Tag Archives: semiconductors

Is Qualcomm the New AMD? Or the Next Intel?

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With the news that Qualcomm will take over the CES keynote spot previously held by Microsoft, it really became clear what a dominant player the company has become. Quietly, while no one was paying attention, it’s become the second-most important semiconductor maker in the U.S.

via Is Qualcomm the New AMD? Or the Next Intel?.

Qualcomm started life in 1985 as a maker of cellular communications semiconductors, and it hasn’t strayed far from that formula. It’s pretty much the go-to company for CDMA chips and is now taking a lead in 4G LTE as well. So why would a company that’s so vertical become Intel’s biggest competitor? Because of where the two are headed.

TSMC Seen to be Sole 20nm Process Supplier

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Taipei, Oct. 12, 2012 (CENS)–Citigroup Global Markets Inc. estimated Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (TSMC) to be the only supplier of 20nm process to Apple quad-core processors over the next one to two years, citing the company’s unmatched technological advance on 20nm process and Apple’s decision to adopt 20nm quad-core processors in its new products.

via TSMC Seen to be Sole 20nm Process Supplier to Apple Quad Processors | CENS.com – The Taiwan Economic News | Daily Prime News | HTML |Ta1-CaE-Dy2012/10/12-Id41728.

Using ultraviolet light to fabricate thin flexible electronics

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A new method for making metal oxide devices at much lower temperatures uses ultraviolet (UV) irradiation. Yong-Hoon Kim and colleagues used UV light to chemically activate metal particles in a chemical solution; the new metal oxide molecules condensed out of the solution, forming a thin semiconducting film. The process can be performed at room temperature—far lower than the 350° temperatures typical of metal oxide fabrication.

via Using ultraviolet light to fabricate thin flexible electronics | Ars Technica.

The high temperatures are the problem. 350°C is above the melting point of most flexible, transparent substances (e.g. plastics), and real electronic devices need a substrate to give them shape. It doesn’t matter how thin or transparent metal oxide devices are if they must be deposited on thick, opaque, rigid materials.

TSMC plans 450mm wafers by 2018

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The 450mm wafers would help solve the problem of rising costs in making advanced chips, allowing TSMC to provide affordable 10 nanometer chips with FinFET transistors for customers, J.K. Wang (王建光), vice president of TSMC’s operation in charge of 300mm factories, told a media briefing arranged by semiconductor industry association SEMI.

via TSMC plans 450mm wafers by 2018 – Taipei Times.

Chipmakers can get 2.5 times more chips from a 450mm wafer than from a 300mm wafer.

Could an SRAM Hourglass Save RFID Chips Just in Time?

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The clock operates over spans of seconds to minutes after an RFID chip is charged up from an RFID reader or other ambient radio-wave energy. As a result, even after the radio signal is removed, the clock endows the RFID chip with the ability to know when its security keys may be in danger.

via Could an SRAM Hourglass Save RFID Chips Just in Time? – IEEE Spectrum.

Having a clock can be very useful in defending against brute-force attacks that may try to guess the chip’s passwords hundreds or thousands of times per second. A TARDIS-enabled chip—requiring no new hardware and representing fewer than 50 lines of additional code—would receive a power-up from, say, a nearby RFID reader. Instead of wiping the SRAM clean, the device would first read off the state of the SRAM, which would be partially decayed from the last time the chip was powered up. Comparing the percentage of decayed bits to a precompiled table would enable TARDIS to read off the time elapsed since the previous power-up.

New manufacturing technology enables vertical 3D NAND transistors, higher capacity SSDs

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According to the folks at Applied Materials, trying to build 3D NAND structures in real life would be like trying to dig a one-kilometer-deep, three-kilometer-long trench with walls exactly three meters apart, through interleaved rock strata — and that’s before we discuss gate trenches or the staircases. Conventional etching systems deal with aspect ratios of 3:1 – 4:1, 3D etching requires an aspect ratio of 20:1 or more — and that’s not easy to pull off.

via New manufacturing technology enables vertical 3D NAND transistors, higher capacity SSDs | ExtremeTech.

ARM expects 20-nanometer processors by late next year

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ARM doesn’t manufacture the chips itself. It licenses its designs to companies such as Qualcomm, Texas Instruments and Nvidia, who in turn outsource manufacture of the chips to foundry companies like Taiwan’s TSMC.

via ARM expects 20-nanometer processors by late next year – processors, Components, Arm Holdings, computex – CIO.

This year’s Computex should be a big event for ARM. Microsoft has developed the first version of its Windows PC OS that runs on ARM-based processors, called Windows RT, and vendors are expected to show the first ARM-based tablets running the new software.

Return of the Vacuum Tube

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The new device is a cross between today’s transistors and the vacuum tubes of yesteryear. It’s small and easily manufactured, but also fast and radiation-proof. Meyyappan, who co-developed the “nano vacuum tube,” says it is created by etching a tiny cavity in phosphorous-doped silicon. The cavity is bordered by three electrodes: a source, a gate, and a drain. The source and drain are separated by just 150 nanometers, while the gate sits on top. Electrons are emitted from the source thanks to a voltage applied across it and the drain, while the gate controls the electron flow across the cavity. In their paper published online today in Applied Physics Letters, Meyyappan and colleagues estimate that their nano vacuum tube operates at frequencies up to 0.46 terahertz—some 10 times faster than the best silicon transistors.

Return of the Vacuum Tube – ScienceNOW.