance, virtualization and security management capabilities to support a wide range of products. These instructions build on Intel’s existing support for 64-bit and the breadth of the IA software installed base.
  • Enhanced power management capabilities including a new intelligent burst technology, low- power C states and a wider dynamic range of operation taking advantage of Intel’s 3-D transistors. Intel Burst Technology 2.0 support for single- and multi-core offers great responsiveness scaled for power efficiency.

"Through our design and process technology co-optimization we exceeded our goals for Silvermont," said Belli Kuttanna, Intel Fellow and chief architect. "By taking advantage of our strengths in microarchitecture development and leading-edge process technology, we delivered a technology package that enables significantly improved performance and power efficiency – all while delivering higher frequencies. We’re proud of this accomplishment and believe that Silvermont will offer a strong and flexible foundation for a range of new, low-power Intel SoCs."

Architecting across a spectrum of computing

Silvermont will serve as the foundation for a breadth of 22nm products expected in market later this year. The performance-per-watt improvements with the new microarchitecture will enable a significant difference in performance and responsiveness for the compute devices built around these products.

Intel’s quad-core "Bay Trail" SoC is scheduled for holiday 2013 tablets and will more than double the compute performance capability of Intel’s current-generation tablet offering1. Due to the flexibility of Silvermont, variants of the "Bay Trail" platform will also be used in market segments including entry laptop and desktop computers in innovative form factors.

Intel’s "Merrifield" is scheduled to ship to customers by the end of this year. It will enable increased performance and battery life over current-generation products1 and brings support for context aware and personal services, ultra-fast connections for Web streaming, and increased data, device and privacy protection.

Intel’s "Avoton" will enable energy efficiency and performance-per-watt for microservers2, storage and scale out workloads in the data center. "Avoton" is Intel’s second-generation Intel Atom processor SoC to provide full server product capability that customers require including 64-bit, integrated fabric, error code correction, Intel virtualization technologies and software compatibility. "Rangeley" is aimed at the network and communication infrastructure, specifically for entry-level to mid-range routers, switches and security appliances. Both products are scheduled for the second half of this year.

Concurrently, Intel is delivering industry-leading advancements on its next-generation, 22nm Haswell microarchitecture for Intel Core processors to enable full-PC performance at lower power levels for innovative "2-in-1" form factors, and other mobile devices available later this year. Intel also plans to refresh its line of Intel Xeon processor families across the data center on 22nm technology, delivering better performance-per-watt and other features.

"By taking advantage of both the Silvermont and Haswell microarchitectures, Intel is well positioned to enable great products and experiences across the full spectrum of computing," Perlmutter said.

LFoundry confirmed the signature of the final agreement regarding the acquisition of Avezzano (Italy) manufacturing facility.

“This acquisition provides us with a larger technology portfolio and with competitive 200mm capabilities in order to deliver, from Europe, outstanding foundry services to a wider range of customers in all geographical regions,” said Guenther Ernst, CEO. “It will accelerate the development of LFoundry toward a premier analog mixed signal and specialty foundry partner.”

LFoundry is an analog / mixed signal and specialized silicon foundry with advanced 200mm manufacturing facilities in Europe. Based in Landshut, Germany, with manufacturing facilities in Rousset, France and Avezzano, Italy,LFoundry is focused on providing access to advanced analog manufacturing services. LFoundry is offering foundry technologies down to 110nm and a large portfolio of process-proven libraries, IP, design tools and reference flows.

Analog Devices, Inc., a provider of high-performance semiconductors for signal-processing applications, announced today that it has entered into a worldwide distribution agreement with Mouser Electronics, Inc. Mouser supplies design engineers and buyers with the newest products and leading-edge technologies.

ADI delivers data converters, amplifiers, MEMS, DSPs (digital signal processors), RF and power management ICs. Together, these technologies form a complete design solution and play a fundamental role in converting, conditioning, and processing real-world phenomena in a wide array of applications.

