Memory: The Next Frontier

There is no single semiconductor memory technology today that has all the desired attributes, which on top of speed, density and non-volatility include: low-cost of manufacture, low switching energy and scalability to nanometer-scale dimension. Products in various stages of commercialization that include at least some of the attributes include: Ovonic Unified Memory (OUM), Magneto-Resistive RAM (MRAM), Ferroelectric RAM (FRAM) and Nanotube RAM (NRAM), iSuppli said. But the rewards for a winning technology are likely to be immense with the memory market set to double from $46.8 billion posted in 2004 to $95.4 billion by 2019.

Chip VCs: Enhanced “nerd” factor needed

I mentioned Chip Scale Packing (CSP), which I should also explain further. In simple terms, for these miniaturized consumer devices, Printed Circuit Board (PCB) real estate is a big problem. CSP is a packaging technology that allows chips to be packaged “at the scale of the chip” with marginally more area requirement. In recent times,

Read Full Article »

SiP is a major discontinuity

Okay, so I should explain what is the big deal about System-in-Package (SiP) … You must have noticed the trend in cellular handsets of packing in dramatically diverse functionality? Samsung’s latest model has a 5 Mega Pixel camera, and if this is any indication, consumers will further reap benefits of such integration trends in the

Read Full Article »

SiP versus Structured ASICs

Semiconductors and Electronics have invaded every aspect of our lives in fairly extensive ways. During the last quarter of the twentieth century, this segment received enormous attention, venture investment, and duly provided some amazing vision, thought leadership, and innovation. Now, in the first decade of the 21st Century, the industry is showing signs of hitting

Read Full Article »