SoC designs frequently have lots of different clock domains to help manage power more efficiently, however one side effect is that when the clock domains meet, i.e., in a Clock Domain Crossing (CDC), there’s the possibility of setup and hold time violations that can cause a flip-flop to become metastable. Synchronizer … Read More
Electronic Design Automation
Cadence Integrates Power Integrity Analysis and Fix into Design
As integration levels increase, clock frequencies rise, and feature sizes shrink it is not surprising that all or most aspects of semiconductor design become more complex and demand more from design technologies. One example where the traditional approach is breaking down is in optimizing power distribution networks (PDNs)… Read More
Accelerating Development for Audio and Vision AI Pipelines
I wrote previously that the debate over which CPU rules the world (Arm versus RISC-V) somewhat misses the forest for the trees in modern systems. This is nowhere more obvious that in intelligent audio and vision: smart doorbells, speakers, voice activated remotes, intelligent earbuds, automotive collision avoidance, self-parking,… Read More
Generative AI for Silicon Design – Article 3 (Simulate My Design)
Generative AI has time and again showcased its power to understand, predict, and explain a myriad of phenomena. Beyond its famed applications in art and text, it’s making ripples in the niche realm of hardware engineering. In this article, our exploration focuses on the potential of Generative AI to comprehend and predict… Read More
Uniquely Understanding Challenges of Chip Design and Verification
Jean-Marie Brunet is Vice President and General Manager of Siemens Hardware-Assisted Verification. He and I spoke recently about how different his hardware group is from the rest of the software-centric EDA product space and why a hardware-oriented EDA vendor like Siemens fully understands the challenges of the chip design… Read More
New STA Features from Cadence
Static Timing Analysis (STA) has been an EDA tool category for many years now, yet with each new generation of smaller foundry process nodes come new physical effects that impact timing, requiring new analysis features to be added. For advanced process nodes, there are five different types of analysis that must be included when… Read More
Successful 3DIC design requires an integrated approach
While the leap from traditional SoC/IC designs to Three-Dimensional Integrated Circuits (3DICs) designs brings new benefits and opportunities, it also introduces new challenges. The benefits include performance, power efficiency, footprint reduction and cost savings. The challenges span design, verification, thermal… Read More
IROC at the TSMC Open Innovation Ecosystem Platform
Radiation is everywhere. Radiation contributes to Single Event Effects (SEE) in semiconductor circuits and packaging. As chips get larger, containing more functions, and using lower voltage to reduce power, SEEs have become more significant to product reliability, Failures In Time rates (FIT), and meantime between failures… Read More
Synopsys Debuts RISC-V IP Product Families
Synopsys has just announced that it has expanded its ARC processor portfolio to include a family of RISC-V processors. These will be branded under the ARC name as ARC-V and are expected to become available in 2024. This is a significant announcement which I attempt to unpack briefly below.
Why add RISC-V to the portfolio and why now?
… Read MoreA Fast Path to Better ARC PPA through Fusion Quickstart Implementation Kits and DSO.AI
Synopsys recently presented a webinar on using their own software to optimize one of their own IPs (an ARC HS68 processor) for both performance and power through what looks like a straightforward flow from initial configuration through first level optimization to more comprehensive AI-driven PPA optimization. Also of note … Read More
Rapidus, IBM, and the Billion-Dollar Silicon Sovereignty Bet