“Our customers are integrating complete solutions into an ever-widening range of applications, and ADI’s high-performance signal-processing portfolio is at the core of these systems,” said Thomas Wessel, vice president, worldwide sales, Analog Devices. “With our portfolio and Mouser’s web-based sales and support teams, customers can expect to accomplish great things. Mouser Electronics focuses on new product sales and will immediately begin selling ADI products and solutions through their global network.”

“The global partnership between Mouser and ADI is a huge win for our customers,” said Glenn Smith, president and CEO of Mouser Electronics. “Combining ADI’s leadership position in high-performance analog products with our global reach makes it possible for design engineers worldwide to obtain the newest technologies from one authorized source.”

Mouser Electronics, a subsidiary of TTI, Inc., is part of Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway family of companies. Mouser is a semiconductor and electronic component distributor, focused on the rapid introduction of new products and technologies to electronic design engineers and buyers. Mouser.com features more than 3 million products online from more than 500 manufacturers. Mouser publishes multiple catalogs per year providing designers with up-to-date data on the components now available for the next generation of electronic devices. Mouser ships globally to over 375,000 customers in 170 countries from its 492,000 sq. ft. facility south of Dallas, Texas.

Analog Devices, Inc. today announced the appointment of Vincent Roche as president and chief executive officer (CEO) and his election to the Board of Directors, effective immediately.

“ADI is fortunate to have an executive of Vince’s caliber assume the leadership of our company,” said Ray Stata, ADI co-founder and Chairman of the Board. “Vince’s long tenure and his deep understanding of our technology, customers, and markets will serve ADI well as we continue to execute on the strategic plan which Vince played a major role in shaping. I’m confident that Vince will continue the record of success in which all ADI employees take great pride.”

Roche, 53, joined ADI in 1988. Over his nearly 25-year career at ADI, he has served in key leadership positions including worldwide sales, strategic marketing, and product management. Roche was appointed president of ADI in 2012 and has served as interim CEO since March 29, 2013 following the unexpected death of ADI CEO Jerald G. Fishman.

“I am honored to take the helm of this great company and privileged to follow in Ray Stata’s and Jerry Fishman’s footsteps as president and CEO,” said Vincent Roche. “I am committed to advancing the company’s strategy and working with the senior management team to move the company forward and continue our record of success for employees, customers, and shareholders.”

Element Six last week announced, in collaboration with Delft University of Technology, the entanglement of electron spin qubits (quantum bits) in two synthetic diamonds separated in space. This breakthrough is a major step toward achieving a diamond-based quantum network, quantum repeaters and long-distance teleportation—changing the way information is processed and enabling new systems to efficiently tackle problems inaccessible by today’s information networks and computers.

The collaboration, used two synthetic diamonds of millimeter-size that were grown by Element Six through chemical vapor deposition (CVD). The synthetic diamonds were engineered to contain a particular defect that can be manipulated using light and microwaves. The defect consists of a single nitrogen atom adjacent to a missing carbon atom—known as a nitrogen vacancy (NV) defect. The light emitted from the NV defect allows the defect’s quantum properties to be “read-out” using a microscope. By forming small lenses around the NV defect and carefully tuning the light emitted through electric fields, the Delft team was able to make the two NV defects emit indistinguishable particles of light (photons). These photons contained the quantum information of the NV defect and further manipulation allowed the quantum mechanically entanglement of the two defects.

“Element Six’s synthetic diamond material has been at the heart of these important quantum mechanics developments, which promise to revolutionize information technologies,” said Ronald Hanson, professor at Delft University of Technology. “Building on three years of collaboration, our research partnership has been critical in overcoming one of the greatest challenges of our time—finding and controlling a physical system suitable for fulfilling the promises of quantum entanglement. This is an important achievement that will help us not only create a quantum network to process information, but ultimately a future quantum computer.”

