Abstract:
There has been a remarkable acceleration in the adoption of advanced verification methodologies, languages and new standards. This is true across all types of IC design and geographic regions. Designers and verification engineers are surprisingly open to new approaches to keep pace with the relentless rise in design… Read More
Evolution of process models, part I
Thirty five years ago, in 1976, the Concorde cut transatlantic flying time to 3.5 hrs, Apple was formed, NASA unveiled the first space shuttle, the VHS vs Betamax wars started, and Barry Manilow’s I Write the Songs saturated the airwaves. Each of those advances, except perhaps Barry Manilow, was the result of the first modern-era,… Read More
Mentor Graphics to Participate in SemiWiki.com Social Media Platform
San Jose, Calif., [DATE], 2011 – SemiWiki.com today announced that Mentor Graphics, a world leader in electronic hardware and software design solutions, will participate in the SemiWiki.com global social media platform aimed at facilitating mass communication for electronic design professionals through Web 2.0 technologies.… Read More
New ERC Tools Catch Design Errors
A growing number of reports highlight a class of design errors that is difficult to check using more traditional methods, and can potentially affect a wide range of IC designs, especially where high reliability is a must.By Matthew Hogan
Today’s IC designs are complex. They contain vast arrays of features and functionality in … Read More
DRC+, DFM, CMP, Variablility
When I worked at Intel as a circuit design engineer I could talk directly with the technology development engineers to understand how to really push my DRAM designs and get the smallest possible memory cell layout that would still yield well, provide fast access time, and long refresh cycles.
(United States Patent 6661699. Inventor:… Read More
Getting to the 32nm/28nm Common Platform node with Mentor IC Tools
Last week I talked with two experts at Mentor about the challenges of getting IC designs into the 32nm/28nm node on the Common Platform (IBM, GLOBALFOUNDRIES and Samsung). Global Foundries issued a press release talking about how the four major EDA companies have worked together to qualify EDA tools for this node.
Sudhakar Jilla,… Read More
Computational Lithography, Scaling’s Best Friend
By Joseph Sawicki, Vice President & General Manager, Design to Silicon Division
It is one of the more amazing stories in the continued march of Moore’s Law over the past four nodes. Previously scaling was enabled solely though changes in the physical domain, whether through decreasing the wavelength of light, increasing … Read More
Mentor Company History
A venture capitalist offered the advice, “Startup investors are attracted by good people making a good product for a growing market.” That wisdom, as much as any served as the foundation for the company Mentor Graphics would become.… Read More
What Do You Mean by Mandatory?
When TSMC and Mentor Graphics held a joint seminar for mutual customers to go over new DFM requirements at 45/40 nm, two customers basically asked the same question, “What do you mean by mandatory?” Of course, TSMC wasn’t going to stand over them and say, “Mandatory means mandatory, what part of mandatory don’t you understand?” … Read More
What Do You Mean by Mandatory?
When TSMC and Mentor Graphics held a joint seminar for mutual customers to go over new DFM requirements at 45/40 nm, two customers basically asked the same question, “What do you mean by mandatory?” Of course, TSMC wasn’t going to stand over them and say, “Mandatory means mandatory, what part of mandatory don’t you understand?” … Read More