Semiconductors

SiFive, Inc., the leading provider of commercial RISC-V processor IP and silicon solutions, today announced that Stuart Ching has joined the company as Chief Revenue Officer. He will lead sales for the company, which has experienced hypergrowth this year, recently disclosing 130 design wins, over 500 employees worldwide and several new technologies. SiFive most recently unveiled the world’s first RISC-V based out-of-order superscalar processor IP, SiFive U8-Series Core IP; and the SiFive Shield security platform architecture, including SiFive WorldGuard, for whole SoC security.

The near-infrared light is a light source with the shortest wavelength, indicated outside of the red color in the light spectrum. The near-infrared light has been widely used in optical communications, medical lasers, LiDAR of self-driving vehicles, and security and surveillance instruments, ranging from private to defense industry. To utilize this near-infrared light, the technology that converts light into an electrical energy through a photodetector is crucial. The research team from POSTECH successfully developed a photodiode with increased absorption of the near-infrared light by using the hourglass principle.

Weebit Nano (ASX: WBT), a developer of next generation memory technology for the global semiconductor industry, has confirmed test results showing its arrays can be manufactured for embedded applications with just a single added mask, as the Company continues towards productisation. Testing conducted over recent months with research partner Leti, the French research institute recognised as a global leader in the field of micro-electronics, confirmed it is possible to produce Weebit’s ReRAM technology as an embedded memory using two, or possibly only one, additional mask, compared to the seven to 10 additional masks normally required for current Flash memory. A second study by the joint Weebit-Leti team confirms novel methodologies can improve production yield by mitigating device malfunctions. These achievements can significantly benefit manufacturing costs and potential profits.

Carbonics, Inc. today announced that carbon nanotube technology has for the first time achieved speeds exceeding 100GHz in-radio frequency (RF) applications. The milestone eclipses the performance – and efficiency – of traditional RF-CMOS technology that is ubiquitous in modern consumer electronics including cell phones. The news opens the door for this new technology to potentially provide a powerful boost for 5G and mm-Wave technologies. The milestone was reported in the paper, “Wafer-scalable, aligned carbon nanotube transistors operating at frequencies of over 100 GHz,” published this week in the journal, Nature Electronics. A separate commentary in Nature Electronics called the research “a remarkable technology milestone.”

ETEL, a direct drive motor manufacturer of the HEIDENHAIN Group, now offers updated ironless linear motors optimized for electronics and semiconductor manufacturing. Called the IL+ product lines, these motors are offered in the same profile as ETEL’s previously established ironless linear motors but now specially re-designed to allow for increased performance to benefit these two industries. Unique to the IL+, a change in material selection now allows the ETEL ironless motors to operate up to 600VDC and reach a temperature limit up to 130°C, as opposed to the previous market standard of 300VDC and 80°C. This allows an increase in overall speed along with a greater force operating range. Track sizes are available in increments of 128, 256, and 512mm.

SEMI and TechSearch International today announced a new edition of the Worldwide OSAT Manufacturing Sites Database – the only outsourced semiconductor assembly and testing (OSAT) supplier database available in the market. The report, an essential business tool for anyone interested in device packaging, tracks facilities that provide packaging and testing services to the semiconductor industry. The new edition includes more than 80 updates spanning packaging technology offerings, product specialization and ownership/shareholder updates. Adding more than 30 new test facility additions to bring the total number of facilities tracked to 360, the database helps semiconductor manufacturers identify service offerings around the globe, an increasingly important task in supply chain management.