The emergence of 2.5D packaging technology for heterogeneous die integration offers significant benefits to system architects. Functional units may be implemented using discrete die – aka “chiplets” – which may be fabricated in different process nodes. The power, performance, and cost for each unit may be optimized separately.… Read More
Die-to-Die IP enabling the path to the future of Chiplets Ecosystem
The topic of chiplets is getting a lot of attention these days. The chiplet movement has picked up more momentum since Moore’s law started slowing down as process technology approached 5nm. With the development cost of a monolithic SoC crossing the $500M and wafer yields of large die-based chips dropping steeply, the decision … Read More
IP Subsystems and Chiplets for Edge and AI Accelerators
From a business viewpoint we often read in the technical press about the virtues of applying AI, and in the early days most of the AI model building was done in the cloud, because of the high computation requirements, yet there’s a developing trend now to use AI accelerators at the Edge. The other mega-trend in the past decade… Read More
Bespoke Silicon is Coming, Absolutely!
It was nice to be at a live conference again. DesignCon was held at the Santa Clara Convention Center, my favorite location, which to me there was a back to normal crowd. The sessions I attended were full and the show floor was busy. Masks and vaccinations were not required, maybe that was it. Or there was a pent-up demand to get back engaged… Read More
Analog Design Acceleration for Chiplet Interface IP
Compared to the automation of digital design, the development of automation for analog has taken a much more arduous path. Over the decades there have been many projects both academic and commercial to accelerate and improve the process for analog design. One of the most interesting efforts in this area is being spearheaded by … Read More
Getting to Faster Closure through AI/ML, DVCon Keynote
Manish Pandey, VP R&D and Fellow at Synopsys, gave the keynote this year. His thesis is that given the relentless growth of system complexity, now amplified by multi-chiplet systems, we must move the verification efficiency needle significantly. In this world we need more than incremental advances in performance. We need… Read More
Semiconductor Packaging History and Primer
From DIP to Advanced, semiconductor packaging has become strategic
For ease of reading – I am going to be splitting this primer into two parts. First is the technical overview of everything. Next will be the company-specific writeups that follow over time – specifically Teradyne, Formfactor, Advantest, and Camtek
Power Analysis in Advanced SoCs. A Siemens EDA Perspective
The success of modern battery-powered products depends as much on useful operating time between charges as on functionality. FinFET process technologies overtook earlier planar CMOS in part because they significantly reduce leakage power. But they exacerbate dynamic power consumption thanks to increased pin capacitances.… Read More
CEVA Fortrix™ SecureD2D IP: Securing Communications between Heterogeneous Chiplets
Discussions of chiplets has been on the rise, ever since the slowdown of Moore’s law benefits. Gartner Research projects semiconductor revenue from systems using chiplets to grow from $3.3 billion in 2020, to $50.5 billion in 2024. With any market opportunity, there are always challenges to overcome in order to realize the full… Read More
Intel Embraces the RISC-V Ecosystem: Implications as the Other Shoe Drops
On Monday, February 7, 2022, Intel Foundry Services (IFS), made a series of major announcements regarding the RISC-V architecture and ecosystem:
- Intel will be joining the RISC-V International association with a Premier Membership, and Bob Brennan, Vice President of Customer Solutions Engineering for Intel Foundry Services,
The Intel Common Platform Foundry Alliance