Here are some of my collection of newest trends and predictions for year 2018. I have not invented those ideas what will happen next year completely myself. I have gone through many articles that have given predictions for year 2018. Then I have picked and mixed here the best part from those articles (sources listed on the end of posting) with some of my own additions to make this posting.This article contains very many quotations from those source articles (hopefully all acknowledged with link to source).
The general trend in electronics industry is that the industry growth have been driven by mobile industry. Silicon content in smartphones and other mobile devices is increasing as vendors add greater functionality. Layering on top of that are several emerging trends such as IoT, big data, AI and smart vehicles that are creating demand for greater computing power and expanding storage capacity.
Manufacturing trends
According to Foundry Challenges in 2018 article the silicon foundry business is expected to see steady growth in 2018. The growth in semiconductor manufacturing will remain steady, but there will be challenges in the manufacturing capacity and expenses to move to the next nodes. For most applications, unless you must have highest levels of performance, there may not be as compelling a business case to focus on the bleeding-edge nodes. Over the last two years, the IC industry has experienced an acute shortage of 200mm fab capacity (legacy MCU, power, sensors, 6-micron to 65nm). In 2018, 200mm capacity will remain tight. An explosion in 200mm demand has set off a frenzied search for used semiconductor manufacturing equipment that can be used at older process nodes. The problem is there is not enough used equipment available. The profit margins in manufacturing are so thin in markets served by those fabs that it’s hard to justify paying current rising equipment prices, and newcomers may have a tough time making inroads. Foundries with fully depreciated 200mm equipment and capacity already are seeing increased revenues in their 200mm business.The specialty foundry business is undergoing a renaissance, thanks to the emergence of 5G and automotive.
300mm is expected to follow a similar path for lack of capacity because 300mm fabs already produce leading-edge chips and more mainstream 300mm demand is driven by MCUs, wireless communications and storage applications. Early predictions are for solid growth in 2018, fueled by demand for memory and logic at advanced 10/7nm.
In 2017, marking the first time that the semiconductor equipment market has exceeded the previous market high of US$47.7 billion set in 2000. Fab tool vendors found themselves in the midst of an unexpected boom cycle in 2017, thanks to enormous demand for equipment in 3D NAND and, to a lesser degree, DRAM. In 2018, equipment demand looks robust, although the industry will be hard-pressed to surpass the record growth figures in 2017. In 2018, 7.5 percent growth is expected to result in sales of US$60.1 billion for the global semiconductor equipment market – another record-breaking year. Demand looks solid across the three main growth drivers for fab tool vendors—DRAM, NAND and foundry/logic.
Rising demand for chips is hitting the IC packaging supply chain, causing shortages of select manufacturing capacity, various package types, leadframes and even some equipment. Spot shortages for some IC packages began showing up in 2017, but the problem has been growing and spreading since then, so packaging customers may encounter select shortages well into 2018. Apple Watch 3 shipment growth to benefit Taiwan IC packagers in 2018.
Market for advanced packaging begins to diverge based on performance and price. Advanced Packaging is now viewed as the best way to handle large amounts of data at blazing speeds.
Moore’s law
Many recent publications say Moore’s Law is dead. Though Moore’s Law is dead may be experiencing some health challenges, it’s not time to start digging the grave for the semiconductor and electronics market yet.
Even smaller nodes are still being taken to use in high end chips. The node names are confusing. Intel’s 10nm technology is roughly equivalent to the foundry 7nm node.In 2018, Intel is expected to finally ramp up 10nm finally in the first half of 2018. In addition, GlobalFoundries, Samsung and TSMC will begin to ship their respective 7nm finFET processes. On the leading edge, GlobalFoundries, Intel, Samsung and TSMC start migrating from the 16nm/14nm to the 10nm/7nm logic nodes. It is expected that some chip-makers face some challenges on the road. Time will tell if GlobalFoundries, Samsung and TSMC will struggle at 7nm. Early predictions are for solid growth in 2018, fueled by demand for memory and logic at advanced 10/7nm. 7nm is projected to generate sales from $2.5 billion to $3.0 billion in 2018. Over time 10nm/7nm is expected to be a big and long-running node. Suppliers of FPGAs and processors are expected to jump on 10nm/7nm.
South Korea’s Samsung Electronics said it has commenced production of the second generation of its 10nm-class 8-Gb DDR4 DRAM. Devices labeled 10nm-class have feature sizes as small as 10 to 19 nanometers. With the continued need for shrinking pattern dimensions, semiconductor manufacturers continue to implement more complex patterning techniques, such as advanced multi-patterning, for the 10nm design node and beyond. They also are investing significant development effort in readying EUV lithography for production at the 7/5nm design nodes. Samsung is planning to begin transitioning to EUV for logic chips next year at the 7nm node, although it is unclear when the technology will be put into production for DRAM.
There will be talk on even smaller nodes. FinFETs will get extended to at least to 5nm, and possibly 3nm in next 5 years. The path to 5nm loks pretty clear. FinFETs will get extended at least to 5nm. It’s possible they will get extended to 3nm. EUV will be used at new nodes, followed by High NA Lithography. New smaller nodes challenges the chip design as abstractions become more difficult at 7nm and beyond. Models are becoming more difficult to develop, integrate and utilize effectively at 10/7nm and beyond as design complexity, process variation and physical effects add to the number of variables that need to be taken into account. Materials and basic structures may diverge by supplier, at 7 nm and beyond. Engineering and scientific teams at 3nm and beyond will require completely different mixes of skills than today.
Silicon is still going strong, but the hard fact is that CMOS has been running out of steam for several nodes, and that becomes more obvious at each new node. To extend into new markets and new process nodes Chipmakers Look To New Materials. There are a number of compounds in use already (generally are being confined to specific niche applications), such as gallium arsenide, gallium nitride, and silicon carbide. Silicon will be supplemented by 2D materials to extend Moore’s Law. Transition metal dichalcogenides (TMDCs), a class of 2D materials derived from basic elements—principally tellurium, selenium, sulfur, and oxygen—are being widely explored by researchers. TMDCs are functioning as semiconductors in conjunction with graphene. Graphene, the wonder material rediscovered in 2004, and a host of other two-dimensional materials are gaining ground in manufacturing semiconductors as silicon’s usefulness begins to fade. Wide-bandgap semiconductor materials like gallium nitride (GaN) and silicon carbide (SiC) are anticipated to be used in many more applications in 2018. Future progress increasingly will require a mix of different materials and disciplines, but silicon will remain a key component.
