Virtual platforms enable software development to take place on a model of an electronic system. What everyone would like is models that are fast and accurate but that is simply not possible. Fast models are fast because they don’t model everything at the signal level. And accurate models get to be accurate by handling a lot of detail… Read More
Electronic Design Automation
Eldo and Pyxis from Mentor, DAC Update
Last Monday at DAC I met with Linda Fosler, Marketing Director at Mentor Graphics to get an update on what’s new with Eldo(Circuit simulator) and Pyxis (custom IC layout and schematic).
Linda Fosler, Mentor Graphics… Read More
Calibre Update at DAC
Mentor Graphics throws a very nice dinner party at DAC each year for journalists, bloggers and top customers, so this year I spoke with Michael Buehler-Garcia about what’s new with Calibre.
Michael Buehler-Garcia, Mentor Graphics
… Read More
GPU-Based SPICE Simulator for Library Characterization
Jeff Tuanis the CEO and President of an EDA startup called G-Analog, founded in May 2012. His background includes working at: Cadence, Epic, Synopsys, Nassda, Chartered Semi and GLOBALFOUNDRIES. Jason Lu is the R&D manager. We met at DAC last week to talk about his company’s new product called Gchar for IC library characterization… Read More
Missed #50DAC? See Aldec Verification Sessions Online
Aldec, Inc. is an industry-leading Electronic Design Automation (EDA) company delivering innovative design creation, simulation and verification solutions to assist in the development of complex FPGA, ASIC, SoC and embedded system designs. With an active user community of over 35,000, 50+ global partners, offices worldwide… Read More
Increase Your Chip Reliability with iROC Tech
As we have moved towards extremely low process nodes with very high chip density, the cost of mask preparation also has become exorbitantly high. It has become essential to know about the failure rates and mitigate the same at the design time before chip fabrication, and also to make sure about chip reliability over time as it is constantly… Read More
So, where are all the EMBEDDED guys?
Roaming the aisles at #50DAC the past week left me with one unmistakable impression: there were two shows going on at the same time. Oh, we were all packed into one space together at the Austin Convention Center and neighboring hotels. But we weren’t quite all speaking the same language – yet.… Read More
Hardware Assisted Verification
On the Tuesday of DAC I moderated a panel session on Hardware Assisted Verification in 10 Years: More Need, More Speed. Although this topic obviously could include FPGA-based prototyping, in fact we spent pretty much the whole time talking about emulation. Gary Smith, on Sunday night, actually set up things by pointing out that… Read More
Custom Physical IC Design update from Cadence
Custom IC design and layout is becoming more difficult at 20nm and smaller nodes, so the EDA tools have to get smarter and work harder for us in order to maintain productivity with the fewest iterations to reach our specs. Dave Stylesand John Stabenow of Cadence met with me last Monday in Austin at the DAC exhibit area.
John Stabenow… Read More
AMS IC Simulation Update from Synopsys at DAC
Last year at DAC we didn’t really know the circuit simulation roadmap for Synopsys because of all the EDA company acquisitions, however this year it’s clear to me that:
- HSPICE continues on, although it’s a lower performance circuit simulator than FineSim
- FineSim from Magma is well-loved, and faster than HSPICE
Selling the Forges of the Future: U.S. Report Exposes China’s Reliance on Western Chip Tools