Finding Logic Issues Early that Impact Physical Implementation

Finding Logic Issues Early that Impact Physical Implementation
by Daniel Payne on 10-16-2014 at 7:00 am

Complex SoC project teams typically use a divide and conquer approach where specialized engineers work in separate domains, like front-end or back-end. The five major engineering tasks for IC design can be described as: RTL design, synthesis, floor planning, place and route, then finally design analysis.

What if you could detect… Read More


How ST Designs with Layout Dependent Effects (LDE)

How ST Designs with Layout Dependent Effects (LDE)
by Daniel Payne on 10-15-2014 at 12:00 am

I first visited STat their Agrate, Italy site where Flash memory development is done. At DACthis year Antonio Bogani talked about how ST designs with LDE while using EDA tools and a PDK (Process Design Kit) from Cadence. They recorded the 17 minute presentation, and you can view it herewithout having to register. Antonio’s… Read More


Full-Chip Electromigration Analysis

Full-Chip Electromigration Analysis
by Daniel Payne on 10-10-2014 at 7:00 am

I’ll never forget debugging my first DRAM chip at Intel, peering into a microscope and watching the aluminum interconnect actually bubble and dissolve as the voltage was increased, revealing the destructive effects of Electromigration (EM) failure. That was back in 1980 using 6 um, single level metal technology, so imagine… Read More


IP and Design Management Done Right

IP and Design Management Done Right
by Daniel Payne on 09-30-2014 at 4:30 pm

At DACin San Francisco this past June I was able to visit and blog about two dozen EDA companies, however there were so many more products and events to see that I couldn’t possibly have enough time to enjoy them all. Fortunately for me there were plenty of videos made of vendor presentations, so this week I got caught up a bit by… Read More


Designing SmartCar ICs

Designing SmartCar ICs
by Daniel Payne on 09-30-2014 at 7:00 am

When I upgraded cars from a 1988 to 1998 Acura it seemed like my car had become much smarter with a security chip in the key, security codes in the radio and a connector for computer diagnosis, however in today’s modern auto there’s a lot more mixed-signal design content. Micronasand Synopsysgot together and hosted … Read More


Electro-Thermal Simulation of Power Transistors

Electro-Thermal Simulation of Power Transistors
by Daniel Payne on 09-25-2014 at 4:00 pm

Power transistors are commonly used in applications like: hybrid vehicles, electric vehicles, automotive, home appliances, LED lighting, TVs, power and energy. In the old days an engineering team could build their device with power transistors, then after production run some thermal testing to see if they guessed the proper… Read More


Samsung 14nm FinFET Design with Cadence Tools

Samsung 14nm FinFET Design with Cadence Tools
by Daniel Payne on 09-22-2014 at 5:30 pm

The first consumer products with 20nm processing are arriving in 2014 like the 2 billion transistor A8 chip in the iPhone 6, however at the 14nm node there are new designs underway to continue the trend of Moore’s Law. To get a better feel for the challenges of designing with 14nm FinFET technology I watched a 23 minute video … Read More


Transceiver Verification of a 20nm Altera FPGA Device

Transceiver Verification of a 20nm Altera FPGA Device
by Daniel Payne on 09-11-2014 at 6:00 pm

FPGA devices are a great way to drive silicon technology development because they contain both digital and analog IP, along with sophisticated IO cells. The highest performance IOs are transceivers, and Altera has recently designed the Arria 10 device family to include up to 96 transceivers, using a 20nm technology that can achieve… Read More


What Apple Talked About on 9/9/2014

What Apple Talked About on 9/9/2014
by Daniel Payne on 09-09-2014 at 5:00 pm

In America the popular press talks almost non-stop about: Disasters, politicians, celebrities and Apple. Yes, Apple. Today I watched the live cast of the new Apple product announcements.

iPhone 6
First, the see things differently video started playing, then the live stream died so I had to turn over to CNET where they were live … Read More