Interconnect Materials need to to be improved. For decades, aluminum interconnects were the industry standard. In the late 1990s, chipmakers switched to copper. Over the years, transistors have decreased dramatically in size, so interconnects also have had to scale in size leading to roadblock known as the RC challenge. Industry is investing significant effort in developing new approaches to extend copper use and finding new metals. There’s also some investigation into improvements on the dielectric side. The era of all-silicon substrates and copper wires may be coming to an end.
Application markets
Wearables are a question mark. Demand for wearables slowed down in 2017 so much that smart speakers likely outsold wearable devices in 2017 holiday season. eMarketer is estimating that usage of wearable will grow just 11.9 percent in 2018, rising from 44.7 million adult wearable users in 2017 to 50.1 million in 2018. On the other hand market research firm IDC estimates that the shipments of wearable electronics devices are projected to more than double over the next five years as watches displace fitness trackers as the biggest sellers. IDC forecasts that wearables shipments will increase at a compound annual growth rate of 18.4 percent between 2017 and 2021, rising from 113.2 million this year to 222.3 million in 2021. At the same time fitness trackers are expected to become commodity product. Tomorrow’s wearables will become more fully featured and multi-functional.
The automotive market for semiconductors is shifting into high gear in 2018. Right now the average car has about $350 worth of semiconductor content, but that is projected to grow another 50% by 2023 as the overall automotive market for semiconductors grows from $35 billion to $54 billion. The explosion of drive-by-wire technology, combined with government mandates toward fully electric powertrains, has changed this paradigm—and it impacts more than just the automotive industry. Consider implications beyond the increasingly complex vehicle itself, including new demands on supporting infrastructure. The average car today contains up to 100 million lines of code. Self-driving car will have considerably more code in it. Software controls everything from safety critical systems like brakes and power steering, to basic vehicle controls like doors and windows. Meeting ISO 26262 Software Standards is needed but it will not make the code bug free. It’s quickly becoming common practice for embedded system developers to isolate both safety and security features on the same SoC. The shift to autonomous vehicles marks a major shift in the supply chain—and a major opportunity.
Many applications have need for a long service life — for example those deployed within industrial, scientific and military industries. In these applications, the service life may exceed that of component availability. Replacing an advanced, obsolete components in a design can be very costly, potentially requiring an entire redesign of the electronic hardware and software. The use of programmable devices helps designers not only to address component obsolescence, but also to reduce the cost and complexity of the solution. Programmable logic devices are provided in a range of devices of different types, capabilities and sizes, from FPGAs to System on Chips (SoC) and Complex Programmable Logic Devices (CPLD). The obsolete function can be emulated within the device, whether it is a logic function implemented in programmable logic in a CPLD, FPGA or SoC, or a processor system implemented in an FPGA or SoC.
Become familiar with USB type C connector. USB type C connector is becoming quickly more commonplace than any other earlier interface. In the end of 2016 there were 300 million devices using a USBC connection – a big part was smartphones, but the interface was also widespread on laptops. With growth, the USBC becomes soon the most common PC and peripheral interface. Thunderbolt™ 3 on USBC connector promises to fulfill the promise of USB-C for single-cable docking and so much more.
Power electronics
The power electronics market continues to grow and gain more presence across a variety of markets. 2017 was a good year for electric vehicles and the future of this market looks very promising. In 2017, we saw also how wireless charging technology has been adopted by many consumer electronic devices- including Apple smart phones. Today’s power supplies do more than deliver clean and stable dc power on daily basis—they provide advanced capabilities that can save you time and money.
Wide-bandgap semiconductor materials like gallium nitride (GaN) and silicon carbide (SiC) are anticipated to be used in many more applications in 2018. At the moment, the number of applications for those materials is steadily increasing in the automotive and military industry. Expect to see more adoption of SiC and GaN materials in automotive market.
According to Battery Market Goes Bigger and Better in 2018 article advances in battery technologies hold the keys to continuing progress in portable electronics, robotics, military, and telecommunication applications, as well as distributed power grids. It is difficult to see lithium-ion based batteries being replaced anytime soon, so the advances in battery technology are primarily through the application of lithium-ion battery chemistries. New battery protection for portable electronics cuts manufacturing steps and costs for Lithium-ion.
Transparency Market Research analysts predict that the global lithium-ion battery market is poised to rise from $29.67 billion in 2015 to $77.42 billion in 2024 with a compound annual growth rate of 11.6 %. That growth has already spread from the now ubiquitous consumer electronics segment to automotive, grid energy, and industrial applications. Dramatic increase is expected for battery power for the transportation, consumer electronic, and stationary segments. According to Bloomberg New Energy Finance (BNEF), the global energy-storage market will double six times between 2016 and 2030, rising to a total of 125 G/305 gigawatt-hours. In 2018, energy-storage systems will continue proliferating to provide backup power to the electric grid.
Memory
Memory business boomed in 2017 for both NAND and DRAM. The drivers for DRAM are smartphones and servers. Solid-state drives (SSDs) and smartphones are fueling the demand for NAND. Both the DRAM and NAND content in smartphones continues to grow, so memory business will do well in 2018.Fab tool vendors found themselves in the midst of an unexpected boom cycle in 2017, thanks to enormous demand for equipment in 3D NAND and, to a lesser degree, DRAM. In 2018, equipment demand looks robust, although the industry will be hard-pressed to surpass the record growth figures in 2017.
NAND Market Expected to Cool in Q1 from the crazy year 2017, but it is still growing well because there is increasing demand. The average NAND content in smartphones has been growing by roughly 50% recently, going from approximately 24 gigabytes in 2016 to approximately 38 gigabytes today.3D NAND will do the heavy memory lifting that smartphone users demand. Contract prices for NAND flash memory chips are expected to decline in during the first quarter of 2018 as a traditional lull in demand following the year-end quarter.
Lots of 3D NAND will go to solid state drives in 2018. IDC forecasts strong growth for the solid-state drive (SSD) industry as it transitions to 3D NAND. SSD industry revenue is expected to reach $33.6 billion in 2021, growing at a CAGR of 14.8%. Sizes of memory chips increase as number of layer in 3D NAND are added. We’ve already scaled up to 48 layers. Does this just keep scaling up, or are there physical limits here? Maybe we could see a path to 256 layers in few years.
