Fujitsu Labs Develops Technology to Estimate Rate of Soft Errors in Semiconductors

Fujitsu Laboratories Ltd has worked with the Hawaii Observatory of the National Astronomical Observatory of Japan, an inter-university research institute that is part of Japan's National Institute of Natural Sciences, on the development of a technique for quick and accurate field measurement of the rate of "soft errors", which are erroneous operations that occur in advanced semiconductors and are caused by neutrons from a type of cosmic ray.

The new technology enables quick and accurate determination of the rate at which soft errors in an LSI chip will be encountered, a rate that varies depending on such characteristics as the geometric latitude and altitude of the location, and the shield effect of buildings in which the LSI is employed. Through the accurate and fast assessment of soft error rates, developers of advanced semiconductors can be advised on the optimal countermeasures to take, depending on where and how the LSIs will be used.

Researchers took measurements using the Subaru telescope located atop Hawaii's Mauna Kea mountain, where the intensity of neutrons is 10 times greater than that at sea level, thus making it possible to measure the neutrons' energy spectrum and quickly collect statistical data using high-precision error rates.

By comparing measurements taken in Tokyo and the top of Mauna Kea, the researchers found the intensity of neutrons at the top of Mauna Kea to be 16 times the level in Tokyo. When, in addition, the effects of building composition were factored in, it was 7.4 times the level of Tokyo. When the soft error rates measured at the top of Mauna Kea were divided by this coefficient of 7.4, the amount basically corresponded to previous measurements for Tokyo as well as simulated rates for Tokyo.

Furthermore, in the measurements at the top of Mauna Kea, using a sample of 1,024 90nm SRAM chips, 36 soft errors were recorded over the course of approximately 2,400 hours of measurements. In a relatively short period of time, less than one-eighth the amount of time required for measurements in Tokyo, the researchers were able to obtain highly precise assessment results.

This technology will be applied to assess soft error rates of 65nm, 45nm, and 32nm LSI devices, providing an important diagnostic tool for developing appropriate soft error countermeasures.


source:
http://techon.nikkeibp.co.jp /english/NEWS_EN/20080505/151337/

Mentor Graphics, UMC Validate Accuracy of UMC's 65nm Physical Verification Flows Using Calibre nmDRC

Mentor Graphics Corp has worked with UMC to validate the accuracy of UMC's 65nm physical verification flows using the Calibre nmDRC product.

Using one of UMC's advanced 65nm customer products as the test design, the cooperative effort claims to have verified that UMC's 65nm Calibre production decks accurately reflect the design rule manual for this node, providing UMC customers with greater confidence in the manufacturability of their 65nm chip designs.

The Calibre tool's is internally used by UMC's engineering groups and is the first available for each new technology node. The companies previously partnered to demonstrate the performance of the Calibre nmDRC product with Hyperscaling.

Calibre nmDRC is an important component of the overall Calibre nm platform that provides customers solutions for DRC, LVS, extraction, critical area analysis (CAA), critical feature analysis (CFA), chemical mechanical polishing (CMP), and litho friendly design (LFD) analysis -- all required to solve yield challenges in the nanometer era.

source:
http://techon.nikkeibp.co.jp /english/NEWS_EN/20080505/151336/

Toyota Adds Value in Crown, Doubling Datacomm Traffic

Datacomm traffic is double what it used to be in the vehicular local area network (LAN) in the new Crown model, announced on February 18, 2008 by Toyota Motor Corp of Japan. The car boasts four "world's first" technologies, as well as a host of new functions. And implementing all of these new functions has doubled the data communications traffic.
What does double the load really mean? Most of the new technology in the Crown was not implemented through newly developed hardware, such as sensors or actuators. The increased traffic, in fact, is directly tied to the fact that Toyota Motor has been concentrating on software development.

A comparison of the new and old Crown models shows that there is indeed more hardware in the new one, but a closer look reveals that the composition of the hardware is about the same as that in the Lexus LS460, released in 2006. The Crown offers new technologies not found in the LS460, in spite of having the same hardware, because of software technologies interconnecting various pieces of equipment. For example, existing cameras and brake systems have been linked by software to a function to detect if the driver's eyes are open or shut, making possible a brand new pre-crash safety system.
Stop Line Locations, etc

One of the pieces of newly developed software that stands out the most is technology to interconnect the car navigation system and vehicular control functions. Toyota Motor first used car location data from the car navigation system to automatically change gears in 1998. The technology has been evolving since, and the new Crown comes with two new related functions. Map data is used to provide driver assistance in braking as the car approaches a stop line; the car automatically changes gears as it approaches an expressway junction, and more.

