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
Author: Daniel Nenni
Methodics @ #51DAC!
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!
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!
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
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
More Moore or No More?
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
Motley Fools Intel Investors Again!
It really is quite a racket. Investor bloggers spread semiconductor disinformation for $.01 per click, that coincidentally covers their stock positions, and I get paid $300 per hour to explain it to Wall Street. While I appreciate the opportunity to bond with the financial people, I do wonder how these bloggers sleep at night.… Read More
Variation-Aware Custom IC Design Best Practices
I’ve worked with Solido for 5 years, and it’s been a pleasure to watch the world’s top semiconductor companies and foundries adopt Solido software for their SPICE simulation flows.
Sub-28nm design starts are accelerating, growing from 150 in 2012 to 900 this year. The move to sub-28nm design nodes is being driven by consumer electronic… Read More
Can Intel be a Leading Semiconductor Foundry?
This is the third part of a series answering the most frequently asked questions I get from Wall Street. Please read the previous two articles on Intel’s Manufacturing Lead and Intel’s SoC Challenge before flaming me in the comment section. First let’s look at why there is a foundry business and go from there.
The big… Read More
Automotive Focus @ #51DAC!
For the first time in DAC history there is an automotive track. Being a car person myself this is exciting news. I had a quick chat with Anne Cirkel, Vice Chair of DAC, and she sent me the following information to get us prepared for our week in San Francisco. The weather is going to be great so plan accordingly!
Ever increasing feature… Read More










Available Is Not In Control: Balancing Output, Quality, and Risk in High-Volume Fabs