Engineers and product designers face more challenges than ever before in bringing successful products to market. The advent of the IoT requires more features and mobility in new products. At the IMPACT Conference Boards, Chips and Packaging: Designing to Maximize Results, industry executives will highlight ways to solve these challenges.
published by TechInsights on Tue, 2015-09-22 22:38
In the past, integrated circuits, packages and boards were all designed independently and yet in most cases still managed to fit together with very few functional or technical problems. However recent advances in chip performance have changed this process dramatically. New designs, processes and materials have already been seen in packaging as high performance semiconductor chips need to carefully match the size, power and performance requirements of more demanding end applications. For optimal system performance, specific information related to material, speed and stability has created the need to improve information exchange and collaboration for successful board design. While collaboration is not new to the industry, we are now at a point where collaboration needs to be extended to all parts of the electronic ecosystem in order to maximize system performance while minimizing costs.
The Internet of Things promises an unprecedented opportunity for the electronics industry. From front-end devices like roadway sensors to back-end network equipment supporting the rush of new data inputs, electronics are the integral foundation of this new era. More than ever, pressure is on the electronics industry to deliver the right solution at the right time and at the right price. A panel will discuss this important issue during the Semico IMPACT Conference: Designing to Maximize Results, October 13, Computer History Museum, 1401 N Shoreline Blvd., Mountain View, California 94043.
Semico expects to see a stronger market in the second half of 2015, based on strong increases in our IPI index in the second half of 2014. The IPI accurately predicts semiconductor revenue inflection points four quarters in advance. Recent economic events and fears of weakness in some end markets have resulted in substantial downgrades in forecasts from other prognosticators. In the past we too have fallen into this trap only to look back to say that the IPI was more correct. Forecasting the semiconductor market is not for the "faint of heart".
One of the most overlooked aspects of hardware design is the key role that materials selection plays in the overall product development process. For example, laminates are the foundation upon which all other components, both hardware and software, depend in order to ensure that the products into which they are incorporated are functionally operational.
The System-on-a-Chip (SoC) method of creating silicon solutions is delivering on the original high expectations for the future of the semiconductor industry and ASIC markets. Designs of very high complexity are regularly accomplished using this approach today, far beyond what was possible only five or six years ago using more traditional ASIC methodologies.