Technologies to utilize car navigation systems in other vehicular applications will no doubt continue to evolve, but a look at these functions reveals a few problems. The car navigation system serves as the sensor to measure the car's current location, and Toyota Motor feels that location precision is still too low. The braking assist function to help the driver bring the car to a halt before reaching the stop line, for example, demands an accurate grasp of the distance to the stop line. This type of function is impossible with low-precision car navigation systems, for which reason Toyota Motor has included information including speed limits, crosswalks and other features of various roads, along with the locations of the stop lines. Stop line locations, however, were individually measured by hand.

source:
http://techon.nikkeibp.co.jp /article/HONSHI/20080428/151147/

Weak Q1 Performance Signals Bottom for DRAM Market, Says iSuppli

The market leader of the DRAM industry, Samsung Electronics Co Ltd, continues to boost its production even as its competitors pull back amid weak market conditions. But while this strategy may have helped Samsung to avoid the worst effects of weak DRAM market conditions in the first quarter, with the company increasing its share of sales and padding its lead over the competition, it wasn't enough to allow Samsung to generate a profit from DRAM during the period.

Samsung sold US$1.8 billion worth of DRAM in the first quarter, giving it a 30.6% share of global market revenue, up from 30.2% in the fourth quarter, according to a preliminary estimate from iSuppli Corp. While this was 6.2% lower than the US$1.9 billion in the fourth quarter, the overall DRAM market declined by a more precipitous 7.4% during the same period.

Samsung also performed well compared to its nearest competitor, Hynix Semiconductor Inc of Korea, which suffered an 8.4% sequential decline in DRAM revenue. Among the top-10 suppliers, Samsung posted the fourth-best performance in terms of sequential sales growth.

"Samsung recently ratcheted up its already-aggressive DRAM unit growth target for 2008 to 100%, up from the 87% level that iSuppli estimated before," said Nam Hyung Kim, chief analyst at iSuppli.

"Interestingly, Samsung announced its more aggressive unit-growth target immediately after iSuppli on April 24 upgraded its rating of near-term DRAM market conditions for suppliers to 'neutral' -- up from the 'negative' assessment that had been in place since November 2007."

However, the research firm believes that DRAM market conditions now have bottomed out, and there is no further room for declines. "If the market hasn't bottomed out yet, OEM DRAM buyers will encounter major risks of DRAM supply-chain disruptions because some suppliers are facing serious financial issues, and potentially could leave the business. DRAM prices are set to rise slightly during the coming months, although industry conditions still will oscillate widely due to short-term shifts in the supply/demand balance."

According to iSuppli's preliminary estimate, Global DRAM revenue declined to US$5.925 billion in the first quarter, down 7.4% from US$6.4 billion in the fourth quarter.

In the first quarter, no DRAM supplier managed to generate a profit, and losses were larger than expected. However, these enormous losses signaled the bottom for the DRAM market, in iSuppli's view, prompting the company to upgrade its assessment of short-term conditions for suppliers last week.

source:
http://techon.nikkeibp.co.jp /english/NEWS_EN/20080505/151339/

Intel, Samsung, TSMC Target 2012 for 450mm Wafer Manufacturing Transition

Intel Corp, Samsung Electronics and TSMC have collaborated to target a transition to 450mm-sized wafers starting in 2012. The transition to larger wafers will enable continued growth of the semiconductor industry and help maintain a reasonable cost structure for future integrated circuit manufacturing and applications.

The companies said they will cooperate with the semiconductor industry to help ensure that all of the required components, infrastructure and capability are developed and tested for a pilot line by this target date.

Historically, manufacturing with larger wafers helps increase the ability to produce semiconductors at a lower cost. The total silicon surface area of a 450mm wafer and the number of printed die is more than twice that of a 300mm wafer. The bigger wafers help lower the production cost per chip. In addition, through efficient use of energy, water and other resources, bigger wafers can help diminish overall use of resources per chip.

The three companies indicate that the semiconductor industry can improve its return on investment and substantially reduce 450mm R&D costs by applying aligned standards, rationalizing changes from 300mm infrastructure and automation, and working toward a common timeline. The companies also agree that a cooperative approach will help minimize risk and transition costs.

In the past, migration to the next larger wafer size traditionally began every 10 years after the last transition. For example, the industry began the transition to 300mm wafers in 2001, a decade after the initial 200mm manufacturing facilities were introduced in 1991.

Keeping in line with the historical pace of growth, Intel, Samsung and TSMC agree that 2012 is an appropriate target to begin the 450mm transition. Given the complexity of integrating all of the components for a transition of this size, the companies recognize that consistent evaluation of the target timeline will be critical to ensure industry-wide readiness.

