Global Semiconductor Alliance Ecosystem Summit Trip Report!

Global Semiconductor Alliance Ecosystem Summit Trip Report!
by Daniel Nenni on 10-10-2011 at 7:06 pm

Being an internationally recognized industry blogger (IRIB) does have its benefits, one of which is free invites to all of the cool industry conferences! The presentations are canned for the most part but you can learn a lot at the breaks and exhibits if you know the right questions to ask, which I certainly do.

The GSA Semiconductor
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Solido & TSMC Variation Webinar for Optimal Yield in Memory, Analog, Custom Digital Design

Solido & TSMC Variation Webinar for Optimal Yield in Memory, Analog, Custom Digital Design
by Daniel Nenni on 10-09-2011 at 4:01 pm

Solido has announced webinars for North America, Europe and Asia on October 12-13. They will be describing the variation analysis and design solutions in the TSMC AMS Reference Flow 2.0 announced at the Design Automation Conference this year.

“We are pleased to broaden our collaboration with Solido in developing advanced variation… Read More


AMS Verification: Speed versus Accuracy

AMS Verification: Speed versus Accuracy
by Daniel Nenni on 10-03-2011 at 9:16 pm

I spent Thursday Sept. 22 at the first nanometer Circuit Verification Forum, held at TechMart in Santa Clara. Hosted by Berkeley Design Automation (BDA), the forum was attended by 100+ people, with circuit designers dominating. I spoke with many attendees. They were seeking solutions to the hugely challenging problems they … Read More


Making Money With Cramer? Don’t Count on it!

Making Money With Cramer? Don’t Count on it!
by Daniel Nenni on 10-02-2011 at 11:16 pm

Investing with Cramer is a crap shoot. By Cramer, I mean the Mad Money TV show, and Action Alerts PLUS from thestreet.com. Cramer is certainly a smart guy and knows his stuff, but don’t think following his investment strategy is necessarily a winner. He constantly maintains that you can beat the averages by picking individualRead More


Samsung versus Apple and TSMC!

Samsung versus Apple and TSMC!
by Daniel Nenni on 09-28-2011 at 6:56 am

Apple will purchase close to eightBILLION dollars in parts from Samsung for the iSeries of products this year alone, making Apple Samsung’s largest customer. Samsung is also Apple’s largest competitor and TSMC’s most viable competitive foundry threat so it was no surprise to see Apple and TSMC team up on the next generations of… Read More


Nanometer Circuit Verification: The Catch-22 of Layout!

Nanometer Circuit Verification: The Catch-22 of Layout!
by Daniel Nenni on 09-19-2011 at 8:00 pm

As analog and mixed-signal designers move to very advanced geometries, they must grapple with more and more complex considerations of the silicon. Not only do nanometer CMOS devices have limitations in terms of analog-relevant characteristics such gain and noise performance, but they also introduce new sources of variation… Read More


PVT and Statistical Design in Nanometer Process Geometries

PVT and Statistical Design in Nanometer Process Geometries
by Daniel Nenni on 09-18-2011 at 9:00 am

On Sept 22, 2011, the nm Circuit Verification Forumwill be held in Silicon Valley, hosted by Berkeley Design Automation. At this forum, Trent McConaghy of Solido DA will present a case study on the TSMC Reference Flow 2.0 VCO circuit, to showcase Fast PVT in the steps of extracting PVT corners, verifying PVT, and doing post-layout… Read More


When analog/RF/mixed-signal IC design meets nanometer CMOS geometries!

When analog/RF/mixed-signal IC design meets nanometer CMOS geometries!
by Daniel Nenni on 09-13-2011 at 9:22 am

In working with TSMC and GlobalFoundries on AMS design reference flows I have experienced first hand the increasing verification challenges of nanometer analog, RF, and mixed-signal circuits. Tools in this area have to be both silicon accurate and blindingly fast! Berkeley Design Automation is one of the key vendors in this … Read More


TSMC and Dr. Morris Chang!

TSMC and Dr. Morris Chang!
by Daniel Nenni on 09-05-2011 at 6:14 pm

While I was in Taiwan last month battling a Super Typhoon, Morris Chang was in Silicon Valley picking up his IEEE Medal of Honor. Gordon Moore, Andrew Grove, and Robert Noyce all have medals. The other winners, including 10 Nobel prize recipients, are listed HERE. An updated wiki on Dr. Morris Chang is located HERE.

The 12+ hour plane… Read More


Nanometer Circuit Verification Forum

Nanometer Circuit Verification Forum
by Daniel Nenni on 08-29-2011 at 2:33 pm

Verifying circuits on advanced process nodes has always been difficult, and it’s no easier with today’s nanometer CMOS processes. There’s a great paradox in nanometer circuit design and verification. Designers achieve their greatest differentiation when they implement analog, mixed-signal, RF and custom … Read More