Just as a reminder, there are three semiconductor books in PDF format available for free on SemiWiki.com. The only hitch is that you must be a registered SemiWiki member to download them. If you are not currently a member please join here as my guest:
https://www.legacy.semiwiki.com/forum/register.php
The first book is by Dr. Paul McLellan. EDAgraffiti is 25 years of experience in the EDA and semiconductor industries wrapped up into a single book. From semiconductor to venture capital, via sales, marketing, engineering and management….
The foreword is by industry expert Jim Hogan.
SemiWiki Book Download:EDAgraffiti
The second book is by Paul and Myself. Fabless: The Transformation of the Semiconductor Industry traces the history of the semiconductor industry from both a technical and business perspective.
We argue that the development of the fabless business model was a key enabler of the growth in semiconductors since the mid-1980s. Because business models, as much as the technology, are what keep us thrilled with new gadgets year after year, we focus on the evolution of the electronics business.
We also invited key players in the industry to contribute chapters. These “In Their Own Words” chapters allow the heavyweights of the industry to tell their corporate history for themselves, focusing on the industry developments (both in technology and business models) that made them successful and how they in turn drive the further evolution of the semiconductor industry.
The foreword is by Dr. Cliff Hou, VP of R&D, TSMC.
SemiWiki Book Download:Fabless: The Transformation of the Semiconductor Industry
The third book is by Don Dingee and myself. Mobile Unleashed: The History of ARMis the origin story of technology super heroes: the creators and founders of ARM, the company that is responsible for the processors found inside 95% of the world’s mobile devices today. This is also the evolution story of how three companies – Apple, Samsung, and Qualcomm – put ARM technology in the hands of billions of people through smartphones, tablets, music players, and more.
The foreword is by Sir Robin Saxby, former chairman of ARM.
SemiWiki Book Download:Mobile Unleashed: The History of ARM
For those of you who are “seasoned” semiconductor professionals these books will be a nice walk down memory lane. If you are less seasoned they will be a great read to get you up to speed on how we got to where we are today and where we are going tomorrow, absolutely.
This year Don and I also collaborated on an ebook with S2C. The first half of Prototypicalis a concise history of FPGA-based prototyping. We go back to the beginning, briefly introducing the debut of the Altera EP300 in 1984 and the Xilinx XC2064 in 1985. We then discuss the tipping point for what would become FPGA-based prototyping: the introduction of the Quickturn Systems RPM.
From there, while the large EDA firms scuffled over bigger and bigger hardware emulation capability, several academic teams started deploying FPGAs for reconfigurable computing and rapid prototyping. We then launch into chapters with brief timelines of three of the major firms in FPGA-based prototyping: S2C, Synopsys, and Cadence. We close the first half with a look at where FPGA-based prototyping is headed, including how it can help application segments such as automotive, wearables, and the IoT – three segments we believe will see an increasing number of design starts as new players seek to optimize and differentiate their software through chip design.
The second half of “PROTOTYPICAL” is an all-new Field Guide titled “Implementing an FPGA Prototyping Methodology” authored by the teams at S2C. It looks at when design teams need an FPGA-based prototyping solution, how to choose one, and how to be sure the platform is scalable including a look at the latest cloud-based implementations. It then dives into the methodology: setting up a prototype, partitioning, interconnect, debugging, and exercising a design. It’s a practical view of the questions teams have and the issues they run into, and how to solve them.
You can download a PDF version of Prototypical from the S2C website HERE.
Paper copies of these books are also available on Amazon.com in case you are interested in adding them to your bookshelf. We have two more books in progress and many more book ideas so stay tuned. If you want to add a book idea or collaborate on a book with us just let me know in the comments section.
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