MEMS layout and automation

MEMS layout and automation
by Daniel Payne on 12-14-2011 at 11:12 am

At a webinar today I listened and learned about how a tool called L-Edit can be used to layout MEMS designs plus automate the task to be more productive. I can see how the history of IC layout editing is now being repeated with MEMS because in the earliest IC layout tools we could only do manual entry of polygons, then gradually we got cells… Read More


Learning About MEMS

Learning About MEMS
by Daniel Payne on 12-12-2011 at 6:34 pm

My automobile has an air bag system that uses a MEMS (Micro Electro Mechanical System) sensor to tell it when to deploy, and I’ve read headlines talking about MEMS over the years so I decided it was about time to learn more by attending a Webinar on Wednesday, December 14th at 8AM Pacific Time.

The EDA company hosting the Webinar… Read More


How Fast (and accurate) is Your SPICE Circuit Simulator?

How Fast (and accurate) is Your SPICE Circuit Simulator?
by Daniel Payne on 12-06-2011 at 6:17 pm

In my dad’s generation they tweaked cars to become hotrods while in EDA today we have companies that tweak SPICE circuit simulators to become crowned speed champions. The perennial question though is, “How fast and accurate is my SPICE circuit simulator?”… Read More


Methodics can Now use www.methodics.com after Domain Name Battle in EDA

Methodics can Now use www.methodics.com after Domain Name Battle in EDA
by Daniel Payne on 12-06-2011 at 5:36 pm

Imagine trying to run your EDA business only to have a competitor squat on your domain name and then make disparaging remarks about you. This sounds like a match made for reality TV however it is quite real, and now this chapter in EDA has a happy ending because Methodics can use www.methodics.com as their domain name.


The Bad Guy
We’ve… Read More


EDA mergers: Accelicon acquired by Agilent

EDA mergers: Accelicon acquired by Agilent
by Daniel Payne on 12-06-2011 at 4:51 pm

Agilent acquired EEsof back in 1999, now the EEsof group acquired Accelicon on December 1, 2011. The terms of the deal are not disclosed.

SPICE circuit simulators are only as accurate as their models and algorithms. On the model side we have Accelicon that provides EDA tools to create SPICE models based on silicon measurements:… Read More


HSPICE – I Didn’t Know That About IC Circuit Simulation

HSPICE – I Didn’t Know That About IC Circuit Simulation
by Daniel Payne on 12-05-2011 at 11:14 am

HSPICE is over 30 years old, which is a testimony of how solid the circuit simulator has been and how widely used it is. To stay competitive the HSPICE developers have to innovate or the product will slowly loose ground to the many other simulator choices. I listened to the webinar last week to find out what was new with HSPICE.

SzekitRead More


A Review of an Analog Layout Tool called HiPer DevGen

A Review of an Analog Layout Tool called HiPer DevGen
by Daniel Payne on 11-28-2011 at 1:11 pm

My last IC design at Intel was a Graphics Chip and I developed a layout generator for Programmable Logic Arrays (PLA) that automated the task, so I’ve always been interested in how to make IC layout more push-button and less polygon pushing. Today I watched a video about HiPer DevGen from Tanner EDA and wanted to share what I … Read More


December 1st – Hands-on Workshop with Calibre: DRC, LVS, DFM, xRC, ERC (Fremont, California)

December 1st – Hands-on Workshop with Calibre: DRC, LVS, DFM, xRC, ERC (Fremont, California)
by Daniel Payne on 11-24-2011 at 9:57 am

I’ve blogged about the Calibre family of IC design tools before:

Smart Fill replaced Dummy Fill Approach in a DFM Flow
DRC Wiki
Graphical DRC vs Text-based DRC
Getting Real time Calibre DRC Results with Custom IC Editing
Transistor-level Electrical Rule Checking
Who Needs a 3D Field Solver for IC Design?
Prevention is BetterRead More


Multi-Mode Simulation – What’s New at Cadence?

Multi-Mode Simulation – What’s New at Cadence?
by Daniel Payne on 11-21-2011 at 6:52 pm

Every week I receive several webinar invitations, so the recent one from Cadence about Virtuoso Multi-Mode simulation caught my fancy because I had met with John Pierce at DAC and wanted to see what was new since then and see how they compared with Mentor and Synopsys tools.


John Pierce, Product Marketing Director

This webinar runs… Read More


Learning about 3D IC Design and Test, IEEE Workshop on Friday, December 9th in Newport Beach, CA

Learning about 3D IC Design and Test, IEEE Workshop on Friday, December 9th in Newport Beach, CA
by Daniel Payne on 11-19-2011 at 4:42 pm

The IEEE has an Orange Country Chapter of the Components, Packaging and Manufacturing Technology Society who are organizing an all-day workshop, 3D Integrated Circuits: Technologies Enabling the Revolution. This looks to be an informative day with real-world examples in both design and test being presented by over a dozen … Read More