Synopsys Offers Smooth Sailing for OTP NVM

Synopsys Offers Smooth Sailing for OTP NVM
by Tom Simon on 12-20-2018 at 12:00 pm

Nobody likes drama. Wait, let me narrow that down a bit. Chip designers really hate drama. They live in a world of risk and uncertainty, a world that tool and IP vendors spend considerable resources trying to make safer and more rational. It’s notable just how ironic that Sidense and Kilopass were duking out patent litigation in the… Read More


Embeddable FPGA Fabric on TSMC 7nm

Embeddable FPGA Fabric on TSMC 7nm
by Tom Simon on 12-14-2018 at 7:00 am

With their current line-up of embeddable and discrete FPGA products, Achronix has made a big impact on their markets. They started with their Speedster FPGA standard products, and then essentially created a brand-new market for embeddable FPGA IP cores. They have just announced a new generation of their Speedcore embeddable… Read More


56G and 112G SerDes Where the rubber meets the road

56G and 112G SerDes Where the rubber meets the road
by Tom Simon on 12-11-2018 at 12:00 pm

No matter how high the processing capability of a chip, its overall performance is limited by IO speed. This is very similar to a car with low performance tires, a powerful engine will not be able to transfer its energy to the ground effectively. There is quite literally a race going on between core processing and IO speeds for transferring… Read More


Car Vandals Eschew Crowbars

Car Vandals Eschew Crowbars
by Tom Simon on 12-03-2018 at 12:00 pm

It used to be that automotive theft and crime was perpetrated with a crowbar. Now with increased electronics content, car designer and owners need to worry about electronic threats. Anywhere there is a communication link or a processor, there are potential threats to the security of the car. The range of these threats covers everything… Read More


Achronix Assists Academics

Achronix Assists Academics
by Tom Simon on 11-28-2018 at 7:00 am

In every semiconductor related field, innovation is the name of the game. Academic, non-profit and government research has been a consistent source of innovation. Look back at the US space program, basic science research and even military programs to see where much of the foundation of our current technological age came from.… Read More


Making AI Silicon Smart with PVT Monitoring

Making AI Silicon Smart with PVT Monitoring
by Tom Simon on 11-26-2018 at 7:00 am

PVT – depending on what field you are in those three letters may mean totally different things. In my undergraduate field of study, chemistry, PVT meant Pressure, Volume & Temperature. Many of you probably remember PV=nRT, the dreaded ideal gas law. However, anybody working in semiconductors knows that PVT stands … Read More


Eta Compute Receives Two Awards from ARM at TechCon

Eta Compute Receives Two Awards from ARM at TechCon
by Tom Simon on 11-19-2018 at 7:00 am

Many startups set out with the goal of accomplishing a technical feat that was previously considered impossible. Quite frankly most do not succeed. Yet, occasionally a company comes along that succeeds with a game changing breakthrough. ETA Compute has done just this. Yet, even more impressively, this 3-year-old company has… Read More


Mentor’s Symphony in Tune with AMS Designer Needs

Mentor’s Symphony in Tune with AMS Designer Needs
by Tom Simon on 11-14-2018 at 12:00 pm

Mixed signal simulation is a very hot topic these days. In modern designs, it is harder to draw a line between the analog and digital and work with them independently. Analog blocks are showing up everywhere. Even in what would have qualified as a digital design a few years ago, now designers need to look at things like PLLs, IOs and … Read More


IoT Security Process Variation to the Rescue

IoT Security Process Variation to the Rescue
by Tom Simon on 11-12-2018 at 12:00 pm

Unique device identities are at the core of all computer security systems. Just as important is that each unique identity cannot be copied, because once copied they can be used illegitimately. Unique device IDs are used to ensure that communications are directed to the correct device. And they also provide the ability to encrypt… Read More


Coupled Electro-thermal Analysis Essential for PowerMOS Design

Coupled Electro-thermal Analysis Essential for PowerMOS Design
by Tom Simon on 11-08-2018 at 12:00 pm

Power device designers know that when they see a deceptively simple pair of PowerMOS device symbols in the output stage of a power converter circuit schematic, they are actually looking at a massively complex network of silicon and metal interconnect. The corresponding physical devices can have a total device W on the order of … Read More