Semiconductors: The Backbone of Digital Innovation
Semiconductors are the cornerstone of modern electronics, forming the foundation of devices that power our digital world. From smartphones and computers to advanced industrial systems, semiconductors play a pivotal role in enabling efficient electronic circuits. These materials possess unique electrical properties, allowing them to act as both conductors and insulators, making them integral to developing transistors, diodes, and integrated circuits.
Semiconductors are materials with unique electrical properties that allow them to act as both conductors and insulators, making them essential to modern electronics. They are the foundation of transistors, diodes, and integrated circuits, enabling the creation of devices like smartphones, computers, and medical equipment.
Most commonly made from silicon, semiconductors can switch and amplify electrical signals, powering everything from consumer electronics to advanced industrial systems. As technology advances, semiconductors drive innovation, leading to faster, smaller, and more energy-efficient devices across various industries.
Sivers Semiconductors and Ayar Labs will hold a joint live demonstration, showing the Sivers Semiconductors 16-wavelength distributed feedback (DFB) laser array integrated into the Ayar Labs SuperNova? multi-wavelength light source for 16?Tbps of bi-directional bandwidth – a level of bandwidth essential for AI scale-up networks.
Sivers Semiconductors, a leading supplier of integrated chips and modules for the most advanced photonics and wireless solutions, in collaboration with Ayar Labs, introduces the industry’s first CW-WDM MSA-compliant 16-wavelength light source at the upcoming European Conference on Optical Communication (ECOC) Conference in Frankfurt on September 23-25, 2024.
Sivers Semiconductors will host a joint live demonstration with Ayar Labs, showcasing our 16-wavelength distributed feedback (DFB) laser array, integrated into the Ayar Labs SuperNova? light source. The demonstration will be located at our booth, #C106, during the exhibition. Teams from Sivers Semiconductors and Ayar Labs will be available throughout the event to take attendees through the live demonstration.
This cutting-edge joint technology is driving transformative advancements in AI applications. As foundational AI models continue to grow in size and complexity, they demand increased GPU/accelerator processing power and memory capacity. By integrating optical I/O directly within the GPU or accelerator package, this solution enables communication across the GPU cluster, ensuring scalable and efficient infrastructure to meet the expanding demands of AI workloads. Optical connections also significantly reduce power consumption while delivering 5-10x faster communication speeds within the cluster, optimizing GPU utilization and accelerating AI performance.
Andrew McKee, Managing Director of Sivers Semiconductors’ Photonics business unit, added: "We are proud to demonstrate the latest SuperNova? light source module incorporating Sivers Semiconductors' 16-lambda WDM Laser Array. We continue to deliver industry-leading Laser Arrays from our InP100 platform, driving performance improvements through increased output powers and higher wavelength counts."
“Sivers Semiconductors has been a key partner in our journey to bring high-bandwidth, low-latency optical I/O to market at scale. This demonstration of our second-generation SuperNova light source, combined with Sivers’ 16-wavelength laser array, highlights the significant progress we’ve made together,” said Vladimir Stojanovic, CTO of Ayar Labs. “With AI models continuing to grow in size and complexity, our innovative optical solution enables AI scale-up fabrics with unprecedented power, performance, and efficiency, boosting the economics of rapidly evolving AI workloads.”
Infineon is the first company in the world to master this groundbreaking technology in an existing and scalable high-volume manufacturing environment. The breakthrough will help substantially drive the market for GaN-based power semiconductors.
Chip production on 300?mm wafers is technologically more advanced and significantly more efficient compared to 200?mm wafers since the bigger wafer diameter fits 2.3?times as many chips per wafer.
GaN-based power semiconductors find fast adoption in industrial, automotive, and consumer, computing & communication applications, including power supplies for AI systems, solar inverters, chargers and adapters, and motor-control systems. State-of-the-art GaN manufacturing processes lead to improved device performance resulting in benefits in end customers’ applications as it enables efficient performance, smaller size, lighter weight, and lower overall cost. Furthermore, 300?mm manufacturing ensures superior customer supply stability through scalability.
“This remarkable success is the result of our innovative strength and the dedicated work of our global team to demonstrate our position as the innovation leader in GaN and power systems,” said Jochen Hanebeck, CEO of Infineon Technologies AG. “The technological breakthrough will be an industry game-changer and enable us to unlock the full potential of gallium nitride. Nearly one year after the acquisition of GaN Systems, we are demonstrating again that we are determined to be a leader in the fast-growing GaN market. As a leader in power systems, Infineon is mastering all three relevant materials: silicon, silicon carbide and gallium nitride.”
Infineon has succeeded in manufacturing 300?mm GaN wafers on an integrated pilot line in existing 300?mm silicon production in its power fab in Villach (Austria). The company is leveraging well-established competence in the existing production of 300?mm silicon and 200?mm GaN. Infineon will further scale GaN capacity aligned with market needs. 300?mm GaN manufacturing will put Infineon in a position to shape the growing GaN market which is estimated to reach several billion US dollars by the end of the decade.
This pioneering technological success underlines Infineon's position as a global semiconductor leader in power systems and IoT. Infineon is implementing 300?mm GaN to strengthen existing and enable new solutions and application fields with an increasingly cost-effective value proposition and the ability to address the full range of customer systems. Infineon will present the first 300?mm GaN wafers to the public at the Electronica trade show in November 2024?in Munich.
