Paul Cunningham, CVP and GM of the System Verification Group at Cadence gave the afternoon Keynote on Tuesday at DVCon and doubled down on his verification-throughput message. At the end of the day, what matters most to us in verification is the number of bugs found and fixed per dollar per day. You can’t really argue with that message.… Read More





Hearables: From Earbuds to Life Augmentation and Beyond
As the months of 2020 passed by, I started noticing more and more people sporting what looked like fashionable ear accessories. I’m of course referring to True Wireless Stereo (TWS) earbuds. With the rapid increase in online meetings due to social distancing requirements, it appeared that adoption of TWS earbuds was even faster… Read More
A Review of Clock Generation and Distribution for Off-Chip Interfacing
At the recent ISSCC conference, Mozhgan Mansuri from Intel gave an enlightening (extended) short course presentation on all thing related to clocking, for both wireline and wireless interface design. [1] The presentation was extremely thorough, ranging from a review of basic clocking principles to unique circuit design … Read More
USB 3.2 Helps Deliver on Type-C Connector Performance Potential
Despite sounding like a minor enhancement version for USB, USB 3.2 introduces many important changes for the USB specification. To see where USB has come from and where it is going, it is essential to look at what is found in USB 3.2. The other salient point is that now the Type-C connector has split out from the underlying USB specification… Read More
Features of Short-Reach Interface IP Design
The emergence of advanced packaging technologies has led to the introduction of new types of data communication interfaces. There are a number of topologies that are defined by the IEEE 802.3 standard, as well as the Optical Internetworking Common Electrical I/O CEI standard. [1,2] (Many of the configurations of interest … Read More
Chip Channel Check- Semi Shortage Spreading- Beyond autos-Will impact earnings
– Semiconductor shortage is like toilet paper shortage in early Covid
– Panic buying, hoarding, double ordering will cause spike
– Could cause a year+ of dislocation in chip makers before ending
– Investors, Govt & Mgmt will get a wake up call from earnings hit
Auto industry is just a prominent tip … Read More
What’s Wrong with Car Connectivity
I have run into far too many clever automotive executives lately who seem to believe that “we” as an industry have solved the car connectivity challenge. Consumers love built-in car connections and that’s the end of the story – or so they believe.
Sadly, this is not true. Consumers surveyed by Strategy Analytics in China,… Read More
Digital Filters for Audio Equalizer Design
Equalizers were initially designed and developed for movie theaters and amphitheaters or outdoor areas but now they have become ubiquitous. Equalization is essential for creating professional sound and creating real life like sound effects. Equalizers are used for controlling the energy/loudness of a particular frequency… Read More
Podcast EP10: The M&A Landscape for Semis and EDA
Dan and Mike are once again joined by Dr. Walden Rhines for an overview of the M&A scene for semiconductors and EDA. Wally discusses the periodic expansion and contraction of these markets along with the factors that cause these trends. Wally concludes with a view of the future.
Wally Rhines is widely recognized as an expert … Read More
Webinar: Samtec Teams with Otava and Avnet to Tame mmWave Design
mmWave design has traditionally been a boutique technology used in satellite and defense applications. Lately that’s changing. It turns out the complex, high frequency capabilities of mmWave technology are a key enabler for the 5G wireless networks being deployed today. I discussed some of this backstory in a recent post about… Read More
Rapidus, IBM, and the Billion-Dollar Silicon Sovereignty Bet