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Managing Test Power for ICs

Managing Test Power for ICs
by Beth Martin on 11-07-2011 at 12:17 pm

The goal for automatic test pattern generation (ATPG) is to achieve maximum coverage with the fewest test patterns. This conflicts with the goals of managing power because during test, the IC is often operated beyond its normal functional modes to get the highest quality test results. When switching activity exceeds a device’s… Read More


What’s New with Semiconductor Test and Failure Analysis at Mentor?

What’s New with Semiconductor Test and Failure Analysis at Mentor?
by Daniel Payne on 10-28-2011 at 6:03 pm

ISTFA
Silicon Valley is a great location for trade shows and technical conferences, so if you have an interest in test and failure analysis then don’t miss out on the 37th annual International Symposium for Testing and Failure Analysis. This year ISTFA will be held from Sunday, November 13th thru Thursday, November 17th … Read More


Think differentiation

Think differentiation
by Paul McLellan on 10-27-2011 at 5:01 pm

Wally Rhines’s keynote at the ARM TechCon was about differentiation and how to use it to create measurable value. We all know what differentiation means in some intuitive sense, but how do you make it measurable? Wally’s answer was that differentiation is a measure of the difficulty of switching suppliers and is best… Read More


Parasitic Extraction—My Head Hurts!

Parasitic Extraction—My Head Hurts!
by glforte on 10-27-2011 at 10:08 am

By Carey Robertson, Director of Product Marketing, Mentor Graphics

IC physical verification requires a number of different types of checking, the most familiar being design rule checking (DRC), layout vs. schematic (LVS) checking, and parasitic extraction combined with circuit simulation. Fundamentally, it does not matter… Read More


Oct 27 – Hands-on Workshop with Calibre: DRC, LVS, DFM, xRC, ERC (Fremont, California)

Oct 27 – Hands-on Workshop with Calibre: DRC, LVS, DFM, xRC, ERC (Fremont, California)
by Daniel Payne on 10-20-2011 at 9:56 am

I’ve blogged about the Calibre family of IC design tools before:

Smart Fill replaced Dummy Fill Approach in a DFM Flow

DRC Wiki

Graphical DRC vs Text-based DRC

Getting Real time Calibre DRC Results with Custom IC Editing

Transistor-level Electrical Rule Checking

Who Needs a 3D Field Solver for IC Design?

Prevention is BetterRead More


Mentor at the TSMC Open Innovation Platform Ecosystem Forum

Mentor at the TSMC Open Innovation Platform Ecosystem Forum
by Daniel Payne on 10-17-2011 at 3:14 pm

EDA companies and foundries must closely collaborate in order to deliver IC tool flows that work without surprises at the 40nm and 28nm nodes.

Tomorrow in San Jose
you can attend this 4th annual event hosted by TSMC along with Mentor Graphics and other EDA and IP companies.

Here are some of the topics that will interest IC designers… Read More


Mask and Optical Models–Evolution of Lithography Process Models, Part IV

Mask and Optical Models–Evolution of Lithography Process Models, Part IV
by Beth Martin on 10-10-2011 at 4:50 pm

Will Rogers said that an economist’s guess is liable to be as good as anyone’s, but with advanced-node optical lithography, I might have to disagree. Unlike the fickle economy, the distorting effects of the mask and lithographic system are ruled by physics, and so can be modeled.

In this installment, I’ll talk about two critical… Read More


How ST-Ericsson Improved DFM Closure using SmartFill

How ST-Ericsson Improved DFM Closure using SmartFill
by Daniel Payne on 10-07-2011 at 2:38 pm

DFM closure is a growing issue these days even at the 45nm node, and IC designers at ST-Ericsson have learned that transitioning from dummy fill to SmartFill has saved them time and improved their DFM score.

The SOC
ST-Ericsson designed an SOC for mobile platforms called the U8500 and their foundry choice was a 45nm node at STMicroelectronicsRead More


Testing, testing… 3D ICs

Testing, testing… 3D ICs
by Beth Martin on 10-06-2011 at 7:01 pm

3D ICs complicate silicon testing, but solutions exist now to many of the key challenges. – by Stephen Pateras

The next phase of semiconductor designs will see the adoption of 3D IC packages, vertical stacks of multiple bare die connected directly though the silicon. Through-silicon vias (TSV) result in shorter and thinner… Read More


Memory Cell Characterization with a Fast 3D Field Solver

Memory Cell Characterization with a Fast 3D Field Solver
by Daniel Payne on 09-29-2011 at 12:07 pm

Memory designers need to predict the timing, current and power of their designs with high accuracy before tape-out to ensure that all the design goals will be met. Extracting the parasitic values from the IC layout and then running circuit simulation is a trusted methodology however the accuracy of the results ultimately depend… Read More