A significant advantage of 300?mm GaN technology is that it can utilize existing 300?mm silicon manufacturing equipment since gallium nitride and silicon are very similar in manufacturing processes. Infineon’s existing high-volume silicon 300?mm production lines are ideal for piloting reliable GaN technology, allowing accelerated implementation and efficient use of capital. Fully scaled 300?mm GaN production will contribute to GaN cost parity with silicon on the R DS(on) level, which means cost parity for comparable Si and GaN products.
Keysight's 4881HV High Voltage Wafer Test System improves the productivity of power semiconductor manufacturers by enabling parametric tests up to 3kV supporting high and low-voltage in one-pass test.
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Keysight Technologies introduces a 4881HV High Voltage Wafer Test System, expanding its semiconductor test portfolio. The solution improves the productivity of power semiconductor manufacturers by enabling parametric tests up to 3kV supporting high and low-voltage in one-pass test.
Manufacturers have traditionally measured wafers using separate testers for high and low voltages. However, demand for power semiconductors is rapidly growing due to their multifunctionality, higher performance, and next-generation devices such as silicon carbide (SiC) and gallium nitride (GaN). As a result, customers need a solution to more accurately and efficiently test their devices and reduce time to market.
Keysight’s solution addresses these challenges by allowing power device makers to perform process control monitoring (PCM) and wafer acceptance testing (WAT) in manufacturing. The new test system delivers the following benefits:
Ansys AI technology improves 3D-IC design productivity, while the broader collaboration advances innovative 3D-IC thermal, mechanical stress, and photonic solutions for AI, HPC, and high-speed data communication semiconductors.
Ansys and TSMC have expanded their collaboration to leverage AI for advancing 3D-IC design and develop next generation multiphysics solutions for a wider array of advanced semiconductor technologies. Together, the companies developed new workflows to analyze 3D-IC, photonic, electromagnetic (EM), and radio frequency (RF) designs while achieving higher productivity. These capabilities are critical to creating the world’s leading semiconductor products for high-performance computing (HPC), AI, datacenter connectivity, and wireless telecommunication.
Productivity enhancement with AI
Creating the right 3D-IC design that optimizes thermal and electrical effects — such as channel profile — requires extensive, time-consuming design flows. To minimize this constraint, designers use Ansys optiSLang? process integration and optimization software to quickly identify optimal design configurations through automation. By integrating optiSLang and Ansys RaptorX? silicon-optimized EM solver for design analysis and modeling into the design process earlier, the solution reduced the number of EM simulations and demonstrated co-optimized channel design. This time savings delivers lower design costs and faster time-to-market.
Additionally, TSMC, Ansys, and Synopsys continue their long-standing collaboration to ensure the best technical solutions for their customers. Together, the companies developed an innovative AI-assisted RF migration flow by combining the RaptorX EM modeling engine with optiSLang that enables customers to automatically migrate analog circuits from one silicon process to another.
Multiphysics analysis for reliability
As TSMC advances 3D-IC packaging technologies, thermal and stress multiphysics analysis has become essential for ensuring the reliability of advanced multi-chip manufacturing. To address this need, TSMC is expanding its collaboration with Ansys RedHawk-SC Electrothermal? thermal and multiphysics signoff platform for 3D-IC, incorporating mechanical stress analysis solutions to better support mutual customers' requirements.
TSMC, Ansys, and Synopsys have developed an efficient flow to address multiphysics coupling challenges among timing, thermal, and power integrity. The flow, including Synopsys’ 3DIC Compiler? exploration-to-signoff platform combined with Ansys solutions RedHawk-SC Electrothermal and Ansys RedHawk-SC?, helps customers reduce design challenges, enhance power, performance, and area (PPA), and ensure the reliability of their designs.
Ansys and TSMC also continue to jointly support the latest version of 3Dblox, with a focus on implementing hierarchical support to address the continuous rise of 3D-IC complexity. The new features of 3Dblox provide modularity and flexibility to help 3D-IC designers shorten the design implementation and analysis cycle.
COUPE solution enablement
TSMC’s COUPE is a 3D-IC assembly that stacks electronic chips on top of photonic chips, connecting fiber optics directly to electronic systems. Ansys, Synopsys, and TSMC are working to jointly enable a COUPE design solution that links a broad range of physics capabilities. The innovative optics simulation flow integrates:
A16?enablement
TSMC recently announced an advanced, new silicon process A16?that includes innovative backside power contact technology and backside power delivery. While this makes it suitable for AI and HPC applications, thermal management becomes an important reliability consideration. To address this, TSMC and Ansys are collaborating to enable RedHawk-SC Electrothermal to provide accurate thermal analysis. Moreover, TSMC collaborates with Ansys to enable power integrity and reliability technology with Redhawk-SC and Totem. Overall, the solutions will help designers improve performance, enhance power efficiency, and ensure an optimal and reliable design.
Conclusion
The evolution of semiconductors continues to drive innovation in electronics, leading to faster, smaller, and more efficient devices. As demand for cutting-edge technology grows, so does the need for advancements in semiconductor fabrication and design. Understanding the role of semiconductors not only highlights their importance in electronics but also opens doors to exploring the future possibilities in computing, telecommunications, and automation.