Over the last few years, the design of application-specific ICs as well as high-performance CPUs and other complex ICs has hit a proverbial wall. This wall is built from several issues: first, chip sizes have grown so large that they can fill the entire mask reticle and that could limit future growth. Second, the large chip size impacts… Read More
Ansys’ Emergence as a Tier 1 EDA Player— and What That Means for 3D-IC
Over its 40+ year history, electronic design automation (EDA) has seen many companies rise, fall, and merge. In the beginning, in the 1980s, the industry was dominated by what came to be known as the big three — Daisy Systems, Mentor Graphics, and Valid Logic (the infamous “DMV”). The Big 3 has morphed over the years, eventually settling… Read More
Five Key Workflows For 3D IC Packaging Success
An earlier blog started with the topic of delivering 3D IC innovations faster. The blog covered the following foundational enablers for successful heterogeneous 3D IC implementation.
- System Co-Optimization (STCO) approach
- Transition from design-based to systems-based optimization
- Expanding the supply chain and tool
Chiplets at the Design Automation Conference with OpenFive
SemiWiki has been tracking the popularity of chiplets for two years now so it was not surprising to see that they played a key role at DAC. The other trend we foresaw was that the ASIC companies would be early chiplet adopters and that has proven true. One of the more vocal proponents of chiplets at DAC#59 was OpenFive, a 17+ year spec-to-silicon… Read More
OpenFive Joins Universal Chiplet Interconnect Express (UCIe) Consortium
Universal Chiplet Interconnect Express (UCIe) is an open specification that defines the interconnect between chiplets within a package. The objective is to enable an open chiplet ecosystem. Although the initial specification for UCIe was developed by Intel, a consortium was announced in March with Intel, AMD, Arm, Google,… Read More
Verifying Inter-Chiplet Communication
Chiplets are hot now as a way to extend Moore’s Law, dividing functionality across multiple die within a single package. It’s no longer practical to jam all functionality onto a single die in the very latest processes, exceeding reticle limits in some cases and in others straining cost/yield. This is not an academic concern. Already… Read More
Stop-For-Top IP Model to Replace One-Stop-Shop by 2025
…and support the creation of successful Chiplet business
The One-Stop-Shop model has allowed IP vendors of the 2000’s to create a successful IP business, mostly driven by consumer application, smartphone or Set-Top-Box. The industry has dramatically changed, and in 2020 is now driven by data-centric application (datacenter,… Read More
A Different Perspective: Ansys’ View on the Central Issues Driving EDA Today
For the past few decades, System-on-Chip (SoC) has been the gold standard for optimizing the performance and cost of electronic systems. Pulling together practically all of a smartphone’s digital and analog capabilities into a monolithic chip, the mobile application processor serves as a near-perfect example of an SoC. But… Read More
Standardization of Chiplet Models for Heterogeneous Integration
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


Available Is Not In Control: Balancing Output, Quality, and Risk in High-Volume Fabs