Memory — particular DRAM — was largely considered a commodity business. Though that it’s really not true in 2017. DRAM memory marked had boomed in 2017 at the highest rate of expansion in 23 years, according to IC Insights. Skyrocketing prices drove the DRAM market to generate a record $72 billion in revenue, and it drove total revenue for the IC market up 22%. Though the outlook for the immediate future appears strong, a downturn in DRAM more than likely looms in the not-too-distant future. It will be seen when there are new players on the market. It is a largely unchallenged assertion that Chinese firms will in the not so distant future become a force in semiconductor memory market. Chinese government is committed to pumping more than $160 billion into the industry over a decade, with much of that ticketed for memory startups.
There is search for faster memory because modern computers, especially data-center servers that skew heavily toward in-memory databases, data-intensive analytics, and increasingly toward machine-learning and deep-neural-network training functions, depend on large amounts of high-speed, high capacity memory to keep the wheels turning. The memory speed has not increased as fast as the capacity. The access bandwidth of DRAM-based computer memory has improved by a factor of 20x over the past two decades. Capacity increased 128x during the same period. For year 2018 DRAM remains a near-universal choice when performance is the priority. There has been some attempts to very fast memory interfaces. Intel the company has introduced the market’s first FPGA chip with integrated high-speed EMBED (Embedded Multi-Die Interconnect Bridge): The Stratix 10 MX interfaces to HMB2 memory (High Memory Bandwidth) that offers about 10 times faster speed than standard DDR-type DIMM.
There is search going on for a viable replacement for DRAM. Whether it’s STT-RAM or phase-change memory or resistive RAM, none of them can match the speed or endurance of DRAM. Necessity is the mother of invention, and we see at least two more generations after 1x. XPoint is also coming up as another viable memory solution that could be inserted into the current memory architecture. It will be interesting to see how that plays out versus DRAM.
5G and IoT
5G something in it for everyone. 5G is big. 5G New Radio (NR) wireless technology will ultimately impact everyone in the electronics and telecommunications industries. Most estimates say 2020 is when we will ultimately see some real 5G deployments on a scale. In the meantime, companies are firming up their plans for whatever 5G products and services they will offer. Though test and measurement solutions will be key in the commercialization cycle. 5G is set to disrupt test processes. If 5G takes off, the technology will propel the development of new chips in both the infrastructure and the handset. Data centers require specialty semiconductors from power management to high-speed optical fiber front-ends. 5G systems will drive more complexity in RF front-ends .5G will offer increased capacity and decreased latency for some critical applications such as vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) or vehicle-to-infrastructure (V2I) communications for advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS) and self-driving vehicles. The big question is whether 5G will disrupt the landscape or fall short of its promises.
Electronics manufacturers expect a lot from Internet of Thing. The evolution of intelligent electronic sensors is creating a revolution for IoT and Industrial IoT as companies bring new sensor-based, intelligent systems to market. The business promise is that the proliferation of smart and connected “things” in the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) provides tremendous opportunities for increased performance and lower costs. Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) has a market forecast approaching $100 billion by 2020. Turning volumes of factory data into actionable information that has value is essential. Predictive maintenance and asset tracking are two big IoT markets to watch in 2018 because they will provide real efficiencies and improved safety. It will be about instrumenting our existing infrastructures with sensors that improve their reliability and help predict failures. It will be about tracking important assets through their lifecycles.
A new breed of designers has arrived that is leveraging inexpensive sensors to build the intelligent systems at the edge of the Internet of Things (IoT). They work in small teams, collaborate online, and they expect affordable design tools that are easy to use in order to quickly produce results. Their goal is to deliver a functioning device or a proof-of-concept to their stakeholders while spending as little money as possible to get there. We need to become multi-functional engineers who can comfortably work in the digital, RF, and system domains.
The Io edge sensor device usually needs to be cheap. Simple mathematical reasoning suggests that the average production cost per node must be small, otherwise the economics of the IoT simply are not viable. Most suppliers to the electronics industry are today working under the assumption that the bill-of-materials (BoM) cost of a node cannot exceed $5 on average. While the sensor market continues to garner billions of dollars, the average selling price of a MEMS sensor, for example, is only 60 cents.
Designing a well working and secure IoT system is still hard. IoT platforms are very complex distributed systems and managing these distributed systems is often an overlooked challenge. When designing for the IoT, security needs to be addressed from the Cloud down to each and every edge device. Protecting data is both a hardware and a software requirement, as more data is being stored and analyzed in edge devices and gateways.
The continued evolution of powerful embedded processors is enabling more functionality to be consolidated into single heterogeneous multicore devices. You will see more mixed criticality designs – those designs which contain both safety-critical and non-safety critical processes running on the same chip. It’s quickly becoming common practice for embedded system developers to isolate both safety and security features on the same SoC.
AI
There is clearly a lot of hype surrounding machine learning (ML) and artificial intelligence (AI) fields. Over the past few years, machine learning (ML) has evolved from an interesting new approach that allows computers to beat champions at chess and Go, into one that is touted as a panacea for almost everything. Machine learning already has delivered beneficial results in certain niches, but it has potential for a bigger and longer lasting impact because of the demand for broad insights and efficiencies across industries. Also EDA companies have been investing in this technology and some results are expected to be announced.
The Battle of AI Processors Begins in 2018. Machine learning applications have a voracious appetite for compute cycles, consuming as much compute power as they can possibly scrounge up. As a result, they are invariably run on parallel hardware – often parallel heterogeneous hardware—which creates development challenges of its own. 2018 will be the start of what could be a longstanding battle between chipmakers to determine who creates the hardware that artificial intelligence lives on. Main contenders on the field at the moment are CPUs, GPUs, TPUs (tensor processing units), and FPGAs. Analysts at both Research and Markets and TechNavio have predicted the global AI chip market to grow at a compound annual growth rate of about 54% between 2017 and 2021.
