In 2014, many of the customers that my team and I supported in North America were still using HFSS 3D to model boards and packages. These customers were content with that interface, able to get their models setup quickly, and were okay with the solution times because when HFSS gave them an answer, they knew it was the right answer. I … Read More



More Than Moore and Charting the Path Beyond 3nm
The incredible growth that the semiconductor industry has enjoyed over the last several decades is attributed to Moore’s Law. While no one argues that point, there is also industry wide acknowledgment that Moore’s Law started slowing down around the 7nm process node. While die-size reductions still scale, performance jumps… Read More
DAC 2021 – Siemens EDA talks about using the Cloud
My third event at DAC on Monday was all about using EDA tools in the Cloud, and so I listened to Craig Johnson, VP EDA Cloud Solutions, Siemens EDA. Early in the day I heard from Joe Sawicki, Siemens EDA, on the topic of Digitalization.
Why even use the Cloud for EDA? That’s a fair question to ask, and Craig had several high-level… Read More
Topics for Innovation in Verification
Paul, Raúl and I are having fun with our Innovation in Verification series, and you seem to be also, judging by the hit rates we’re getting. We track these carefully to judge what you find most interesting and what seems to fall more under the category of “Meh”. Paul and others also get informal feedback in client meetings but it would… Read More
DAC 2021 Wrap-up – S2C turns more than a few heads
Now that the 58th Design Automation Conference held this year in San Francisco has concluded, we take a minute to look back at the results and ascertain what it meant for our company.
Unfortunately, many popular tradeshows held in the time of Covid have suffered a drop in attendance, and DAC was no exception. Despite this however,… Read More
Bringing PCIe Gen 6 Devices to Market
PCIe is a prevalent and popular interface standard that is used in just about every digital electronic system. It is used widely in SOCs and in devices that connect to them. Since it was first released in 2003, it has evolved to keep up with rapidly accelerating needs for high speed data transfers. Each version has doubled in throughput,… Read More
Pattern Shifts Induced by Dipole-Illuminated EUV Masks
As EUV lithography is being targeted towards pitches of 30 nm or less, fundamental differences from conventional DUV lithography become more and more obvious. A big difference is in the mask use. Unlike other photolithography masks, EUV masks are absorber patterns on a reflective multilayer rather than a transparent substrate.… Read More
“Too Big To Fail Two” – Could chip failure take down tech & entire economy?
-Chips enable tech sector which underpins entire economy
-Is the US chip sector “Too Big To Fail”?
-If US chip industry fails, does tech & everything else follow?
-How chip/Taiwan crisis compares to 2008 financial meltdown
It was the best of times, it was the worst of times
We find it an incredible juxtaposition… Read More
Podcast EP53: Breker’s New CEO Weighs in on the Company, DAC and the Future of Verification
Dan is joined by Dave Kelf, who was recently appointed CEO of Breker Verification Systems. Dave discusses Breker’s unique approach to verification of complex systems, what its future impact will be and what Breker will be doing at DAC.
The views, thoughts, and opinions expressed in these podcasts belong solely to the
COVID Still Impacting Electronics
Electronics production has been volatile over the past two years primarily due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Electronics production three-month-average change versus a year ago is shown below for key Asian countries. COVID-19 shutdowns affected production in early 2020. Trends in 2021 show a strong bounce back.
The key trends … Read More
Intel’s Pearl Harbor Moment