ISSCC 2013: Circuit Design Using FinFETs!

ISSCC 2013: Circuit Design Using FinFETs!
by Daniel Nenni on 02-16-2013 at 8:00 pm


One of the privilages of blogging for SemiWiki is invitations to the top conferences around the world including the International Solid-State Circuits Conference (ISSCC) in San Francisco this week. Amazing, this conference is older than I am:

ISSCC 2013 is the 60th Conference in an incredibly long-lasting series. FollowingRead More


Aldec Delivers Leading Verification Methodologies!

Aldec Delivers Leading Verification Methodologies!
by Daniel Nenni on 02-14-2013 at 8:15 pm

For those of you who don’t know, Aldec Inc., headquartered in Henderson, Nevada, is an industry leader in Electronic Design Verification and offers a patented technology suite including: RTL Design, RTL Simulators, Hardware-Assisted Verification, ASIC Prototyping, Design Rule Checking, IP Cores, DO-254 Functional Verification… Read More


Synopsys Magma Acquisition Stock Trading Under Investigation?

Synopsys Magma Acquisition Stock Trading Under Investigation?
by Daniel Nenni on 02-12-2013 at 7:00 pm

An attorney from the Division of Enforcement at the U.S. Securities & Exchange Commission contacted me in regards to activity on SemiWiki. Not a great way to start a Monday! Given the parameters of the discussion and the type of questions it is undoubtedly (in my humble opinion) concerning the Synopsys acquisition of Magma.… Read More


RTL Clock Gating Analysis Cuts Power by 20% in AMD Chip!

RTL Clock Gating Analysis Cuts Power by 20% in AMD Chip!
by Daniel Nenni on 02-06-2013 at 10:00 pm

Approximately 25% of SemiWiki traffic originates from search engines and the key search terms are telling. Since the beginning of SemiWiki, “low power design” has been one of the top searches. This is understandable since the mobile market has been leading us down the path to fame and fortune. Clearly lowering the… Read More


SemiWiki Hits Major Readership Milestone!

SemiWiki Hits Major Readership Milestone!
by Daniel Nenni on 02-03-2013 at 7:00 pm


For those of you who follow SemiWiki and the fabless semiconductor ecosystem it has been a very interesting two years:

The Semiconductor Wiki Project, the premier semiconductor collaboration site, is a growing online community of professionals involved with the semiconductor design and manufacturing ecosystem. Since goingRead More


Common Platform Technology Forum February 5th 2013 Live or Online!

Common Platform Technology Forum February 5th 2013 Live or Online!
by Daniel Nenni on 02-03-2013 at 8:00 am

Can’t make it to Santa Clara? Join us online!

The detailed 2013 CPTF agenda is now up in preparation for the February 5th event at the Santa Clara Convention Center. This is one of the rare times that you can get a free lunch! Watch this quick video to see what is in store for us this year. Dr. Paul McLellan and I will be there so please… Read More


Dynamic/Leakage Power Reduction in Memories

Dynamic/Leakage Power Reduction in Memories
by Daniel Nenni on 01-31-2013 at 8:05 pm

Embedded memories have an important impact on power. SoCs that integrate multiple functions on a single silicon die are at the heart of many electronic devices. As process geometries have scaled, design teams have used more and more of the additional silicon real estate available to integrate embedded memories that serve as scratch-pads,… Read More


Advanced Technology-Design-Manufacturing Co-optimization

Advanced Technology-Design-Manufacturing Co-optimization
by Daniel Nenni on 01-31-2013 at 7:00 pm

I spent some quality time with Subi Kengeri, Vice President, Technology Architecture, Office of the CTO, GLOBALFOUNDRIES in Las Vegas during CES. Great guy, he worked at Silicon Access, Virage and TSMC before GF. One thing you should know about embedded memory guys, SRAM is the first thing that goes through a new process so they … Read More


A Brief History of Tanner EDA

A Brief History of Tanner EDA
by Daniel Nenni on 01-28-2013 at 11:00 pm

While founder John Tanner, PhD, got his initial exposure to the TTL Cookbook and CMOS Cookbook as an undergraduate, it was his experience as a Caltech graduate student that forged his early path in EDA. In 1979, while enrolled in a VLSI design course at Caltech, John and his classmates received a pre-print of Carver Mead’s seminal… Read More


Cadence, Synopsys, and Mentor on FinFETs

Cadence, Synopsys, and Mentor on FinFETs
by Daniel Nenni on 01-27-2013 at 7:00 pm

In my opinion, FinFETs will be the most significant piece of technology we, as semiconductor ecosystem people, will experience this decade. Seriously this is exciting stuff and one of the top search terms on SemiWiki for 6 months running. Here is a quick peek at what the top EDA companies will be talking about at the Common PlatformRead More