Sources:
Battery Market Goes Bigger and Better in 2018
Smart speakers to outsell wearables during U.S. holidays, as demand for wearables slows
Wearables Shipments Expected to Double by 2021
The Week In Review: Manufacturing #186
Five technology trends for 2018
NI Trend Watch 2018 explores trends driving the future faster
Creating Software Separation for Mixed Criticality Systems
Isolating Safety and Security Features on the Xilinx UltraScale+ MPSoC
Meeting ISO 26262 Software Standards
DRAM Growth Projected to be Highest Since ’94
NAND Market Expected to Cool in Q1
Memory Market Forecast 2018 … with Jim Handy
3D NAND Storage Fuels New Age of Smartphone Apps
$55.9 Billion Semiconductor Equipment Forecast – New Record with Korea at Top
Advanced Packaging Is Suddenly Very Cool
Apple Watch 3 shipment growth to benefit Taiwan IC packagers in 2018
Rapid SoC Proof-of-Concept for Zero Cost
EDA Challenges Machine Learning
What Can You Expect from the New Generation of Power Supplies?
Optimizing Machine Learning Applications for Parallel Hardware
FPGA-dataa 10 kertaa nopeammin
Chipmakers Look To New Materials
What the Experts Think: Delivering the next 5 years of semiconductor technology
Programmable Logic Holds the Key to Addressing Device Obsolescence
The Battle of AI Processors Begins in 2018
For China’s Memory Firms, Legal Tests May Loom
Predictions for the New Year in Analog & Power Electronics
Lithium-ion Overcomes Limitations
Will Fab Tool Boom Cycle Last?
The Next 5 Years Of Chip Technology
Chipmakers Look To New Materials
Process Window Discovery And Control
Sensors are Fundamental to New Intelligent Systems
Industrial IoT (IIoT) – Where is Silicon Valley
Internet of things (IoT) design considerations for embedded connected devices
How efficient memory solutions can help designers of IoT nodes meet tight BoM cost targets
1,325 Comments
Tomi Engdahl says:
With Help From Hydrogen, Spintronics Takes One Step Closer to Digital Logic
https://spectrum.ieee.org/nanoclast/semiconductors/devices/spintronics-turns-to-new-device-architecture-to-create-ultralowpower-microchips
Hydrogen ions can turn magnetism on and off in a spintronic device, opening up digital logic applications
Tomi Engdahl says:
technology
Applied Materials Gives Weak Forecasts, Cites Market Headwinds
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-11-15/applied-materials-gives-weak-forecasts-cites-market-headwinds
Applied Materials Inc., the biggest maker of equipment used to manufacture semiconductors, gave weak forecasts that indicate the chip industry is holding off on expansion plans in the face of a murky outlook for electronics demand. The stock fell in extended trading.
The company is a bellwether for the industry because chip makers must buy gear from Applied Materials well ahead of new manufacturing plans. When the industry is cutting back, Applied Materials is often one of the first to feel those chills, too.
The increasing difficulty of manufacturing chips and the addition of electronic functions in everything from cars to fridges fueled a four-year boom. But there are now signs this could be followed by another cyclical downturn.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Electronica spotlights ‘connecting everything’
https://www.electronicproducts.com/News/Electronica_spotlights_connecting_everything.aspx
The trade fair will showcase new electronic components, from passives and connectors to sensors and power devices, from dozens of component manufacturers
With foot traffic in the tens of thousands and dozens of exhibitors, electronica 2018, held in November, promises to showcase some of the most innovative electronic components. This year, the show will host four conferences: automotive, embedded platform, medical electronics, and a Wireless Congress. This year’s slogan is “Connecting Everything — smart, safe, and secure,” which can be applied across all industry segments.
One of the technologies that spans across all embedded applications is sensors — a key enabler for IoT, autonomous driving, Industry 4.0, and any application starting with “smart.” You’ll find sensor manufacturers spread across exhibition areas. Solutions on display include Sensiron’s sensors for monitoring air quality, Bosch’s MEMS lineup for automotive and consumer electronics, and TE Connectivity’s sensor portfolio for medical applications.
For designers of automotive electronics, components on display will range from capacitive and LiDAR sensors for autonomous vehicles and chipsets for vehicle-to-everything (V2X) communication to display drivers for automotive displays and chips and cameras for advanced driver assistance system (ADAS).
Tomi Engdahl says:
New Metrology and Inspection Technologies Needed for More-Than-Moore Markets
https://semiengineering.com/new-metrology-and-inspection-technologies-needed-for-more-than-moore-markets/
We need new ways to find defects in multi-technology devices.
The escalating costs of following Moore’s Law have shifted the semiconductor industry’s focus to More-than-Moore (MtM) technologies, where analog/mixed-signal, RF, MEMS, image sensing, power or other technologies may be integrated with CMOS in a variety of planar, 2.5D and 3D architectures.
The integration of these and other key technologies is enabling a host of fast-growing applications like artificial intelligence, IoT infrastructure products and automotive radar, to name just a few.
New Metrology and Inspection Technologies Needed for More-than-Moore Markets
http://www.appliedmaterials.com/nanochip/nanochip-fab-solutions/october-2018/new-metrology-and-inspection-technologies-needed-for-more-than-moore-markets
Tomi Engdahl says:
180nm HVIC Technology for Digital AC/DC Power Conversion
https://semiengineering.com/180nm-hvic-technology-for-digital-ac-dc-power-conversion/
High-voltage integrated circuit (HVIC) technology is optimized for AC/DC power conversion applications with increased digital content.
This paper presents a new high-voltage integrated circuit (HVIC) technology that is optimized for AC/DC power conversion applications with increased digital content. The cost-effective process uses 3.3V CMOS and a 180nm backend process to provide about 10X greater digital circuit density compared with conventional 0.5μm 5V CMOS solutions while maintaining excellent analog circuit performance.
https://www.globalfoundries.com/sites/default/files/technicalpaper/180nm-hvic-technology-for-digital-ac-dc-power-conversion.pdf
Tomi Engdahl says:
Machine Learning Moves Into Fab And Mask Shop
https://semiengineering.com/machine-learning-moves-into-fab-and-mask-shop/
Experts at the Table, part 2: Where can this technology be applied, why it is taking so long, and what challenges lie ahead.
Tomi Engdahl says:
How To Improve Analog Design Reuse
https://semiengineering.com/how-to-improve-analog-design-reuse/
Existing design approaches remain inefficient, error-prone and highly customized, but that could change.
