How to Overcome HW Project Release Nightmares

How to Overcome HW Project Release Nightmares
by Tom Simon on 12-21-2015 at 8:00 pm

Is a software development release methodology a “square peg in a round hole” when it comes to hardware design? To answer this question we have to look at how exactly hardware design projects differ from their software counterparts. Intuitively we know they are fundamentally different. Let’s take a second to dig deeper to understand… Read More


Latest Crop of Energy Harvesting Chips Powers IoT Sensor Nodes

Latest Crop of Energy Harvesting Chips Powers IoT Sensor Nodes
by Tom Simon on 12-14-2015 at 12:00 pm

Like death and taxes, changing batteries in remote sensor nodes and wireless IoT devices is often inevitable. Huge effort has been expended on reducing power consumption for battery operated devices, but the day always comes when the battery goes dead. Taking care of this can be as simple as popping open a battery cover and swapping… Read More


Does Managing Tools as if they are IP Make Sense?

Does Managing Tools as if they are IP Make Sense?
by Tom Simon on 12-10-2015 at 7:00 am

Years ago I thought that chip design companies would embrace the latest technology and be eager to adopt new tools. What I learned was that the people implementing and managing design projects were taking a lot of risks with almost every aspect of their projects. What they most wanted is to minimize risk from the design process – especially… Read More


Evolution of Non Volatile Memory for Sensitive Data

Evolution of Non Volatile Memory for Sensitive Data
by Tom Simon on 12-07-2015 at 12:00 pm

When first interested in computers while I was in junior high school in the early 70’s I remember seeing a core memory board for the first time. It was a seriously large circuit board with a myriad of wires woven across it going through the tiny metal doughnuts that stored the bit values. The computers it went into only had a total of around… Read More


Magwel’s Current Tools Take an Active Role in Power Transistor Design

Magwel’s Current Tools Take an Active Role in Power Transistor Design
by Tom Simon on 12-03-2015 at 7:00 am

It often seems that semiconductor industry coverage focuses on large digital markets like microprocessors or high frequency analog designs for RF applications. Yes, these are large markets, but power transistors like IBGT and VFETS make up a large and crucial sector. Not only do they make their way into discretes, but they are… Read More


Power Reduction Verification Techniques Highlighted by Mentor at ARM Techcon

Power Reduction Verification Techniques Highlighted by Mentor at ARM Techcon
by Tom Simon on 11-24-2015 at 4:00 pm

Power management is a perennial topic these days, and it came up in several presentations at the recent ARM Techcon in Santa Clara in mid November. The techniques covered in these talks address dynamic and static power consumption. The IEEE 1801 standard deals with specifying power design intent in Universal Power Format (UPF)… Read More


Globalfoundries 22FDX Technology Shows Advantages in PPA over 28nm Node

Globalfoundries 22FDX Technology Shows Advantages in PPA over 28nm Node
by Tom Simon on 11-20-2015 at 7:00 am

I really enjoy ARM Techcon when it rolls around every year because it has such a wide range of topics and exhibits. You can find maker gadgets, IoT information, small boards for industrial control, software development kits, semiconductor IP vendors as well as the big EDA players and foundries. This year after perusing the exhibit… Read More


Maybe Clockless Chip Design’s Time has Come

Maybe Clockless Chip Design’s Time has Come
by Tom Simon on 11-16-2015 at 4:00 pm

There have always been novel technologies vying to compete with conventional design practices. It is hit or miss on the success of these ideas. In the 90’s I recall speaking to someone who was convinced that they could effectively build computers based on multilevel logic. This, as we know did not pan out. But there have been many … Read More


When Talking About IoT, Don’t Forget Memory

When Talking About IoT, Don’t Forget Memory
by Tom Simon on 11-13-2015 at 7:00 am

Memory is a big enough topic that it has its own conference, Memcon, which recently took place in October. While I was there covering the event for SemiWiki.com I went to the TSMC talk on memory technologies for the IoT market. Tom Quan, Director of the Open Innovation Platform (OIP) at TSMC was giving the talk. IoT definitely has special… Read More


How Magwel is Tapping Tried and True Business Strategy in Targeting ESD

How Magwel is Tapping Tried and True Business Strategy in Targeting ESD
by Tom Simon on 11-02-2015 at 12:00 pm

Often when a company starts out it takes a while for it to find the sweet spot in the marketplace. Very often it is feedback from existing customers and business success that can help point the way for small companies as they grow. This is just as true in EDA as it is in retailing or consumer products. For instance, Mentor Graphics, though… Read More