How to Deliver On Time at Lower Technology Nodes?

Over the years, we've seen a good range of advancements in semiconductor design services. The Semiconductor Industry Association...




Over the years, we've seen a good range of advancements in semiconductor design services. The Semiconductor Industry Association (SIA) announced that the worldwide semiconductor industry posted sales of $468.8 billion in 2018 - the industry's highest-ever annual total and a rise of 13.7 percent over the 2017 sales.

As the demand for semiconductor services continues to extend and therefore the industry witnesses a broader range of latest technology innovations, we will clearly see a move toward lower geometries (7nm, 12nm, 16nm, etc.). The key drivers behind this trend are benefits in terms of the facility , area, plus various other features that become possible with lower geometries.

The proliferation of lower geometries has fuelled business during a number of areas, especially within the sectors of mobility, communication, IoT, cloud, AI for hardware platforms (ASIC, FPGA, boards).

Delivering a lower technology design project on time is vital in today's dynamic and competitive market. However, there are many unknowns at lower geometry which impacts on project/product scheduled delivery. By keeping in mind the below elements, it's possible to make sure on-time delivery at lower geometry nodes.

1. Lower technology node's cost modeling

A chip design leader provides the specified strong technical leadership and has the general responsibility for the microcircuit design.

For lower geometry design, engineers got to define the activities from spec-to-silicon, sequence them within the right order, estimate the resources needed, and estimate the time required to finish the tasks. At an equivalent time, they have to specialise in the reduction of the entire system cost while also satisfying specific service requirements. Following are the actions that engineers can deem cost optimization:

Use multiple patterning

Use suitable design-for-test (DFT) techniques

Leverage mask making, interconnects and process control

On different layout methods because node cutting down isn't cost-economic anymore. For continuous performance improvement along side cost control, some companies are now pursuing a monolithic 3D ICs instead of a standard planar implementation, as this will provide 30% power savings, 40% performance boost, and cut the value by 5-10% without changing over to a replacement node.

2. Advanced data analytics for smart chip manufacturing

In the chip manufacturing process, an outsized volume of knowledge is generated on the fab floor. Over the years, the number of this data has continued to grow exponentially with each new technology node dimension. Engineers have played instrumental roles in generating and analyzing data with the aim of improving predictive maintenance and yield, improving R&D, enhancing product efficiency and more.

Applying advanced analytics in chip manufacturing can help to enhance the standard or performance of individual components, cut-down test time for quality assurance, boost throughput, increase equipment availability, and reduce operating costs.

3. Efficient Supply Chain Management

As new technology is usually released faster than the R&D timeline, everyone within the chip-making industry is facing a drag in IC supply chain management. the large question is: the way to improve efficiency and profitability during this scenario.

The answer is quicker deciding and efficient integration of varied suppliers, requirements of clients, distribution centers, warehouses, and stores in order that merchandise is produced with end-to-end supply chain visibility and distributed within the right quantities, at right time to the proper location to attenuate total system cost.

4. Process for timely delivery

Improved delivery to the customer may be a core a part of the semiconductor design services. It includes setting-up order capturing to figure with orders at runtime, cloud computing optimization, logistics, and therefore the transfer the end-product to a customer - while keeping them up-to-date with every required information at each stage. Planning the entire flow ensures that no critical deadlines for the project are missed.

In order to beat delays, semiconductor design companies can:

Minimize the utilization of custom flows and shift towards place & route flows for better physical data-path capabilities.
Set and cling to quick reaction time to the client's requirements and alter requests.
Get real-time information from spec to silicon availability in terms of the semiconductor design flow, location, reservation, and quantity.
Ensure collaborative communication between teams performing on the project.
Focus on criticality analysis - reducing the danger of functional failures of the planning to stop business stoppers.
Gain utilization expertise in multiple tools for managing the project.
Adopt better technologies (TSMC, GF, UMC, Samsung), better methodology (Low power consumption and high-speed performance), better tools (Innovus, Synopsys, ICC2, Primetime, ICV).
How is eInfochips positioned to serve the Market?

Whether you would like to style innovative products faster, optimize R&D costs, improve time to plug , enhance operational efficiency or maximize the return on investment (ROI), eInfochips (an Arrow Company) is that the right design partner.

eInfochips has worked with many top global companies to contribute over 500 product designs, with quite 40 million deployments round the world. eInfochips features a large pool of engineers who possess specialization in PES services, with attention on in-depth R&D and new development .

In order to deliver product at short time-to-market, eInfochips provides ASIC, FPGA and SoC design services supported standard interface protocols. It includes:

Sign-off services within the front (RTL design, Verification) and backend (Physical design and DFT)
Turnkey design services covering RTL to GDSII and style layout
Use of Reusable IPs and framework that assist the corporate briefly development time and price for faster and right time-to-market
This blog is originally published at eInfochips.com.



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