Digital circuit design is largely automated today, but most analog components still are designed manually. This may change soon. As analog design grows increasingly complex and error-prone, design teams and tool vendors are focusing on how to automate as much of the design of analog circuits as possible.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Mentor’s Jin Hou and Joe Hupcey III explain two fundamental characteristics of formal analysis that simplify things for the formal algorithm and provide better wall clock run time and memory usage performance.
How to Reduce the Complexity of Formal Analysis – Part 6 – Leveraging Data Independence and Non-Determinism
https://blogs.mentor.com/verificationhorizons/blog/2018/11/01/how-to-reduce-the-complexity-of-formal-analysis-part-6-leveraging-data-independence-and-non-determinism/?cmpid=10168
If you know the dependencies – or lack thereof – in your design, you can exploit two very fundamental characteristics of formal analysis that will really simplify things for the formal algorithms; giving you significantly better wall clock run time and memory usage performance: Data Independence and Non-Determinism. Along with a little design knowledge and some forethought, leveraging either of these can cut down your formal analysis to a matter of minutes vs. days.
Tomi Engdahl says:
China examines antitrust probe thrust into Samsung, SK Hynix and Micron: Claims to see ‘massive evidence’
We’ll thrust it even deeper into chipmakers, vow investigators
https://www.theregister.co.uk/2018/11/19/china_micron_samsung_and_sk_hynix_in_chinese_state_investigators_sights/
Tomi Engdahl says:
Foundries Prepare For Battle At 22nm
https://semiengineering.com/foundries-prepare-for-battle-at-22nm/
Bulk CMOS, FD-SOI and finFETs all on tap as big players vie for differentiation. But where will chipmakers go after 28nm?
After introducing new 22nm processes over the last year or two, foundries are gearing up the technology for production—and preparing for a showdown.
GlobalFoundries, Intel, TSMC and UMC are developing and/or expanding their efforts at 22nm amid signs this node could generate substantial business for applications like automotive, IoT and wireless. But foundry customers face some tough choices because not all 22nm processes are alike. In addition, not all of them have a full complement of EDA tools or IP.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Why Product Testing and Certification Really Matters
https://www.designnews.com/electronics-test/why-product-testing-and-certification-really-matters/21150134559797?ADTRK=UBM&elq_mid=6575&elq_cid=876648
Do you ever think about all those marks and logos on electronic equipment? You should; they’re your assurance of product quality.
Why Testing Matters
Those are fine as far as they go, but they don’t mean nearly as much as the kind of analysis and testing done by a nationally recognized testing laboratory (NRTL) such as UL. Moreover, it only applies to products actually made by Arduino. The bigger problem is that an equivalent board can be purchased from multiple manufacturers because the UNO design is open source. Anyone can make and sell a functionally equivalent board. It may operate exactly as it should, but it may not have any certifications at all. Let the buyer beware.
Product testing and certifications do not create quality, but they ensure a product is designed and manufactured with quality as a primary objective. Testing always requires using some standard as the yardstick
Standards may be imposed externally or internally. Manufacturing a product so it can carry the UL mark means it has to be tested to the relevant UL standard, verified by UL. In other cases, another lab certified by the standard-issuing organization can perform the test, but it can’t be done by the manufacturer. On the other hand, a manufacturer may perform its own tests. It can follow an existing standard, such as a MIL-STD, and say that the testing has been carried out in conformance with the standard.
Tomi Engdahl says:
2 Big Shifts, Lots Of Questions
https://semiengineering.com/2-big-shifts-lots-of-questions/
Why AI, and systems companies designing their own chips, could alter semiconductor manufacturing.
Tomi Engdahl says:
The Chip Industry Can’t Seem to Escape Its Boom-and-Bust Past
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/11/19/business/dealbook/chips-processors-nvidia.html
The chip industry’s new paradigm looks like the old one.
As cutting-edge semiconductors got harder to make and demand boomed from new fields like bitcoin mining, the world’s top processor manufacturers seemed invulnerable. But shrinking sales forecasts from Nvidia and Applied Materials show that companies are as prone as ever to economic cycles and excess inventory.
The past decade has been a happy one for the traditionally boom-and-bust industry. It has become harder, and more expensive, to produce evermore sophisticated chips. To cope with rising costs, the industry consolidated, which restrained over-expansionist tendencies. At the same time, chip demand continued to rise. Profits boomed, and the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index rose sixfold over the past decade.
One of the hottest areas has been graphics processors. In addition to making games more realistic, these chips are useful for machine learning, self-driving cars and mining cryptocurrencies. Nvidia, a company that has specialized in graphics chips, saw its stock rise 20-fold over the past decade, raising its market capitalization to $175 billion last month.
The euphoria blinded investors to the fact that other causes of past booms have not been overturned. Demand is cyclical, and a booming economy has inflated chip sales. In sectors where demand outruns supply, customers order more than they need, in hopes of receiving adequate supply. And chip-makers invest heavily to meet expected future sales.
Nvidia’s warning that next quarter’s revenue will be about 20 percent less than analysts had expected is a classic case. The company blamed a burst cryptocurrency bubble, saying it would take another quarter or two to work through excess chip supply.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Performance Demo – Renesas Intersil Transceiver Technology vs. Competitors
https://www.arrow.com/en/research-and-events/videos/performance-demo-intersil-vs-competitors
This video highlights the key parts of the ISL3179E RS-485 transceiver and showcases how the Intersil portfolio has made Renesas even stronger in performance against similar parts from two competitors. The Intersil transceiver delivers better signal integrity over a longer distance.
Tomi Engdahl says:
IBM Explores Copper Magnetism for Use in Memory
https://www.eetimes.com/document.asp?doc_id=1333982
Every innovation in memory technology begins with basic research, and a team at IBM Research has developed new technique to control the magnetism of a single copper atom. The technology could one day allow individual atomic nuclei to store and process information, but there’s a long path ahead to any form of commercialization.
In a paper recently published in the journal Nature Nanotechnology, IBM Research scientists Dr. Christopher Lutz and Dr. Kai Yang demonstrated how they can control the magnetism of a single atom’s nucleus by performing Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) one atom at a time. NMR is an essential tool for determining the structures of molecules, but the work by Lutz and Yang is the first time NMR has been achieved using a Scanning Tunneling Microscope (STM), the Nobel Prize-winning IBM invention that allows atoms to be viewed and moved individually.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Opinion: The chip slowdown is real, but how bad will it be?
https://www.marketwatch.com/story/the-chip-slowdown-is-real-but-how-bad-will-it-be-2018-11-15
Applied Materials stock plunges after earnings; executives predict a short and shallow slowdown
Applied Materials Inc., the world’s largest maker of equipment used to manufacture semiconductors, confirmed an industry slowdown Thursday, but also said it will be more modest than past downturns.
