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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:
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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
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 Inverter… Read More
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.
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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
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
I’ve used Aldec tools like their Verilog simulator (Riviera PRO) when teaching a class to engineers at Lattice Semi, so to get an update about the company I spoke with Dave Rinehart recently by phone. A big product announcement by Aldec today is for their ASIC prototyping system with a capacity range of 4 Million to 96 Million… Read More
This morning I got to try out the new Android app for SemiWiki, so this is something that you will benefit from as you’re on the go with an Android phone and want to stay up to date. It’s an intuitive app, so you’ll be up and running within minutes. My first step was to visit the Play Store, search for the app using “Semiwiki”,… Read More
The big three EDA companies all have Custom IC and AMS tool flows as shown in the following comparison table:… Read More
OASIS is a hierarchical IC file format used for IC designs that is gradually replacing GDS II throughout the mask data stages. The compelling reason for using OASIS has always been the reduction of file size, and speed up of processing times through the use of hierarchy and fewer translation steps.
At the 45nm node an actual M1 layer… Read More
Flynn Was Right: How a 2003 Warning Foretold Today’s Architectural Pivot