When Analog FastSPICE was first introduced in 2006 it changed the landscape for high performance SPICE simulation. During the last 14 years it has been used widely to verify advanced nanometer designs. Of course, since then the most advanced designs have progressed significantly, making verification even more difficult. Just… Read More
Electronic Design Automation
Accelerating High-Performance Computing SoC Designs with Synopsys IP
Semiconductor IP is one of the most talked about topics on SemiWiki. Always has been, always will be. Synopsys is also one of the most talked about topics on SemiWiki and IP is a very big part of that, absolutely.
After reading Eric Esteve’s latest IP Report I Googled around and found some interesting things. First, I found a Brief History… Read More
Quantifying the Benefits of AI in Edge Computing
Many of us are now somewhat fluent in IoT-speak, though at times I have to wonder if I’m really up on the latest terminology. Between edge and extreme edge, fog and cloud, not to mention emerging hierarchies in radio access networks – how this all plays out is going to be an interesting game to watch. Ron Lowman, DesignWare IP Product… Read More
Cadence Defines a New Signoff Paradigm with Tempus PI
Semiconductor technology advances have a way of rewriting the rule book. As process geometries shrink, subtle effects graduate to mainstream problems. Performance curves can become inverted. And no matter what else occurs, low power demands are constantly reducing voltage and design margins along with it. Sometimes these… Read More
Perforce Software Acquires Methodics!
This has got to be one of the most interesting and disruptive EDA acquisitions I have seen in some time. Another one that comes to mind is Siemens acquiring Mentor Graphics. We have been covering EDA PLM companies since the start of SemiWiki and have worked with most of them. If I had to keep score I would say it’s about even but … Read More
CEO Interview: Anupam Bakshi of Agnisys
Although much of the EDA industry has consolidated into the “Big 3” players, there are still plenty of smaller vendors in the market. In the earlier days of EDA, it seemed that most startups existed only until they failed or did well enough to be acquired. The industry has changed; there are now a number of notable companies that have… Read More
The Official SemiWiki Virtual DAC 2020 Must See List!
This is going to be a record setting year for DAC content and attendance, absolutely!
My first DAC was in 1984 in Albuquerque New Mexico, right out of College, and I married my beautiful wife two months later. Thirty six DAC’s later I have four grown children, grandchildren, and the number one semiconductor design portal in the world.… Read More
Mentor Cuts Circuit Verification Time with Unique Recon Technology
Most of us will remember the productivity boost that hierarchical analysis provided vs. analyzing a chip flat. This “divide and conquer” approach has worked well for all kinds of designs for many years. But, as technology advances tend to do, the bar is moving again. The new challenges are rooted in the iterative nature of high complexity… Read More
Using AI to Locate a Fault. Innovation in Verification
After we detect a bug, can we use AI to locate the fault, or at least get close? Paul Cunningham (GM of Verification at Cadence), Jim Hogan and I continue our series on novel research ideas, through a paper in software verification we find equally relevant to hardware. Feel free to comment.
The Innovation
This month’s pick is… Read More
Novel DFT Approach for Automotive Vision SoCs
You may have seen a recent announcement from Mentor, a Siemens business, regarding the use of their Tessent DFT software by Ambarella for automotive applications. The announcement is a good example of how Mentor works with their customers to assure design success. On the surface the announcement comes across as a nice block and… Read More
TSMC N3 Process Technology Wiki