In after-hours trading, shares of Applied tumbled 8%, adding to woes across the chip sector. Just on Thursday, Nvidia Corp. NVDA, +3.03% plunged more than 16% in late trading following its earnings report, which also seemed to cause a drop for rival Advanced Micro Devices Inc. AMD, +0.52% after Nvidia said it has a big backlog of inventory of its Pascal products.
“That is a one-two negative punch for the chip sector,” said Dan Ives, a Wedbush Securities analyst.
Nvidia Trying to Deal with Oversupply of Graphics Chips
https://www.electronicdesign.com/industrial-automation/nvidia-trying-deal-oversupply-graphics-chips?sfvc4enews=42&cl=article_2_b&utm_rid=CPG05000002750211&utm_campaign=21530&utm_medium=email&elq2=d230fec40d2e425a9c757a30e7c3dedc
Tomi Engdahl says:
Some Chipmakers Sidestep Scaling, Others Hedge
https://semiengineering.com/some-chipmakers-sidestep-scaling-others-hedge/
No shortage of alternatives as materials, packaging and architectural options grow, and plenty of startups are jumping in.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Omron Factory Tour – The Making of a Logitech Romer-G Switch
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9fNiJKh6q-E
Logitech and Omron flew us out to Japan to show us just how much goes into each and every Romer-G switch…
Tomi Engdahl says:
Cherry MX Factory Tour – Linus & Luke do Auerbach, Germany
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pu1gP4PfqCQ
Earlier this month we were given an opportunity of a lifetime – to go to Germany and tour the Cherry MX factory.
Tomi Engdahl says:
http://www.etn.fi/index.php/13-news/8743-com-standardi-uudistuu-ensi-vuonna
Tomi Engdahl says:
http://www.etn.fi/index.php/13-news/8742-8-5-gigabittia-neliotuumalla
Tomi Engdahl says:
Week In Review: Design, Low Power
GDDR6 tapeout; analog/mixed-signal design management; pre-802.11ay IP.
https://semiengineering.com/week-in-review-design-low-power-19/
Cadence taped out a complete GDDR6 memory IP solution consisting of PHY, controller and Verification IP on Samsung’s 7LPP process. The GDDR6 IP allows up to 16Gb/sec bandwidth per pin, or over 500Gb/sec peak bandwidth between the SoC and each GDDR6 memory die. It is targeted at very high-bandwidth applications including AI, cryptocurrency mining, graphics, ADAS and HPC.
Cadence Announces Tapeout of GDDR6 IP on Samsung’s 7LPP Process, Enabling Complete GDDR6 IP Solution
https://www.cadence.com/content/cadence-www/global/en_US/home/company/newsroom/press-releases/pr/2018/cadence-announces-tapeout-of-gddr6-ip-on-samsung-s-7lpp-process-.html
Complete GDDR6 IP Solution for High-Bandwidth Applications Includes Cadence PHY, Controller and Verification IP
Tomi Engdahl says:
North American Semiconductor Equipment Industry Posts October 2018 Billings
http://www.semi.org/en/north-american-semiconductor-equipment-industry-posts-october-2018-billings
“October billings of North American equipment suppliers reflect near-term weakening of demand for PC, mobile phones and servers,” said Ajit Manocha, president and CEO of SEMI. “Additionally, memory manufacturers have pulled back investments in response to recent softening of memory pricing.”
Tomi Engdahl says:
TSMC to see record 4Q18 revenues on more 7nm contribution
https://www.digitimes.com/news/a20181120PD211.html
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) is expected to post record revenues for the fourth quarter of 2018, although many others in the semiconductor sector have turned conservative about the quarter and even 2019 due to the intensifying US-China trade war, weakening of crypto mining demand and lackluster smartphone sales, according to industry sources.
The sources said that aided by strong 7nm foundry orders and mounting ratio of revenues from the advanced process, TSMC is likely to see its fourth-quarter 2018 revenues hit a new quarterly high.
Tomi Engdahl says:
http://www.etn.fi/index.php/13-news/8758-uusi-yritys-mullistaa-mekaanisen-kytkimen
Reinventing the electronic switch
https://www.menlomicro.com/
Menlo Micro was born in the research labs of General Electric, and is backed by GE Ventures, along with strategic investments from Corning, Microsemi and Paladin Capital Group.
Menlo Micro is bringing this unique solution, a micro-mechanical relay that can handle thousands of volts and tens of amps of current, to emerging Power IoT applications and is also developing RF/microwave solutions to address the demands of next-generation 5G communications networks.
Tomi Engdahl says:
[Ben Krasnow] Gasses MEMS Chips, for Science
https://hackaday.com/2018/11/20/ben-krasnow-gasses-mems-chips-for-science/
Why in the world does helium kill iPhones and other members of the Apple ecosystem? Enquiring minds want to know, and [Ben Krasnow] has obliged with an investigation of the culprit: the MEMS oscillator.
When we first heard about this, courtesy in part via a Hackaday post on MRI-killed iPhones, we couldn’t imagine how poisoning a micro-electromechanical system (MEMS) part could kill a phone. We’d always associated MEMS with accelerometers and gyros, important sensors in the smartphone suite, but hardly essential. It turns out there’s another MEMS component in many Apple products: an SiT 1532 oscillator, a tiny replacement for quartz crystal oscillators.
MEMs oscillator sensitivity to helium (helium kills iPhones)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vvzWaVvB908
Tomi Engdahl says:
TO KEEP PACE WITH MOORE’S LAW, CHIPMAKERS TURN TO ‘CHIPLETS’
https://www.wired.com/story/keep-pace-moores-law-chipmakers-turn-chiplets/
IN 2016, THE chip industry’s clock ran out.
