We Need One MILLION Design Starts!

We Need One MILLION Design Starts!
by Daniel Nenni on 06-01-2014 at 5:03 am

Design starts are the lifeblood of the semiconductor industry. It’s not just the design start itself, it’s the innovation that goes with it. As the semiconductor industry consolidates and the cost of modern semiconductor design increases you have to ask yourself: Where are the next generation of design starts going to come from?Read More


Context Aware Library Models for Improved Static Analysis Accuracy

Context Aware Library Models for Improved Static Analysis Accuracy
by Daniel Nenni on 05-30-2014 at 10:00 pm

Digital semiconductor design flows predominantly use library models (typically verilog and liberty formats) for static analyses. Design sizes continue to grow and geometry continues to shrink. Demand for superior performance continue to increase. Accuracy of the library models has become more critical than ever before … Read More


Google Robot Cars are Coming!

Google Robot Cars are Coming!
by Daniel Nenni on 05-30-2014 at 10:30 am

Paul McLellan and I attended the 2014 Embedded Vision Summit in Silicon Valley this week. The most interesting session for me was on the new Google car that was announced earlier in the week. But first, to set the stage, let’s look at a new study by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) that shows motor vehicle… Read More


SemiWiki Exceeds One Million Users!

SemiWiki Exceeds One Million Users!
by Daniel Nenni on 05-29-2014 at 11:00 am

SemiWiki was launched on January 1[SUP]st[/SUP] 2011 and according to Google Analytics we have officially exceeded one million users (unique visitors). I really don’t know what to say but, WOW, that is a LOT of people reading SemiWiki articles, wikis, and forums (there are now 13,464 posts on SemiWiki).

According to Alexa.com… Read More


DRM2PDK: From design rule manual to process design kit

DRM2PDK: From design rule manual to process design kit
by Daniel Nenni on 05-28-2014 at 3:00 am

Exactly a year ago Sage Design Automation launched its revolutionary iDRM product, enabling for the first time to graphically capture design rules and compile them into checks automatically – no programming required. Using the graphical design rule editor, users could draw the layout topology that describes the design… Read More


Methodics @ #51DAC!

Methodics @ #51DAC!
by Daniel Nenni on 05-27-2014 at 11:00 am

This is the biggest year ever for Methodics at DAC, with lots to show, and a team of people excited to talk to customers and potential customers alike. Methodics will also be giving away Pebble Smartwatches!

Methodics theme for DAC2014 is “IP and design management done right”. A key part of this message is to show how their unique open… Read More


IBM and GLOBALFOUNDRIES Deal!

IBM and GLOBALFOUNDRIES Deal!
by Daniel Nenni on 05-25-2014 at 10:10 am

An interesting deal was announced last week, another piece in the What is Next for GlobalFoundries? puzzle. IBM is sending up to 200 employees from their East Fishkill R&D facility to GF’s Malta R&D center in Saratoga County. The first thing that comes to my mind is 10nm! Considering GF is licensing Samsung 14nm, what else… Read More


Fabless Book Giveaway at #51DAC!

Fabless Book Giveaway at #51DAC!
by Daniel Nenni on 05-24-2014 at 7:00 pm

The generosity of the fabless semiconductor ecosystem never ceases to amaze me. Paul McLellan and I wrote a book for the greater good and now key members of our industry will make sure that 1,500 people at this year’s Design Automation Conference will get copies. As a special thank you to all of our supporters SemiWiki will be hosting… Read More


A Novel Approach to IC Design in the Cloud

A Novel Approach to IC Design in the Cloud
by Daniel Nenni on 05-23-2014 at 3:00 pm

Migration to cloud computing for scientific and engineering applications is inevitable. More specifically for IC design, the benefits are significant:

  • Common IC design infrastructure to unburden each user from setting up and maintaining a separate infrastructure
  • Cloud based IC design enables global collaboration among
Read More

More Moore or No More?

More Moore or No More?
by Daniel Nenni on 05-22-2014 at 11:30 pm

Moore’s is still the law, and device scaling remains the key focus of front-end process research, however next-generation technologies–and the Big Data, cloud computing world that supports mobile, IoT, and other next-gen applications–are the new drivers, bringing new demands and challenges running Read More