The entanglement process, which Einstein called “spooky action at a distance,” is a process where the two NV defects become strongly connected such that they are always correlated irrespective of the distance between them. The findings, published in this week’s issue of “Nature,” are a major leap forward for quantum science and demonstrate Element Six’s ability to control a single atom-like defect in the diamond lattice at the parts per trillion level. It is the first time that qubits in two separated diamonds have been entangled and subsequently shown to behave as a single particle. This entangled state holds the potential for ensuring complete security in future information networks.

“The field of synthetic diamond science is moving very quickly, requiring us to develop CVD techniques that produce exceptionally pure synthetic diamond material at nano-engineering levels,” said Adrian Wilson, head of Element Six Technologies. “Additionally, by applying the invaluable knowledge gained in our research, we’re able to successfully develop and advance extreme performance solutions for our customers that capitalize on synthetic diamond’s unique combination of properties, which can subsequently be leveraged across a range of industries.” 

Element Six collaborates with a number of universities to develop cutting-edge synthetic diamond solutions, for application across multiple industries, such as semiconductors and optics. This latest breakthrough could enable new applications in quantum information science and quantum-based sensors, and future encryption-based networks for communications. DARPA (QuASAR) and European Union FP7 (DIAMANT) helped fund Element Six and Delft’s quantum network research. 

Element Six is a synthetic diamond supermaterials company. Element Six is a member of the De Beers Group of Companies, its majority shareholder. Element Six designs, develops and produces synthetic diamond supermaterials, and operates worldwide with its head office registered in Luxembourg, and primary manufacturing facilities in China, Germany, Ireland, Sweden, South Africa, U.S. and the U.K.

The 59th annual IEEE International Electron Devices Meeting (IEDM) has issued a Call for Papers seeking original work in microelectronics research and development. The paper submission deadline is Monday, June 24, 2013 at 23:59 p.m. Pacific Time.

Special Focus Sessions at the 2013 IEDM will include bioMEMS, analog devices and circuits, advanced semiconductor manufacturing, and terahertz devices. Overall, increased participation is sought this year in circuit and process technology interaction, energy harvesting, bio-sensors and bioMEMS, power devices, magnetics and spintronics.

The 2013 IEDM will take place at the Washington Hilton Hotel December 9-11, 2013, preceded by a full day of Short Courses on Sunday, Dec. 8 and 90-minute afternoon tutorial sessions on Saturday, Dec. 7. Also, building on the popularity of the inaugural Entrepreneurs Luncheon held at last year’s IEDM, the event will be held once again, on Wednesday, Dec. 11.

The world’s best scientists and engineers in the field of microelectronics from industry, academia and government will gather at the IEDM to enjoy a technical program of more than 220 presentations, along with panels, special sessions, Short Courses, IEEE/EDS award presentations and other events spotlighting more leading work in more areas of the field than any other conference. Papers in the following areas are encouraged:

  • Circuit and Device Interaction
  • Characterization, Reliability and Yield
  • Display and Imaging Systems
  • Memory Technology
  • Modeling and Simulation
  • Nano Device Technology
  • Process and Manufacturing Technology
  • Power and Compound Semiconductor Devices
  • Sensors, MEMS and BioMEMS

 For registration and other information, interested persons should visit the IEDM 2013 home page at www.ieee-iedm.org.

Intel Corporation announced that the board of directors has unanimously elected Brian Krzanich as its next chief executive officer (CEO), succeeding Paul Otellini. Krzanich will assume his new role at the company’s annual stockholders’ meeting on May 16. The board of directors also elected Renée James, 48, to be president of Intel. She will also assume her new role on May 16, joining Krzanich in Intel’s executive office.

Krzanich, Intel’s chief operating officer since January 2012, will become the sixth CEO in Intel’s history. As previously announced, Otellini will step down as CEO and from the board of directors on May 16.

“After a thorough and deliberate selection process, the board of directors is delighted that Krzanich will lead Intel as we define and invent the next generation of technology that will shape the future of computing,” said Andy Bryant, chairman of Intel.

