Cadence invited Francois Lemery of ST Microelectronics to speak at a luncheon last Monday at DAC about designing for the 20nm node using module generators. Here are my trip report notes:
ST using Cadence IC Tools with Module Generators
Tanner EDA Update 2012
Rather than fly to Southern California this week I decided to drive. Airport parking and security, flying to Irvine and renting a car, driving to San Diego and back to Irvine, then flying home is just too much. Call it Porsche therapy, I would rather drive. On the way home I will take the scenic 101 and enjoy the ocean views.
First stop… Read More
Analog FastSPICE added to Tanner EDA
Last year when I visited Tanner EDA at DAC I heard about how they integrated the Analog FastSPICE circuit simulator from Berkeley DA.
This made sense to me because BDA has a good reputation for speeding up SPICE without compromising on accuracy, and Tanner users may want to mix and match tools from multiple EDA vendors.
This year they’ve… Read More
MIPS, ARM, ARC, Imagination, Ceva
The Linley Group, whose conference on mobile I recently attended, has some interesting data about the processor core market. Firstly, the numbers are big: CPU cores shipped in over 10 billion chips last year which is up 25% on last. ARM has a share of 78% of that entire market. The big surprise to me was the #2 was not MIPS but Synopsys… Read More
It is free after you pay for it and there is a one-time annual fee: The Case for FD-SOI
In one of Portlandia’s TV program sketches, there is a funny interchange between a carrier salesperson and Fred Armisen (of SNL fame) who was trying to buy a phone. One chuckle line was a statement by the seller that the phone was free after paying for it and that there was a one-time annual fee. With this anecdote as a mental backdrop,… Read More
GSA 3DIC and Cadence
At the GSA 3D IC working group meeting, Cadence presented their perspective on 3D ICs. Their view will turn out to be important since the new chair of the 3D IC working group is going to be Ken Potts of Cadence. Once GSA decided the position could not be funded then an independent consultant like Herb Reiter had to bow out and the position… Read More
Keeping Moore’s Law Alive
At the GSA silicon summit yesterday the first keynote was by Subramanian Iyer of IBM on Keeping Moore’s Law Alive. He started off by asking the question “Is Moore’s Law in trouble?” and answered with an equivocal “maybe.”
Like some of the other speakers during the day, he pointed out that … Read More
Smart mobile SoCs: Texas Instruments
TI has parlayed its heritage in digital signal processing and long-term relationships with mobile device makers into a leadership position in mobile SoCs. They boast a relatively huge portfolio of design wins thanks to being the launch platform for Android 4.0. On the horizon, the next generation OMAP 5 could change the entire… Read More
AMS Design using Co-Simulation
The big three vendors in EDA offer AMS simulation tools but what about simulation choices from other EDA vendors?
It turns out there are two privately held EDA companies that have done business since the 1980’s and have just integrated a Verilog A simulator with a SPICE circuit simulator. The two companies are Aldec with a … Read More
The best graphics chip is the one seen the most
If I say “graphics chip”, most techies will say NVIDIA or AMD. But in the new post-PC world , neither of these players holds the key to the future. One that does is a little company making 43 cents on every latest version iPad and iPhone. Another is designing their own approach. Should you care what graphics is in your phone?… Read More