Cooley on Synopsys-EVE

Cooley on Synopsys-EVE
by Paul McLellan on 10-02-2012 at 7:56 am

John Cooley has an interesting “scoop” on the Synopsys-EVE acquisition. The acquisition itself is not a surprise, it is the one big hole in Synopsys’s product line and EVE is the perfect plug to fill it. It was also about the only thing Cadence has (apart from PCB) that Synopsys does not.

The interesting thing … Read More


Converge in Detroit

Converge in Detroit
by Paul McLellan on 09-30-2012 at 10:04 pm

When I worked for VaST we went to a show that I’d never heard of in EDA: SAE Convergence (SAE is the Society of Automotive Engineers). It is held once every two years and it focuses on transportation electronics, primarily automotive although there did seem to be some aerospace stuff there too. This is an even year, Convergence… Read More


How Much Cost Reduction Will 450mm Wafers Provide

How Much Cost Reduction Will 450mm Wafers Provide
by Paul McLellan on 09-28-2012 at 9:05 pm

I’ve been digging around the Interwebs a bit trying to find out what the received wisdom is about how big a cost reduction can be expected if and when we transition to 450mm (18″) wafers from today’s standard of 300mm (12″). And the answers are totally all over the place. They vary from about a 30% cost reduction… Read More


Jasper User Group

Jasper User Group
by Paul McLellan on 09-25-2012 at 1:19 pm

The Jasper User Group meeting has been announced. It will take place on November 12th and 13th. As last year, it will be at the Cypress Hotel at 10050 De Anza Boulevard in Cupertino. The user group meeting is free for qualified Jasper customers.

Topics to be covered are, of course, all things verification:

  • SoC subsystems verification
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Chip Aware System Design

Chip Aware System Design
by Paul McLellan on 09-24-2012 at 5:45 pm

On Wednesday this week Ansys/Ansoft/Apache are presenting a new webinar Chip Aware System Design. It is presented by Dr Steven Gary Pytel Jr of the Ansoft part of Ansys, and Matt Elmore of the Apache subsidiary. The topics that will be covered include:

  • Power Delivery Network (PDN) design requirements
  • ABCD Matrix theory
  • SYZ Matrix
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Cadence Mixed Signal Technology Summit

Cadence Mixed Signal Technology Summit
by Paul McLellan on 09-21-2012 at 6:46 pm

Yesterday I attended some of the Cadence mixed-signal technology summit. The day ended with a panel session on Are We Closing the Gap Yet in Mixed-signal Design? Richard Goering moderated. The panelists were all mixed signal experts:

  • Nayaz Khan of Maxim
  • Nishant Shah of Broadcom
  • Shiv Sikand of IC Manage
  • Bill Meier of Texas Instruments
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Atrenta Wins Gold

Atrenta Wins Gold
by Paul McLellan on 09-21-2012 at 6:16 pm

What is the most read article on design on EE Times website? Brian Bailey has an article up running through the top 10. It turns out that the #1 article is Understanding Clock Domain Issues by Saurabh Verma and Ashima S. Dabare of Atrenta. It actually had more than double the views of the second place paper. Checking clock domain crossing… Read More


The End of an Era

The End of an Era
by Paul McLellan on 09-21-2012 at 5:45 pm

I drove down from San Francisco, where I live, to Silicon Valley this morning. Something odd was going on. As I approached San Francisco Airport there were a couple of buildings with lots of people standing on the roof. As I got further south, the bridges over the freeway all had lots of people just milling around. It was when I got to … Read More


GlobalFoundries Announces 14nm Process

GlobalFoundries Announces 14nm Process
by Paul McLellan on 09-20-2012 at 8:00 am

Today GlobalFoundries announced a 14nm process that will be available for volume production in 2014. They are explicitly trying to match Intel’s timeline for the introduction of 14nm. The process is called 14XM for eXtreme Mobility since it is especially focused on mobile. The process will be introduced just one year after… Read More


Synopsys-Springsoft: Almost Done

Synopsys-Springsoft: Almost Done
by Paul McLellan on 09-19-2012 at 8:01 am

Synopsys announced today that they had completed the two main hurdles to acquiring SpringSoft. Remember, SpringSoft is actually a public Taiwanese company so has to fall in line with Taiwanese rules. The first hurdle is that they have obtained regulatory approval in Taiwan for the acquisition (roughly equivalent to FTC approval… Read More