HSPICE users gathered in January 2012 at the HSPICE SIG(Special Interest Group) to talk about their experiences using this circuit simulator for a variety of IC and signal integrity issues. I wasn’t able to attend in person however I did watch the video and wanted to summarize what I heard:… Read More
Author: Daniel Payne
Seminar on IC Yield Optimization at DATE on March 14th
My first chip design at Intel was a DRAM and we had a 5% yield problem caused by electromigration issues, yes, you can have EM issues even with 6um NMOS technology. We had lots of questions but precious few answers on how to pinpoint and eliminate the source of yield loss. Fortunately, with the next generation of DRAM quickly introduced… Read More
PLL Design Challenges for Integrated Circuit Designs
Nandu Bhagwan is CEO of GHz Circuits and has been designing PLL circuits used in ICs for the past 12 years. Mr. Bhagwan did a video interview with John Pierce of Cadence to talk about the challenges of PLL design.… Read More
Magma FineSIM and MunEDA Cooperate
How do I know if an AMS block is tuned for the process and will perform and yield acceptably?… Read More
What Changed On My Transistor-Level Schematic?
Digital designers have used diff tools for years on their text-based HDL source code, but what about for the transistor-level IC designer, where is their diff tool for schematics or layout?… Read More
Words of AMS Wisdom from the Developer of Spectre, Spectre RF, Verilog-A, Verilog-AMS
Ken Kundert while at Cadence developed: Spectre, Spectre RF, Verilog-A and Verilog-AMS. About 6 years ago he and Henry Chang left Cadence and created a consulting company called The Designers Guide.
… Read More
Why X-Fab uses 3D Resistance Extraction and Analysis
At DAC in 2011 I visited an EDA company called Silicon Frontline Technology because they offered some 3D field solver tools used to create the highest accuracy netlists that can then be simulated with a SPICE circuit simulator to predict timing, power and IR drop. A recent press release with X-FAB and Silicon Frontline looked interesting… Read More
Using "Apps" to Take Formal Analysis Mainstream
On my last graphics chip design at Intel the project manager asked me, “So, will this new chip work when silicon comes back?”
My response was, “Yes, however only the parts that we have been able to simulate.”
Today designers of semiconductor IP and SoC have more approaches than just simulation to ensure… Read More
Design & Verification of Platform-Based, Multi-Core SoCs
Consumer electronics is a new driver in our global semiconductor economy as we enjoy using Smart Phones, Tablets and Ultra Books. The challenge of designing and then verifying the electronic systems to meet the market windows is a daunting one. Instead of starting with a blank sheet for a new product, most electronic design companies… Read More
How Is Your IC Design Flow Glued Together?
Most IC designers I talk to really enjoy the creative process of developing a new SoC design, debugging it, then watching it go into production. They don’t really like spending time learning how to make their EDA tools work together in an optimal IC design flow where they may have a dozen tools each with dozens of options. Fortunately… Read More
Unlocking the cloud: A new era for post-tapeout flow for semiconductor manufacturing