🍻 Semi Pub Quiz #1

It's hump day, and who says you can't have an online pub quiz.

and

Jul 30, 2025

Welcome to the quiz edition of this newsletter! If you’re new to this publication, start here! The content published here every week is only possible with your generous support.

Special thanks to Samantha Iyer for suggesting this idea, and helping me phrase these questions effectively.

Welcome to the first edition of the Semi Quiz!

Depending on how you like it, I’ll maybe run these once or twice a month. So let me know what you think!

I’ll post the questions on Wednesday, and provide the answer key on Thursday with a short explanation, and suggested further reading. The questions will be derived from the following sources:

Past content on this newsletter
Blogs and other newsletters
Latest semiconductor news
Interesting trivia not related to semiconductors — just to keep things fresh!

I’m hoping this will be a fun way to stay sharp, learn new things, and find new interesting content to read.

With that, let’s get started with this week’s quiz! Feel free to drop your answers in the comments.

#1

Dennard scaling enabled more transistors on a chip as gate length got smaller, but without increasing power density. But one parameter — fundamentally limited by thermal physics — refused to scale, setting a hard stop around 2005. Robert Dennard warned about this in his original paper, and how it would eventually spell the death of Dennard scaling. What is this parameter?

#2

According to its founder, Lee Byung-Chul, the name of this company means ‘three stars’ and began as a trading company in 1938. Since the 90s, it has evolved into a powerhouse with stakes in semiconductors, consumer electronics, insurance, and even food processing. It recently struck a massive deal involving $16.5B with Tesla. What company am I talking about?

#3

Used for growing single-crystal silicon, this method sounds almost like a ballet; slow pulling, precise rotation, and heat control are key. But beneath the elegance lies a flaw: if too much oxygen sneaks in, minority carrier lifetimes are degraded. What is this method called?

#4

As gigawatt-class datacenters push towards higher DC voltages to boost efficiency, they flirt with a deadly risk: a breakdown of insulation that doesn’t just short — it detonates. We’re talking temperatures of 20,000°C — three times the sun’s surface temperature, vaporizing metal and unleashing explosive force. What’s the name of this catastrophic failure mode?

#5

A new hyperscale datacenter project takes its name from a mythological figure who once defied the gods to deliver fire to humanity. What is this project called? Which company is building it?

#6

Which company, with the slogan “Eat Well, Live Well” originally known for its food additive business, became a critical supplier of films that were built on top of FR4 or glass core substrates and is a key material for advanced packaging of chips?

#7

This type of Radar modulates the emitted signal frequency over time and uses the resulting beat frequency to extract both range and velocity simultaneously and is useful for automotive applications. What’s the name of this technique?

#8

In the process of photolithography used to manufacture chips, these unique shapes are added to photomasks, but don’t print on the wafer. Their job is to shape the light field near edges, help resolve small features, and improve critical dimension. What are they called?

#9

Silicon is pretty great at a lot of things — even thinking — as we’ve recently seen with AI. Its greatest weakness is that it cannot produce light, while materials like Gallium Arsenide can. What is the property of silicon called that makes it its Achilles heel when it comes to producing light?

#10

To minimize gate resistance and thermal noise in RF layouts, what process step is used to convert gate polysilicon in a MOSFET into a lower-resistance material?

🎱 That’s all for this week. Good luck!

📅 Watch out for the answers tomorrow.

💬 Meanwhile, post your answers in the comments.

Answers published. See post below.