Thermal Reliability Challenges in Automotive and Data Center Applications – A Xilinx Perspective

Thermal Reliability Challenges in Automotive and Data Center Applications – A Xilinx Perspective
by Bernard Murphy on 02-13-2020 at 6:00 am

thermometer

I wrote recently on ANSYS and TSMC’s joint work on thermal reliability workflows, as these become much more important in advanced processes and packaging. Xilinx provided their own perspective on thermal reliability analysis for their unquestionably large systems – SoC, memory, SERDES and high-speed I/O – stacked within a … Read More


Innovation in Verification – February 2020

Innovation in Verification – February 2020
by Bernard Murphy on 02-11-2020 at 6:00 am

Innovation in Verification

This blog is the next in a series in which Paul Cunningham (GM of the Verification Group at Cadence), Jim Hogan and I pick a paper on a novel idea in verification and debate its strengths and opportunities for improvement.

Our goal is to support and appreciate further innovation in this area. Please let us know what you think and please… Read More


Verification, RISC-V and Extensibility

Verification, RISC-V and Extensibility
by Bernard Murphy on 02-05-2020 at 6:00 am

RISC-V

RISC-V is obviously making progress. Independent of licensee signups and new technical offerings, the simple fact that Arm is responding – in fundamental changes to their licensing model and in allowing custom user extensions to the instruction set – is proof enough that they see a real competitive threat from RISC-V.

Which all… Read More


How Good is Your Testbench?

How Good is Your Testbench?
by Bernard Murphy on 01-29-2020 at 6:00 am

Limitations of coverage

I’ve always been intrigued by Synopsys’ Certitude technology. It’s a novel approach to the eternal problem of how to get better coverage in verification. For a design of any reasonable complexity, the state-space you would have to cover to exhaustively consider all possible behaviors is vastly larger than you could ever possibly… Read More


Formal and High-Level Synthesis

Formal and High-Level Synthesis
by Bernard Murphy on 01-22-2020 at 6:00 am

SLEC verification

Formal verification has made significant inroads in RTL and gate-level verification because it provides complementary strengths to conventional dynamic verification methods; using both provides higher levels of coverage and confidence in the correctness of an implementation. I haven’t heard as much about formal use in … Read More


A Bundle of Goodies in Bluetooth 5.2, LE Audio

A Bundle of Goodies in Bluetooth 5.2, LE Audio
by Bernard Murphy on 01-15-2020 at 6:00 am

Bluetooth

You know that a technology is becoming a trend to watch when the Economist writes a piece on the topic. We know how big an investment goes into monetizing visual content for our phones, pads and TVs, through the likes of Warner Media, Disney and Netflix. Now there’s a big push into monetizing our ears, driven by Apple and others on the… Read More


Innovation in Verification – January 2020

Innovation in Verification – January 2020
by Bernard Murphy on 01-09-2020 at 6:00 am

Innovation

I’m kicking off a blog series which should appeal to many of us in functional verification. Paul Cunningham (GM of the Verification Group at Cadence), Jim Hogan (angel investor and board member extraordinaire) and I (sometime blogger) like to noodle from time to time on papers and other verification articles which inspire us.… Read More


Tortuga Logic Scores Role in DoD Security Programs

Tortuga Logic Scores Role in DoD Security Programs
by Bernard Murphy on 01-07-2020 at 6:00 am

DoD logo

It should be no surprise in the current climate that the US government is ramping up investment in microelectronics security, particularly with an eye on China and investments they are making in the same area. This has two major thrusts as I read it: to ensure trusted and assured microelectronics are being used in US defense systems… Read More


ANSYS, TSMC Document Thermal Reliability Guidelines

ANSYS, TSMC Document Thermal Reliability Guidelines
by Bernard Murphy on 01-01-2020 at 6:00 am

Automotive Reliability Guide min

Advanced IC technologies, 5nm and 7nm FinFET design and stacked packaging, are enabling massive levels of integration of super-fast circuits. These in turn enable much of the exciting new technology we hear so much about: mobile gaming and ultra-high definition mobile video through enhanced mobile broadband in 5G, which requires… Read More


No Coal in This Stocking: VCs and Nuclear Fusion

No Coal in This Stocking: VCs and Nuclear Fusion
by Bernard Murphy on 12-25-2019 at 6:00 am

Is fusion energy close?

Tis the time of year when product pitches are 100% at consumers. No-one in their right mind wants to push the nerdy behind-the-scenes stuff we usually talk about. This is a chance for me to go off the rails a little and consider unusual directions in innovation. We know all about VCs underwriting self-driving cars, intelligent everything… Read More