Designing with FinFETs

Designing with FinFETs
by Daniel Payne on 10-08-2012 at 6:13 pm

Intel is the number one semiconductor company in the world and has taken the lead in bringing FinFET (aka Tri-Gate) silicon to market at the 22nm node starting in May 2011, so now we see the pure play foundries playing catch-up and start talking about their own FinFET roadmaps. IC designers and layout engineers want to know how their… Read More


EDA User: Rafaela Novais from TowerJazz Semi

EDA User: Rafaela Novais from TowerJazz Semi
by Daniel Payne on 10-04-2012 at 8:10 pm

While reading an article on DeepChip I found an interesting comment from Rafaela Novais, a Design Support Manager at TowerJazz Semi and decided to interview her to learn more about her experience as an IC designer and EDA tool user.

Read More


EDA Solutions at Ultra Low Power Developer Forum Demonstrates Mixed-Signal Flow including Tools from Tanner EDA, Incentia and Aldec

EDA Solutions at Ultra Low Power Developer Forum Demonstrates Mixed-Signal Flow including Tools from Tanner EDA, Incentia and Aldec
by Daniel Payne on 10-04-2012 at 4:49 pm

EDA Solutions, sole representative in Europe for Tanner EDA and Incentia Design Systems, is exhibiting at the ‘Design & Elektronik’ Developer Forum on Ultra Low Power in Munich, Germany, on October 10, 2012, at the Holiday Inn (Munich – City Centre).

EDA Solutions will be presenting its complete analog, digital and… Read More


High Frequency Analysis of IC Layouts

High Frequency Analysis of IC Layouts
by Daniel Payne on 10-03-2012 at 12:26 pm

IC designers of passive devices often use empirical approaches to perform High Frequency Analysis (HFA), however there is at least one new approach being offered by Mentor Graphics using a tool flow of:

Read More

User Review: iOS 6 on iPad

User Review: iOS 6 on iPad
by Daniel Payne on 10-01-2012 at 11:11 am

Much has been written about the new iPhone 5 and iOS 6 in terms of the features, specifications, bill of materials, and chips used in the design. Today I’ll share my experiences of actually using the new iOS 6 on iPad as an EDA blogger.

Upgrading to iOS6
Clicking the On button and noticing that the App Store icon has something new,… Read More


A Brief History of RTL Design

A Brief History of RTL Design
by Daniel Payne on 09-27-2012 at 9:00 pm

300px Register transfer level   example toggler.svg

RTL is an acronym for Register Transfer Level and refers to a level of hardware design abstraction using Registers and logic gates. Here’s an example schematic showing one DFF as a register, and one inverter as a logic gate.


Figure 1: RTL diagram of a DFF (D Flip Flop) and InverterRead More


Mentor Graphics Update at TSMC 2012 OIP

Mentor Graphics Update at TSMC 2012 OIP
by Daniel Payne on 09-26-2012 at 10:45 am

What
In just 20 days you can get an update on four Mentor Graphics tools as used in the TSMC Open Innovation Platform (OIP). Many EDA and IP companies will be presenting along with Mentor, so it should be informative for fabless design companies in Silicon Valley doing business with TSMC.
Read More


Displaced but Looking to Add EDA Tools Skills?

Displaced but Looking to Add EDA Tools Skills?
by Daniel Payne on 09-21-2012 at 1:12 pm

In this tough economy you may find yourself displaced and looking for the next opportunity. If you’d like to add some new EDA tool skills, then check out what EMA Design Automation is offering with free Cadence OrCAD training.… Read More


Schematic Capture, Analog Fast SPICE, and Analysis Update

Schematic Capture, Analog Fast SPICE, and Analysis Update
by Daniel Payne on 09-20-2012 at 1:10 pm

At the DAC show in June I met with folks at Berkeley DA and heard about their Analog Fast SPICE simulator being used inside of the Tanner EDA tools. With the newest release from Tanner called HiPer Silicon version 15.23 you get a tight integration between:… Read More