For 50 years, the number of transistors that could be squeezed onto a piece of silicon had increased on a predictable schedule known as Moore’s law. The doctrine drove the digital evolution from minicomputers to PCs to smartphones and the cloud by cramming more transistors onto each generation of microchip, making them more powerful. But as the smallest features of transistors reached about 14 nanometers, smaller than the tiniest viruses, the industry fell off its self-imposed pace.
That slowdown is forcing chipmakers to look for alternate ways to boost computers’ performance—and convince customers to upgrade.
The new approach comes with a snappy name: chiplets. You can think of them as something like high-tech Lego blocks. Instead of carving new processors from silicon as single chips, semiconductor companies assemble them from multiple smaller pieces of silicon—known as chiplets. “I think the whole industry is going to be moving in this direction,” Papermaster says.
Chip chiefs say chiplets will enable their silicon architects to ship more powerful processors more quickly. One reason is that it’s quicker to mix and match modular pieces linked by short data connections than to painstakingly graft and redesign them into a single new chip. That makes it easier to serve customer demand, for example for chips customized to machine learning,
AMD tested its chiplet approach last year, with a server processor called Epyc made by bundling four chiplets.
Intel has begun shipping its own modular designs. One of them shows how chiplets aren’t just for high-end server chips, and could end up in your next laptop.
Earlier this year, Intel announced a processor for mobile PCs that combines an Intel CPU with a custom-designed graphics module from AMD.
Intel acquired a company called NetSpeed Systems, which develops tools and technology needed for chiplet processors.
The Pentagon is also counting on chiplets.
Tomi Engdahl says:
All I want for Christmas is a 90% efficient solar panel
https://pv-magazine-usa.com/2018/11/23/all-i-want-for-christmas-is-a-90-efficient-solar-panel/
NovaSolix hopes to use carbon nanotubes to capture a broader portion of the sun’s electromagnetic spectrum, a process they hope will yield a 90% efficient solar cell at a tenth of the cost of modern solar modules.
NovaSolix proposes a carbon nanotube based solar module which has the theoretical potential to reach 90% efficiency. The technology is based on a 1960s invention – the rectifying antenna (rectenna) – which is today used in radio frequency identification (RFID) tags.
http://www.novasolix.com
Tomi Engdahl says:
A Chinese startup may have cracked solid-state batteries
But details are, predictably, sparse.
https://www.engadget.com/2018/11/21/chinese-startup-solid-state-batteries-production/
Solid-state batteries have long been heralded as The Next Big Thing after lithium-ion, with companies from all quarters racing to get them into high-volume production. Dyson, BMW and car manufacturer Fisker are just a few names that have been working on the tech for the last few years, but now, reports suggest a Chinese start-up might be the first to have cracked it.
According to Chinese media, Qing Tao Energy Development Co, a startup out of the technical Tsinghua University, has deployed a solid-state battery production line in Kunshan, East China. Reports claim the line has a capacity of 100MWh per year — which is planned to increase to 700MWh by 2020 — and that the company has achieved an energy density of more than 400Wh/kg, compared to new generation lithium-ion batteries that boast a capacity of around 250-300Wh/kg.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Getting Down To Business On Chiplets
Consortiums seek ways to ensure interoperability of hardened IP as way of cutting costs, time-to-market, but it’s not going to be easy.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Getting Down To Business On Chiplets
https://semiengineering.com/semiconductor-industry-getting-serious-about-chiplets/
Consortiums seek ways to ensure interoperability of hardened IP as way of cutting costs, time-to-market, but it’s not going to be easy.
The idea of putting together different modules like LEGOs has been talked about for the better part of a decade. So far, only Marvell has used this concept commercially, and that was exclusively for its own chips based on what it calls a modular chip (MoChi) architecture. Since then, three separate initiatives have been started involving DARPA; IEEE’s International Roadmap For Devices and Systems in conjunction with SEMI; and a group of companies including Netronome, Achronix, Kandou Bus, GlobalFoundries, NXP, Sarcina Technology, and SiFive. There also is work being done in Europe by Leti and Fraunhofer, among others.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Decelerating Growth Now but 2018 was a Decent Year
https://blog.semi.org/business-markets/decelerating-growth-now-but-2018-was-a-decent-year
World Electronic Supply Chain Third Quarter Growth
Chart 1 is our preliminary estimate of US$ denominated growth by sector of the global electronic supply chain in 3Q’18 vs 3Q’17. For most sectors, consolidated financial reports of companies producing similar products were used to calculate growth.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Solution for next generation nanochips comes out of thin air
https://electroiq.com/2018/11/solution-for-next-generation-nanochips-comes-out-of-thin-air/
Researchers at RMIT University have engineered a new type of transistor, the building block for all electronics. Instead of sending electrical currents through silicon, these transistors send electrons through narrow air gaps, where they can travel unimpeded as if in space.
The device unveiled in material sciences journal Nano Letters, eliminates the use of any semiconductor at all, making it faster and less prone to heating up.
Lead author and PhD candidate in RMIT’s Functional Materials and Microsystems Research Group, Ms Shruti Nirantar, said this promising proof-of-concept design for nanochips as a combination of metal and air gaps could revolutionise electronics.
“Our air channel transistor technology has the current flowing through air, so there are no collisions to slow it down and no resistance in the material to produce heat.”
“We address this by creating a nanoscale gap between two metal points. The gap is only a few tens of nanometers, or 50,000 times smaller than the width of a human hair, but it’s enough to fool electrons into thinking that they are travelling through a vacuum and re-create a virtual outer-space for electrons within the nanoscale air gap,” he said.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Moore’s Law challenged by 0.7 nanometer diode
http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/biz/archives/2018/11/22/2003704675
A Taiwanese research team has extended and potentially laid the groundwork for going beyond Moore’s Law with a monolayer diode, which could lead to a major breakthrough in the semiconductor industry, the Ministry of Science and Technology told a news conference yesterday.
The electrodes of the diode are made of 2D nonmetallic elements, tungsten diselenide and graphene, which demonstrate great semiconducting ability in an atomic monolayer that is only 0.7 nanometer (nm) wide, the ministry said.
Compared with common silicon semiconductors, for which transistor channel size has hit a hard limit at 3nm wide, the monolayer diode is thinner, smaller and faster, it said.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Pinch and zoom: Not just for oscilloscopes anymore
https://www.edn.com/electronics-products/electronic-product-reviews/other/4461238/Pinch-and-zoom–Not-just-for-oscilloscopes-anymore?utm_source=newsletter&utm_campaign=ad&utm_medium=EDNPCBDesign-20181126
On March 12, 2014, I cheered when the first oscilloscope with a capacitive touchscreen display hit the market. Since then, oscilloscopes everywhere have added that capability. It was inevitable. Signal sources, however, lagged—until now.
