GLOBALFOUNDRIES showed off its 28nm design ecosystem at #48DAC last week in San Diego. The company featured a full design ecosystem for its 28nm High-k Metal Gate (HKMG) technology, including silicon-validated flows, process design kits (PDKs), design-for-manufacturing (DFM), and intellectual property (IP) in partnership… Read More
Disaggregating AI Compute to Break the Tokens BarrierAmong several topics dominating news streams these days,…Read More
Customized Foundation IP Enables the Next Generation of Automotive ComputeAs vehicles become increasingly software-defined, automotive semiconductor suppliers…Read More
Rambus Delivers Complete DDR5 Client Chipset for High-Speed CUDIMM and CSODIMM Memory ModulesThe rapid emergence of AI-enabled personal computers is…Read More
From Evidence to Authority: Bounded Gate Authority for Governed Semiconductor RealizationAdvanced semiconductor systems are no longer limited by…Read More
Synopsys and Samsung Foundry Extend AI-Driven Design Collaboration for Advanced 2nm and Multi-Die SystemsAt SAFE Forum 2026, Synopsys announced significant advancements…Read MoreSynopsys IC Validator at DAC
Intro
At DAC last week I visited the Synopsys demo suite to see what’s new with IC Validator.
Notes
Stelios Diamantidis, PMM
– In-design physical verification
– Sign-off reveals thousands of late stage DRC violations
– 28nm has 1.5K rules, 15K runset sizes
– Metal Fill changes timing
– The… Read More
Extreme DA at DAC
Intro
Over the lunch hour on Tuesday at DAC I met with Emre Tuncer, VP – Product Engineering & Applications and heard about extraction and timing analysis.
Notes
GoldX – parasitic extractor. Fast extractor, recently announced, all new technology, early customer adoption. One customer deploying it in 40nm, soon to be 28nm.… Read More
Tanner EDA at DAC
Intro
For 22 years now Tanner EDAhas been in the business pf offering tools for AMS and MEMS designers. I learned what’s new at DAC on Tuesday morning.
Notes
Nicholas Williams – Director of Product Management
Tanner EDA front end: S-Edit integrates with Berkeley Fast Analog Simulator
W-Edit – is the waveform viewer
Who is … Read More
Blue Pearl at DAC
Intro
It’s all about analyzing RTL and creating timing constraints at Blue Pearl, so I stopped by their booth on Tuesday morning to get an update on what’s new for 2011.
Notes
What’s New in 2011 at Blue Pearl Software
New designer experience, ease of use. Brand new GUI.
Work with RTL to synthesis tools to get best timing… Read More
Synopsys, ARM, Samsung, GLOBALFOUNDRIES (Part 2 of 2)
Dipesh Patel, VP Engineering, ARM Physical IP
Consumer demand for smart devices, short life cycles (SmartPhone, Tablets, Internet screens)
Processor speeds: 1GHz to 1.5GHz
SOC Memory: 600MHz to 1.2 GHz
How power efficient?
How is the layout density?
Standard Cells: multi-channel, multi-vt (4) libraries
Memory Compilers:… Read More
Synopsys, ARM, Samsung, GLOBALFOUNDRIES (Part 1 of 2)
Intro
The 28nm nodes is ready with foundry silicon, IP and EDA tools. Tuesday morning at the DAC breakfast I learned more about the 28nm eco-system.
Notes
Why 32/28nm
–Lower power, high integration requirements, mobile applications
What is Ready?
–IP is qualified (ARM, Memories, Foundation IP, SNPS IP, PDKs)
–… Read More
A Birds-Eye Overview of DRC+
The GlobalFoundries DRC+ platform is one of the most innovative DFM technologies and was well represented at #48DAC. In case you missed it, here is a reprint of a DRC+ overview from GFI just prior to #48DAC:
DRC (Design Rule Constraints) are the fundamental principles in constraining VLSI (Very Large Scale Integration) circuit… Read More
CyberEDA adds a Transistor-Level Debugger
Intro
I met with CK Lee, founder of Cyber EDA at his booth on Monday evening in San Diego. Last year I learned about their new SPICE circuit simulator named PCSIM, this year the new product is called ADDS-Debugger.
Notes
2010 – Announced a debugger
2011 ADDS Debugger – trace at the transistor level your design
– Signal tracing… Read More
QuickCap for IC Extraction at DAC 2011
Intro
John and Ralph from Magma gave me an update on QuickCap at DAC on Monday afternoon in their demo suite.
Notes
John Schritz – Sr AE
Ralph Iverson, Ph. D. (wrote QuickCap)
John Schritz
– Digital Signoff, extraction
– QCP: 2.5D RC for full ASIC designs
– QuickCAP NX: 3D field solver
– QCP:
Demo – 1.5 million… Read More


Intel: Pushing EMIB Forward: Design Methodology Insights with Synopsys Tools