After watching a few commemorative videos on YouTube, I was a bit struck by the fact that Walter Cronkite died only two days before the 40th anniversary of the Apollo 11 moon landings that he reported on. As the NY Times said, Cronkite was the “proxy for a nation.” That was never more true than for the “giant step for mankind.” He is doubtless the voice in many peoples’ heads as they recall their experiences on this day 20 years ago.

As George Leopold reported in his piece on the exhibit of Apollo 12 astronaut Alan Bean’s art at the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum, the 40th anniversary of Apollo 11 is very special because there is less than a five percent chance that all three astronauts will be around for the 50th.

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http://www.semiconductorblog.com

We've heard a lot about TSMC's difficulty improving yield on its 40 nm process. In this article, I review the speculation in the news and take a look at what might be preventing the foundry from achieving acceptable yield.

To read the rest of this entry, please visit Don Scansen's blog here:
http://www.semiconductorblog.com

With our battered and bruised economy, it's great to find some bright spots on the horizon that might suggest a recovery is on the way. In today's post, Mike Cowan, a 45-year veteran of the semiconductor industry who spent most of that time at IBM in East Fishkill, NY, introduces the Cowan LRA Model used to forecast the global market for semiconductors. One of Mike's key indicators gives reason to hope that we have already rebounded from the downturn. Mike is providing his data and analysis for the first time to readers of SemiSerious.

To read the rest of this entry, please visit Don Scansen's blog here:
http://www.semiconductorblog.com

In last week's preview of the VLSI Symposia, I mentioned that Intel's approach of removing the oxide interlayer prior to high-K dielectric deposition was a significant step on the road to scaling processes for the 16nm node. This joint effort with Sematech and UT Dallas was presented at VLSI Technology Symposium 2009 on Monday in Japan. Intel's oxide-less gate stack technique might be signaling the direction they will be taking for future high-K processing, and Intel drives much of the roadmap for advanced technology.

In an alternative approach to the 16nm node, Toshiba also presented work on a gate stack without oxide interlayers. The Toshiba transistors employed germanium channels and reported the highest ever mobility in a p-channel device.

To read the rest of this entry, please visit Don Scansen's blog here:
http://www.semiconductorblog.com

It was interesting to be in Washington, DC, capitol of the free world and the free market economy on the very day that icon of American industry, General Motors, filed for bankruptcy. I was in Washington not to visit the Obama’s (alas they were out of town) but to testify at the US International Trade Commission (ITC) which is dedicated to making sure imports to the US market are handled fairly. As more companies get bought by the government, I wonder if this court’s power will grow along with taxpayer ownership of business.

To read the rest of this entry, please visit Don Scansen's blog here:

http://www.semiconductorblog.com

Last week I attempted to preview the upcoming VLSI Symposia. The conferences are in Japan this year, and my attention was quickly diverted to the current situation in the Japanese semiconductor industry. With all that off my chest, I am free this week to actually look at some of the papers that will be presented starting June 15 in Kyoto.

To read the rest of this entry, please visit Don Scansen's blog here:

http://www.semiconductorblog.com

For each of the jewels in the technology triple crown of conferences -- IEDM, ISSCC, and VLSI -- I hope to preview (and occasionally post-analyze) the papers. But what started as a quick look at the 2009 edition of the VLSI Circuits and Technology Symposia quickly veered into a commentary on the Japanese electronics industry.

To read the rest of this entry, please visit Don Scansen's blog here:

http://www.semiconductorblog.com

Nintendo recently surpassed the 100 million mark in unit sales for their popular DS portable gaming platform. The DS is a special device, and I’m not just saying that because I share its monogram. As sales of the DS surpassed its major milestone, Nintendo launched an updated device – the DSi – in North America. Find out more about the DSi and the chips that power it.

To read the rest of this entry, please visit Don Scansen's blog here.

http://www.semiconductorblog.com