The year is 2005 and PMC Sierra decided that it is time to expand by adding a new site in Bangalore, India. We started with digital verification first but by 2006 we were ready to engage with Mixed Signal Design and Layout. I went to Bangalore in June 2006 for the first time and with the help of our local manager, Vikram Labhe, had a few layout… Read More
Author: Dan Clein
Is there anything in VLSI layout other than “pushing polygons”? (10)
Is there anything in VLSI layout other than “pushing polygons”? (9)
I moved from real layout work to management so I had little or no “hands-on” layout in my responsibility but I was very close to my team challenges in all 5 locations. During my 13 years in PMC Sierra I was involved in many initiatives some technical and some in developing relations with vendors. The biggest difference was that MOSAID… Read More
Is there anything in VLSI layout other than “pushing polygons”? (8)
The year is 1999 and I decided that is time to try something else in layout. In 1989 in Israel I was part of the biggest chip in the world, the Motorola DSP9600. In 1998 in Canada I was part of the biggest Synchronous DRAM in the world, it was time to try analog/mixed signal/RF projects.
The opportunity came from PMC Sierra who already had… Read More
Is there anything in VLSI layout other than “pushing polygons”? (7)
The time is 1995 and my mandate as Layout Manager is to grow my team. I advertised everywhere but there were no experienced people in Canada that I can hire so the solution was back to training. I was the trainer a few times in Israel in MSIL but there we had a very organised material for layout, UNIX, software, etc. We had exercises, tests,… Read More
Is there anything in VLSI layout other than “pushing polygons”? (6)
I am very sorry but I have to break the flow of sharing initiatives, to reiterate the reason for these articles and maybe amplify the message these articles should promote.
I got a few inquiries from LinkedIn connections, who read the previous articles, with a very interesting point of view. This proves that after 5 articles some … Read More
Is there anything in VLSI layout other than “pushing polygons”? (5)
Being new in Ottawa and trying to get some momentum towards automation in full custom layout I was telling industry people that I am interested to work with everybody to move this agenda forward. My Director of Engineering at that time, Peter Gillingham, took me to visit Carleton University in Ottawa. One of his professor friends,… Read More
Is there anything in VLSI layout other than “pushing polygons”? (4)
The year is now 1991 and in search for a more peaceful life we decided to move to Canada. At that time, very few companies had advanced flows in VLSI but Ottawa having BNR, Northern Telecom, Mitel, etc., looked to be the most promising place. After a few hiccups in finding a job, I landed in MOSAID, a small company with35 people at that … Read More
Is there anything in VLSI layout other than “pushing polygons”? (3)
In late 1986 the Layout Project Leader of DSP96000 got married and left for a 6 months’ vacation so I inherited the biggest chip MSIL had in stock. Floorplanning such size chip was a challenge from day one. Even the 68030 SUN workstation was too slow. I started to ask around and going to demos for any other possible tool that can help me… Read More
Is there anything in VLSI layout other than pushing polygons? (2)
One of the important changes that happen between 1984 and 1988 is the hardware platforms development. Calma evolved, mainframe S140 with 2 combined monitors per terminal in S280 with 2 individual monitors per terminal. This meant that from noisy and darker rooms we move to more quiet and lighted rooms. We doubled the speed and the… Read More
Is there anything in VLSI layout other than “pushing polygons”?
As I travel a lot in the last 15 years and visited customers as well as friends I was many times invited to talk to the Layout teams. The main purpose is always to encourage automation. So I developed a presentation related to market trend, technology trends, and latest tools advancements. In many cases I present updates from DAC (Design… Read More
Next Generation of Systems Design at Siemens