Tektronix had ended the lack of a pinch and zoom on signal sources with the introduction of the AFG31000 Arbitrary Function Generator. It features a 9-in. capacitive touchscreen that, according to the company, lets you set up a waveform, then adjust its amplitude and frequency using pins and zoom gestures.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Power analyzer boasts high accuracy
https://www.edn.com/electronics-products/other/4461239/Power-analyzer-boasts-high-accuracy?utm_source=newsletter&utm_campaign=ad&utm_medium=EDNPCBDesign-20181126
With its 18-bit ADC sampling at a rate of 10 Msamples/s, Yokogawa’s WT5000 achieves basic power measurement accuracy of ±0.03%.The WT5000 lets designers evaluate power consumption, loss, and efficiency, while its wide dynamic current range is particularly useful for testing energy-saving designs.
Tomi Engdahl says:
10 Chinese PCB Service Companies
https://www.eeweb.com/profile/falls/articles/10-pcb-service-company-from-china?utm_source=newsletter&utm_campaign=ad&utm_medium=EDNPCBDesign-20181126
We will recommend 10 PCB Service Websites From China. You can choose suitable for your demand.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Slowing Memory Market Cools Chip Growth
https://www.eetimes.com/document.asp?doc_id=1334012
emiconductor sales growth has slowed substantially in recent months as the rapid price increases that fueled the market’s growth for more than two years has slowed to a trickle.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Automotive Remains Hot Market for Chips
https://www.eetimes.com/document.asp?doc_id=1334005
Automotive electronics systems are projected to grow the fastest of the six major end markets for semiconductors through 2021 as technology advancements continue to increase the electronic content of vehicles, according to a forecast by market research firm IC Insights.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Why Signal Chain Expertise is Mission-Critical for the DOD
https://www.eetimes.com/document.asp?doc_id=1333712
For the world’s most critical missions—where precision and performance are paramount—today’s leading defense industry partners know you need more than just superior components to build the latest generation of missiles and munitions. You need integrated signal chain design that only an electronics supplier with deep experience in the category can help deliver.
Tomi Engdahl says:
[Ben Krasnow] Gasses MEMS Chips, for Science
https://hackaday.com/2018/11/20/ben-krasnow-gasses-mems-chips-for-science/
Tomi Engdahl says:
Designing Space-Rated PCBs
https://hackaday.com/2018/11/26/designing-space-rated-pcbs/
Getting There
The design of PCBs for use in space is primarily driven by the two main phases of spaceflight: getting there, and being there. Some missions will eventually return to Earth gently, of course, and some will set down on the surface of another world, but for the most part, we blast them up and they stay there for the rest of their useful life.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Applied Science Rolls An Electroluminescent Controller
https://hackaday.com/2018/11/26/applied-science-rolls-an-electroluminescent-controller/
After LEDs and TFTs and OLEDs and liquid crystals, there’s another display technology that doesn’t get a lot of attention. Electroluminescent displays have been around for ages, and there still aren’t a whole lot of applications for them. That might change soon, because Applied Science a.k.a. [Ben Krasnow] figured out an easy way to build EL displays on anything, and created a simple circuit that’s capable of driving video on a remarkable blue phosphor EL display.
For this build, [Ben] is using a specialty product from Lumilor consisting of a copper-ish conductive base layer, a clear dielectric, the ‘lumicolor’ phosphor, and a clear conductive top coat. All of these layers are applied with an airbrush, and the patterns are made with a desktop vinyl cutter.
Electroluminescent paint and multi-channel control circuit
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eUUupR-ongs
Tomi Engdahl says:
Semiconductor Market Rally May Be Over
https://www.electronicdesign.com/embedded-revolution/semiconductor-market-rally-may-be-over?NL=ED-003&Issue=ED-003_20181129_ED-003_544&sfvc4enews=42&cl=article_2_b&utm_rid=CPG05000002750211&utm_campaign=21772&utm_medium=email&elq2=d36c3ad3a1f14ec1a943eef5e59fae77
Nearly every company building a chip factory or expanding a production line has to go through Applied Materials. The Santa Clara, California-based company has been filling order after order for chip manufacturing equipment as the semiconductor market has soared to more than $400 billion annually. Business has been booming as customers race to meet the global demand for electronics.
But Applied Materials is also one of the first companies to lose business when customers ranging from Micron Technology to Texas Instruments cut back on capital expenditures.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Looking Beyond The CPU
https://semiengineering.com/looking-beyond-the-cpu/
While CPUs continue to evolve, performance is no longer limited to a single processor type or process geometry.
Tomi Engdahl says:
AI a Focus as U.S. Preps Export Controls
U.S. outlines 14 broad areas in effort aimed mainly at China
https://www.eetimes.com/document.asp?doc_id=1334020
Uncle Sam wants to restrict a few good technologies — and it needs engineers to help identify them.
As part of legislation passed this summer, the U.S. Commerce Department put out a call for input by December 19 on which of 14 broad emerging technologies should face export controls. The call quickly got attention from industry veterans and groups concerned controls could hurt U.S. companies and worsen a growing tech trade war with China.
The call issued on Nov. 14 listed aspects of biotech, AI, quantum computing, semiconductors, robotics, drones and advanced materials as possible candidates. It gave special attention to AI, listing ten specific areas ranging from computer vision and natural-language processing to AI chipsets. In semiconductors, it called out even broader areas including microprocessor technology, SoCs, stacked memory on chip and memory-centric logic.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Samsung Extending its Sales Lead Over Intel
https://www.eetimes.com/document.asp?doc_id=1334017
Tomi Engdahl says:
http://www.etn.fi/index.php/13-news/8782-tutkijat-kehittivat-magneettisen-diodin
Tomi Engdahl says:
Slowing Memory Market Cools Chip Growth
https://www.eetimes.com/document.asp?doc_id=1334012
Tomi Engdahl says:
Heterogeneous Computing Verification
https://semiengineering.com/heterogeneous-computing-verification/
How to verify increasingly complex chips.