Welcome to the Wonderful World of NoCs
Anyone involved in the design of large digital silicon chips is familiar with the term Network-on-Chip (NoC), but relatively few people are cognizant of the underlying concepts.
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Getting to the Bottom of Backside Power Delivery
By Ron Wilson
What’s at stake:
Backside Power Delivery is being promoted by all three foundry majors. It has advantages, but will substantially complicate wafer processing and multi-die module design, with undetermined costs to users. Intel, TSMC, and, more faintly, Samsung are singing the praises of backside power delivery (BPD). Recently, Synopsys raised their voice in harmony, pledging support for TSMC’s efforts. But what is BPD, what does it imply, and who, outside the giant foundry trio, really cares?
This story begins a decade ago, when foundries began drilling tiny holes deep into wafers and then thinning the wafers — grinding away the back side of the wafer until the remainder was thin enough to expose the bottom of the hole. Filled with conductive material, the hole became a via — an electrical path from the front side to the back side of the wafer. This allowed connections on the back of the wafer for easier packaging and die stacking.
Read More »Getting to the Bottom of Backside Power Delivery
Intel-Samsung Foundry Union is a Non-Starter
By Bolaji Ojo
Samsung Electronics has been unequivocal about its intentions regarding its foundry unit. The division, one of the last captive semiconductor fabrication operations in the world, is not available for sale. A spin-off is not in the cards either.
Neither concept makes sense, anyway.
A hook-up with Intel Foundry Services sounds even more ridiculous. And yet, speculators in the market are hawking this idea. A recent news report claims Intel had asked for a meeting with its Korean rival to discuss the formation of a foundry alliance that would be better positioned to compete against market leader Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. Ltd. (TSMC).
Read More »Intel-Samsung Foundry Union is a Non-Starter
Arm vs. Qualcomm Marks the End of an Era
By Peter Clarke
What’s at stake:
Access to Arm’s processor architecture is fundamental to Qualcomm’s business and has put it in a position to supply chipsets for the next generation of AI-enabled computers and Android smartphones. Therefore, a dispute between the companies is important to Microsoft and Samsung and numerous other PC and smartphone companies in their battles with Apple.
Going to court would not end Qualcomm Inc.’s endeavors immediately – technology-based legal disputes notoriously take years if not decades to resolve – but it would inhibit customer engagement and accelerate a transition to alternatives such as AI-forward architectures with RISC-V processors used for house-keeping.
And there is much at stake for Arm: Qualcomm’s revenue is one thing but more importantly is the idea of Arm as a benign third-party supplier of processor IP for many.
Read More »Arm vs. Qualcomm Marks the End of an Era
Anatomy of Software in Software-Defined Vehicles
With this “Anatomy of Software” Panel, we zoomed in on the “S” in “SDV”.
TSMC Won the Foundry War. Now the Fallout Begins
By Bolaji Ojo
What’s at stake:
It’s not just that TSMC’s competitors cannot match the Taiwanese foundry in revenue, production volume or leading-edge technology, they are even unable to mount a spirited defense. TSMC’s overwhelming dominance could be a problem with anti-trust investigators. Yet, the company cannot dial back its technology innovations or on its commitment to customers just to let rivals catch up. Still, it may be in TSMC’s long-term interest to help foster the growth of a more competitive, viable and vibrant foundry landscape.
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. Ltd. (TSMC) dominates the foundry business so thoroughly its overwhelming sales position and technology leadership have spawned challenges and anti-trust speculations it is racing to terminate before they mushroom into a full-blown crisis.
Anti-monopoly investigators are reportedly sniffing around the company with one question in mind: Has the Taiwanese foundry become so big and such a threat to the supply chain that it must be reined in?
Read More »TSMC Won the Foundry War. Now the Fallout Begins
Chiplets: ‘Kluge’ or Answer to OEMs’ Automotive SoC Dilemma?
What’s at stake:
We’ve all heard promises about “Lego block” chiplets, supposedly enabling customers to snap together chiplets from different manufacturers to build a custom SoC. Our recent interviews, however, reveal that such an open chiplet ecosystem doesn’t exist. Companies like Intel and Tenstorrent are pursuing automotive chiplets within single-company ecosystems. Have automotive chiplets already splintered into proprietary fragments? At stake is how effectively Imec, with its Automotive Chiplet Program (ACP), could herd the cats now rampant in the automotive and semiconductor industries.
The Evolution and Future of Chiplets
What’s at stake:
“Chiplet technology is revolutionizing the semiconductor industry by offering alternative advantages compared with traditional monolithic designs,” says IDTechEx research director Xiaoxi He, adding it will become a $411 billion business by 2035. Chiplets are certainly getting popular, but basic questions about the technology, its history, and innovations required keep cropping up. Our columnist explores the fundamentals of chiplets and gives his prognosis about the future.
It seems like everyone is talking about chiplets and multi-die (chiplet-based) systems these days. This is one of those topics that many people think they understand… right up until the time they try to explain it to someone else.
The most embarrassing thing is when the person with whom you are “waxing eloquent,” as it were, poses an awkward question, like “So, what’s the difference between a hybrid microelectronic assembly (HMA), a multi-chip module (MCM), a system-in-package (SiP), and a multi-die system using chiplets?”
“Ah, that’s a very good question,” you reply, quickly followed by, “Good grief! Is that the time? Hold that thought and we will return to this topic when next we meet,” with your voice fading away in the distance as you head out of the door and run for the hills.
In fact, there are a whole bunch of interrelated concepts here, and it can be difficult to wrap your brain around all the nitty-gritty details, so before we proceed to peruse and ponder the latest and greatest happenings in chiplet space (where no one can hear you scream), it’s probably worth our while to take a little time to set the scene.
Read More »The Evolution and Future of Chiplets
How Will Electronics Industry Fare Under Harris or Trump?
Americans will elect a new president November 5. Their decision will impact the electronics industry. How much will depend upon which of the two leading candidates is declared winner.
A Look Through Technology Time Portal
In this debut column for the Ojo-Yoshida Report, Clive Maxfield saunters through time, reviewing decades-old technological innovations only to realize that today, ‘we are surrounded by technologies that would have blown the mind and boggled the brain of 1970s me.’