After nearly two months of negotiations and press reports that a blockbuster deal was in the works, Nvidia this week announced a $40 billion agreement to buy ARM—the leading supplier of processor intellectual property (IP)—from financially struggling SoftBank in Japan. If approved, the deal would be the largest semiconductor acquisition ...
HTOL (High Temperature Operating Life) testing is a stress test defined by JEDEC to define the reliability of IC products, and is an essential part of ASIC qualification tests. This post provides a high-level overview of HTOL test. Obviously, you should refer to the standard if you plan to perform ...
Application-Specific Integrated Circuits (ASICs) and SoCs play a critical role in modern technological advancements. These customized integrated circuits are designed to cater to specific applications, offering optimized performance, power efficiency, and cost-effectiveness. Understanding the economics behind ASICs is essential for businesses and industries that rely on these chips. This article ...
Early on in Chip projects, yield is not taken very seriously. The common thinking goes - anyhow there isn’t much to do as this early point of time. However, there are actually several things you can do even before the Chip design starts, which will translate to clear savings.
1- Know your ...
Chip production testing is probably the most underestimated task by ASIC development engineers. And yet, testing is an essential step with a direct impact on final chip cost.
Let’s start with the basics. Testing of chips is necessary because the chip manufacturing process cannot provide 100% yield. Silicon foundries and assembly ...
Introduction to Integrated Circuit Packaging
Integrated circuit packaging technologies have evolved throughout the years to the point where hundreds of IC package types are available today.
Most applications will require the more general, single-element packaging for integrated circuits and the other components such as resistors, capacitators, antenna etc. However, as the semiconductor ...
An integrated circuit package has the sole purpose of protecting and maintaining one or more integrated circuits. It is usually in the form of a plastic, glass, metal, or ceramic casing which creates a physical barrier of protection against things like impact and corrosion. Furthermore, it helps to hold contact ...
An Application Specific Integrated Circuit (ASIC) is a specialized integrated circuit crafted for a particular use or purpose. Typically, ASICs are tailored for products targeted for mass production, consolidating necessary electronics onto a single chip.
ASIC stands for “Application Specific Integrated Circuit.”
Despite the substantial initial design cost (known as NRE - ...
