I wrote recently about Siemens EDA’s philosophy on designing quality in from the outset, rather than trying to verify it in. The first step is moving up the level of abstraction for design. They mentioned the advantages of HLS in this respect and I refined that to “for DSP-centric applications”. A Stanford group recently presented… 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
RISC-V embedded software gets teams coding faster
RISC-V processor IP is abundant. Open-source code for RISC-V is also widely available, but typically project-based code solves one specific problem. Using only pieces of code, it’s often up to a development team integrate a complete application-ready stack for creating an embedded device. A commercial embedded software development… Read More
Using EM/IR Analysis for Efinix FPGAs
I’ve been following the EM/IR (Electro-Migration, IR is current and resistance) analysis market for many years now, and recently attended a presentation from Steven Chin, Sr. Director IC Engineering of Efinix, at the User2User event organized by Siemens EDA. The Tuesday presentation was in the morning at the Marriott… Read More
Methods for Current Density and Point-to-point Resistance Calculations
IC reliability is an issue that circuit design engineers and reliability engineers are concerned about, because physical effects like high Current Density (CD) in interconnect layers, or high point-to-point (P2P) resistance on device interconnect can impact reliability, timing or Electrostatic Discharge (ESD) robustness.… Read More
3D IC Update from User2User
Our smart phones, tablets, laptops and desktops are the most common consumer products with advanced 2.5D and 3D IC packaging techniques. I love seeing the product tear down articles to learn how advanced packaging techniques are being used, so at the User2User conference in Santa Clara I attended a presentation from Tarek Ramadan,… Read More
Joseph Sawicki of Siemens EDA at User2User
I attended the annual user group meeting called User2User in Santa Clara this year, hosted by Siemens EDA, with 51 presentations by customers in 11 tracks, and keynotes during each lunch hour from semiconductor executives. Joseph Sawicki, Executive VP, IC Segment, at Siemens EDA presented on a Tuesday, along with Prashant Varshney,… Read More
Cybersecurity Threat Detection and Mitigation
Every week in the technology trade press I am reading about cybersecurity attacks against web sites, apps, IoT devices, vehicles and even ICs. At the recent IP SoC Silicon Valley 2022 event in April I watched a cybersecurity presentation from Robert Rand, Solution Architect for Tessent Embedded Analytics at Siemens EDA. Common… Read More
Efficient Memory BIST Implementation
Test experts use the acronym BIST for Built In Self Test, it’s the test logic added to an IP block that speeds up the task of testing by creating stimulus and then looking at the output results. Memory IP is a popular category for SoC designers, as modern chips include multiple memory blocks for fast, local data and register storage… Read More
Designing a FinFET Test Chip for Radiation Threats
Much of the technology that goes into aerospace applications is some of the most advanced technology that exists. However, these same systems must also offer the highest level of reliability in what is arguably an extremely difficult environment. For semiconductors a major environmental risk in aerospace applications are … Read More