Rising power density and heat threaten the future of advanced semiconductors

Rising power density and heat threaten the future of advanced semiconductors

The underlying issue is closely linked to the end of Dennard scaling, a principle that once allowed engineers to shrink transistors and reduce voltage simultaneously – keeping...

The Other Side Of The Wafer: Transistor Channel Stress In Backside Power Delivery Networks

As transistor scaling has moved to the angstrom era (18A, 14A, etc.), the issues of interconnect resistance (IR), IR drop, and power loss are becoming more severe. Traditionally, signal lines and power lines are fabricated on the same side of the wafer as the active device. But fabricating everything on one side of the wafer can create a shortage of space and resources at the interconnect layers. One emerging innovation in the semiconductor indu…