Software configuration management (SCM) has been around for a long time with commercial SCM offerings such as ClearCase and Perforce and public domain mainstays such as CVS and Subversion. Similarly, over the last two decades we’ve seen a big uptake in the adoption of hardware configuration management (HCM) methodologies driven… Read More
Author: Mitch Heins
Hardware Configuration Management – A Key Enabler for Startups & Big Companies Alike
Mentor Tessent MissionMode Provides Runtime DFT for Self-Correcting Automotive ICs
The automotive industry continues push the limits on how “smart” we can make our vehicles and from that, it follows as to how smart we can make the electronics in the vehicles. When I think of smart cars (and smart automotive ICs) I typically think of things like advanced driver-assistance systems (ADAS) that use AI and neural networks… Read More
High Performance Ecosystem for 14nm-FinFET ASICs with 2.5D Integrated HBM2 Memory
High Bandwidth Memory (HBM) systems have been successfully used for some time now in the network switching and high-performance computing (HPC) spaces. Now, adding fuel to the HBM fire, there is another market that shares similar system requirements as HPC and that is Artificial Intelligence (AI), especially AI systems doing… Read More
AI-Leader Horizon Robotics Selects NetSpeed AI-based NoC IP For Next Generation Designs
If you haven’t noticed, there has been a BIG influx of money into Artificial Intelligence (AI) technologies. Most recently, the Chinese government announced that AI is one of their top initiatives with a goal to catch up with the United States within 3 years and to be the world leader in AI by the year 2030. Horizon Robotics, founded… Read More
IoT Designs Beginning to Shift to 7nm: Promises Upside for Cadence Physically-Aware Design Flow
Until recently, ICs at bleeding edge nodes like 7nm technology from foundries like TSMC were mostly targeted for high-performance-computing (HPC) and mobile applications or possibly high radix switches that needed the increased performance of advanced nodes. The momentum of Moore’s law and Moore-than-Moore saw foundries… Read More
Mentor Tessent Products Ready for Second Edition of ISO 26262 Coming in March 2018
Have you notice how smart your automobile is getting? Watching the first round of NFL playoffs I lost count on the number of TV commercials showing cars weaving through tight construction zones (and Star Wars figures), big trucks parking in incredibly tight spaces, cars avoiding rear-end collisions and pedestrians, and even … Read More
Mentor Investigates Using Neural Networks for CMP Modeling
I recently read a new white paper release by Mentor, a Siemens Business, that delved into the intricacies of Chemical Mechanical Polishing (CMP) and I got a sense of Déjà vu. My professional career in the IC industry started at Texas instruments and the white paper made me think of a conversation I had with one of my colleagues over … Read More
Test Compression for Mission Critical SoCs
With the advent of the Internet-of-Things (IoT), Industry 4.0, Cognitive Computing, and autonomous vehicles and robots we are seeing an unprecedented number of systems-on-a-chip (SoCs) going into mission-critical applications. To accomplish the complexity of these applications, SoCs are being manufactured in leading-edge… Read More
IoT Project Planning – Profiting from the Folly of Others
I recently was introduced to a white paper written by John Stabenow, Director at Mentor, a Siemens Business, that gave an excellent overview of things to consider before launching into the design of an IoT edge project. John starts the paper with a quote from Pliny the Elder (A.D.23-A.D.79) who said, “The best plan is, as the common… Read More
Self-Monitoring SoCs – An Idea Coming of Age
In a former life I was the GM of a business where we built specialized structures used for semiconductor process bring-up, characterization and monitoring. These monitoring structures were placed in wafer scribe-lines and were used to monitor key parameters during wafer processing. The structures provided feedback to automated… Read More
More Headwinds – CHIPS Act Chop? – Chip Equip Re-Shore? Orders Canceled & Fab Delay