The three companies will continue to work with International Sematech (ISMI), as it plays a critical role in coordinating industry efforts on 450mm wafer supply, standards setting and developing equipment test bed capabilities.

source:
http://techon.nikkeibp.co.jp /english/NEWS_EN/20080506/151342/

Spansion, IBM Sign Cross Licensing Agreement

Spansion Inc has entered into a seven-year patent cross licensing agreement with IBM. Recently IBM announced a next generation technology code-named Racetrack, an electronic memory solution said to combine the best attributes of Flash drives and the hard disk drives of computers. The technology could lead to cheaper, more durable electronic devices that would hold far more data in the same amount of space and boot up more quickly.

"We believe entering into this patent cross license agreement with IBM gives us access to some of the most advanced technology in the world, providing Spansion the opportunity to further its leadership in Flash memory design, manufacturing and overall innovation," said Dr Louis Parrillo, executive vice president, R&D for Spansion.

Included in Spansion's patent portfolio are patents relating to its MirrorBit technology, a charge-trapping technology that is believed by Spansion to be the most likely successor to floating gate technology for scaling Flash memory to sub-45nm process lithography nodes. Spansion believes its investment in MirrorBit technology gives it a strong charge-trapping patent portfolio in process, design and manufacturing technologies.

Spansion and IBM will also partner on the continued development of Flash memory solutions for the Chinese market. Spansion has been committed to working with the top consumer electronics OEMs and wireless handset manufacturers in the Greater China region, where it has a final manufacturing facility in Suzhou, design centers in Suzhou and Beijing and sales and marketing offices in Beijing, Shanghai and Shenzhen.

source:
http://techon.nikkeibp.co.jp /english/NEWS_EN/20080505/151338/

Cover Story

UI Sensors Mimic 5 Human Senses
Incorporating "five-sense sensors" makes electronic devices much easier to use; devices of the future may be able to recognize human emotions - a feat which would alter the way in which we relate to them.

The appearance of the iPhone, Wii and similar equipment has finally freed us from the belief that the mouse is the ultimate interface," said Prof Jun Rekimoto, Interfaculty Initiative in Information Studies, University of Tokyo, also director of Interaction Laboratory at Sony Computer Science Laboratories Inc (Sony CSL) of Japan, who has been researching the "multi-touch" user interface since the late 1990s at Sony CSL. It closely resembles the user interface (UI) of the iPhone, released by Apple Inc of the US in 2007, and is years ahead of the Apple design in some ways. When he began his work, recalled Rekimoto, "We felt that practical multi-touch was still years in the future," because the mouse ruled.
Diversification in UIs

Prof Rekimoto believes that there will be a rapid diversification in UIs in the near future thanks to the iPhone and other systems. For example, he explained, equipment UIs will come to mimic the feelings existing between people, letting us exchange feelings through methods like a handshake (Fig 1). "Once a person tries out one of these humanistic UIs, they really dislike using pushbuttons or mice," he added. He is not surprised at the popularity of the iPhone, the Wii or other equipment, but feels rather it was only to be expected.

"The mouse was invented in 1964, and was modeled after a hard, rectangular rock. Computers have no feelings, and it was used to input logical commands, so designers felt there was no need for human warmth," he explained. "Our hands are flexible, though, and a single handshake can communicate quite a lot through force and other interactions. Exchanging feelings with users will be very important in electronic equipment in the future, and it is even possible that UIs may appear mimicking human shapes or the softness of human skin."
The attainment of user interfaces that we can use intuitively, naturally, will depend on sensors. Especially important are sensors covering the five human senses of sight, hearing, smell, taste and touch (Table 1). This is because making UIs more human-like will probably demand that equipment comes with sensors similar to human sensory organs. The iPhone uses a touch sensor. The "smile shutter" function that is beginning to appear in cameras and mobile phones from Sony Corp and other manufacturers, automatically snapping a photo when a smile is detected, extracts smile information from the image. The Wii Fit Balance Wii Board used with the Wii, from Nintendo Co Ltd of Japan, is operated by game users standing on top of it, and makes use of a pressure sensor, as well as tactile information.
Relating to Machines

The five-sense sensors mounted in equipment such as this are still elementary, and continuing evolution could entirely change the relationship between human beings and electronic equipment. Hiro Yamasaki, Professor Emeritus of the University of Tokyo, who has been involved in sensor research for many years, predicts that the development of five-sense sensors will transform this relationship.

Source:
http://techon.nikkeibp.co.jp /article/HONSHI/20080428/151131/