“Brian is a strong leader with a passion for technology and deep understanding of the business,” Bryant added. “His track record of execution and strategic leadership, combined with his open-minded approach to problem solving has earned him the respect of employees, customers and partners worldwide. He has the right combination of knowledge, depth and experience to lead the company during this period of rapid technology and industry change.”

Krzanich, 52, has progressed through a series of technical and leadership roles since joining Intel in 1982.

As chief operating officer, Krzanich led an organization of more than 50,000 employees spanning Intel’s Technology and Manufacturing Group, Intel Custom Foundry, NAND Solutions group, Human Resources, Information Technology and Intel’s China strategy.

James, 48, has broad knowledge of the computing industry, spanning hardware, security, software and services, which she developed through leadership positions at Intel and as chairman of Intel’s software subsidiaries — Havok, McAfee and Wind River. She also currently serves on the board of directors of Vodafone Group Plc and VMware Inc. and was chief of staff for former Intel CEO Andy Grove.

MOSIS, a provider of low-cost prototyping and small volume production services for custom ICs, has teamed up with imec, Ireland’s Tyndall National Institute and ePIXfab, the European Silicon Photonics support center providing low-cost prototyping services for photonic ICs. The partnership gives MOSIS’ customers access to imec’s state-of-the-art fully integrated silicon photonics processes and Tyndall’s advanced silicon photonics packaging technology.

Packaged passive silicon photonics chip, showing imec’s silicon photonic chip andTyndall’s fiber array packaging.

Imec’s silicon photonics platform enables cost-effective R&D of silicon photonic ICs for high-performance optical transceivers (25Gb/s and beyond) for telecom, datacom, and optical sensing for life science applications. The offered integrated components include low-loss waveguides, efficient grating couplers, high-speed silicon electro-optic modulators and high-speed germanium waveguide photo-detectors. A comprehensive design kit to access imec technologies will be provided. Moreover, the Tyndall National Institute, being a partner of ePIXfab, offers the ability to provide packaged silicon photonics devices. This includes the design and fabrication of custom photonic packages, fiber coupling (single and arrays) and electrical interconnects. Design rules to support these packaging capabilities will also be provided.

“Imec’s Silicon Photonics platform provides robust performance, and solutions to integrated photonics products. Companies can benefit from imec silicon photonics capability through established standard cells, or explore the functionality of their own designs in MultiProject Wafer runs,” stated Philippe Absil, program director at imec. “With this collaboration, MOSIS will offer its first access to a mature Silicon Photonics infrastructure, with the option for follow-on production,” added Wes Hansford, MOSIS Director.

The first ePIXfab-Europractice run for passive silicon photonics ICs is open for registration from June 2013 with design deadline September 9th 2013. MOSIS’ customers can register for this run and obtain the design kit via MOSIS in June 2013.

Imec’s Si Photonics 200mm wafer platform includes:

  • Tight within-wafer silicon thickness variation 3sigma < 2.5nm
  • 3-level patterning of 220nm top Si layer (193nm optical lithography)
  • poly-Si overlay and patterning (193nm optical lithography)
  • 3-level n-type implants and 3-level p-type implants in Si
  • Ge epitaxial growth on Si and p-type and n-type implants in Ge
  • Local NiSi contacts, Tungsten vias and Cu metal interconnects
  • Al bond pads
  • Validated cell library with fiber couplers, polarization rotators, highly efficient carrier depletion modulators and ultra-compact Ge waveguide photo-detectors with low dark current.
  • Design kit support for IPKISS framework, PhoeniX Software and Mentor Graphics software

Tyndall’s Si Photonics Packaging Technology enables:

  • Passive device packaging, single and multi-fiber arrays to grating couplers
  • Active device packaging, modulators and detectors with electrical ports and fiber arrays
  • Custom packaging requirements (mechanical, thermal stability etc.)