When I was at Atrenta, we always thought it would be great to do as-you-type RTL linting. It’s the natural use model for anyone used to writing text in virtually any modern application (especially on the Web, thanks to Google spell and grammar-checks). You may argue that you create your RTL in Vi or EMACS and you don’t need no stinking… Read More
Electronic Design Automation
The Appeal of a Multi-Purpose DSP
When you think of a DSP IP, you tend to think of very targeted applications – for baseband signal processing or audio or vision perhaps. Whatever the application, sometimes you want a solution optimally tuned to that need: best possible performance and power in the smallest possible footprint. These needs will continue,… Read More
Formally Crossing the Chasm
Formal verification for hardware was stuck for a long time with a reputation of being interesting but difficult to use and consequently limited to niche applications. Jasper worked hard to change this, particularly with their apps for JasperGold and I have been seeing more anecdotal information that mainstream adoption is growing.… Read More
IMEC Technology Forum at SEMICON – Coventor could save you billions!
The development of leading edge semiconductor technology is incredibly expensive, with estimates ranging from a few to several billion dollars for new nodes. The time to develop a leading edge process is also a critical competitive issue with some of the largest opportunities awarded based on who is first to yield on a new node.… Read More
10nm Will Be an Epic Process Node!
In the history of the fabless semiconductor industry the foundries have always been a process node or two behind the leading semiconductor manufacturers. Starting in Q1 2017, for the first time in fabless semiconductor history, the foundries will have a process node advantage. This is horrible news for some but great news for … Read More
Can one process handle IIoT safety and security?
SemiWiki had another article recently making the case that in IoT applications, safety and security are intertwined, adding that both are important, but they are not the same thing. Mentor Graphics has weighed in with a new white paper trying to tie both issues to a methodology.
Industrial IoT – or IIoT as you’ll often see in shorthand… Read More
Electrical-Optical Design, A Bridge to Terabitsia
If you don’t get the tongue in cheek reference of the title, you probably don’t have children who liked to watch Disney movies. All four of my daughters loved Disney and so, I am forever shaped by the Wonderful World of Disney. In 2007 Disney adapted to the screen a novel called, ‘A Bridge to Terabithia’, in which two adolescents escape… Read More
10 Challenges in IP Design Collaboration
Enterprise design management can be summed up in one word: collaboration. Intellectual property (IP) reuse and the success of distributed system-on-chip (SoC) design efforts depend strongly on how well designers can collaborate. As time-to-market windows have shortened, the challenges around design collaboration have… Read More
Integrity and Reliability in Analog and Mixed-Signal
In the largest and fastest growing categories in electronics – mobile, IoT and automotive – analog is playing an increasingly important role. It’s important in delivering high integrity power and critical signals to the design though LDO regulators and PLLs, in managing high speed interfaces like DDR and SERDES, in interfacing… Read More
New Transistor Sizing Company at #53DAC
I first met Herve Guegan at Mentor Graphics back in the late 90’s when he managed a group of developers for the SPICE circuit simulator called Eldo in Grenoble, France. We’ve kept in touch over the years and he asked to meet me at DAC in Austin this year, so I caught up with him to get an update on his latest start-up company… Read More


AI Bubble?