Extreme ultraviolet (EUV) lithography is often represented as benefiting from the 13.5 nm wavelength (actually it is a range of wavelengths, mostly ~13.2-13.8 nm), when actually it works through the action of secondary electrons, electrons released by photoelectrons which are themselves released from ionization by absorbed… Read More


Arm Inches Up the Infrastructure Value Chain
Arm just revealed at HotChips their compute subsystems (CSS) direction led by CSS N2. The intent behind CSS is to provide pre-integrated, optimized and validated subsystems to accelerate time to market for infrastructure system builders. Think HPC servers, wireless infrastructure, big edge systems for industry, city, enterprise… Read More
Visit with Easy-Logic at #60DAC
I had read a little about Easy-Logic before #60DAC, so this meeting on Wednesday in Moscone West was my first in-person meeting with Jimmy Chen and Kager Tsai to learn about their EDA tools and where they fit into the overall IC design flow. A Functional Engineering Change Order (ECO) is a way to revise an IC design by updating the smallest… Read More
Key MAC Considerations for the Road to 1.6T Ethernet Success
Ethernet’s continual adaptation to meet the demands of a data-rich, interconnected world can be credited to the two axes along which its evolution has been propelled. The first axis emphasizes Ethernet’s role in enabling precise and reliable control over interconnected systems. As industries embrace automation… Read More
Systematic RISC-V architecture analysis and optimization
The RISC-V movement has taken off so quickly because of the wide range of choices it offers designers. However, massive flexibility creates its own challenges. One is how to analyze, optimize, and verify an unproven RISC-V core design with potential microarchitecture changes allowed within the bounds of the specification. … Read More
AMD Puts Synopsys AI Verification Tools to the Test
The various algorithms that comprise artificial intelligence (AI) are finding their way into the chip design flow. What is driving a lot of this work is the complexity explosion of new chip designs required to accelerate advanced AI algorithms. It turns out AI is both the problem and the solution in this case. AI can be used to cut … Read More
Podcast EP178: An Overview of Advanced Power Optimization at Synopsys with William Ruby
Dan is joined by William Ruby, director of product management for Synopsys Power Analysis products. He has extensive experience in the area of low-power IC design and design methodology, and has held senior engineering and product marketing positions with Cadence, ANSYS, Intel, and Siemens. He also has a patent in high-speed… Read More
The First TSMC CEO James E. Dykes
Most people ( including ChatGPT) think Morris Chang was the first TSMC CEO but it was in fact Jim Dykes, a very interesting character in the semiconductor industry.
According to his eulogy: Jim came from the humblest of beginnings, easily sharing that he grew up in a house without running water and never had a bed of his own. But because… Read More
Empyrean visit at #60DAC
I arrived for my #60DAC booth appointment at Empyrean and was able to watch a customer presentation from Jason Guo, of Diodes. Jason was talking about how his company used the Patron tool for EM/IR analysis on their automotive chips. Diodes was found back in 1959 at Plano, Texas, and has since grown into 32 locations around the globe,… Read More
Using Linting to Write Error-Free Testbench Code
In my job, I have the privilege to talk to hundreds of interesting companies in many areas of semiconductor development. One of the most fun things for me is interviewing customers—hands-on users—of specific electronic design (EDA) tools and chip technologies. Cristian Amitroaie, CEO of AMIQ EDA, has been very helpful in introducing… Read More
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