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Achieve Superior Energy Efficiency – Body Bias for FDSOI

Achieve Superior Energy Efficiency – Body Bias for FDSOI
by Mike Gianfagna on 09-30-2020 at 10:00 am

Achieve Superior Energy Efficiency – Body Bias for FDSOI

Silicon on insulator (SOI) technology has been around a very long time. I recall five-inch wafers full of SoS (silicon on sapphire) devices while working at the RCA Solid State Technology Center back in the dawn of time. Today, the concept of silicon on insulator is alive and well. Companies like GLOBALFOUNDRIES offer a special … Read More


The Car Data Monetization Muddle

The Car Data Monetization Muddle
by Roger C. Lanctot on 09-30-2020 at 6:00 am

The Car Data Monetization Muddle

Four years ago, this month, McKinsey published a report – “Monetizing Car Data” – which continues to simultaneously haunt and mock the automotive industry. The report claimed that by 2030 the so-called “car data market” would be worth as much as $750B.

SOURCE: McKinsey

This report spawned… Read More


SkillCAD Layout Automation Suite has Over 120 Commands Backed by 60 Customers

SkillCAD Layout Automation Suite has Over 120 Commands Backed by 60 Customers
by Tom Simon on 09-29-2020 at 10:00 am

SkillCAD Layout Automation Suite

Cadence Virtuoso is by far the most popular layout tool for IC design. This is especially true at advanced process nodes. In my opinion one of the key reasons for this is its built-in extension language, SKILL. SKILL is a powerful tool to add time saving and customized functionality to the Virtuoso layout editor. For analog and custom… Read More


Siemens PAVE360 Stepping Up to Digital Twins

Siemens PAVE360 Stepping Up to Digital Twins
by Bernard Murphy on 09-29-2020 at 6:00 am

Siemens PAVE360

The idea of a digital twin is simple enough. You use a digital model of a car, aircraft, whatever to test design ideas and prove your design will be robust across a wide range of scenarios before you commit millions of dollars and lives to proving out the real thing. As Siemens have accomplished in their PAVE360 platform. There are a … Read More


Altair HPC Virtual Summit 2020 – The Latest in Enterprise Computing

Altair HPC Virtual Summit 2020 – The Latest in Enterprise Computing
by Mike Gianfagna on 09-28-2020 at 10:00 am

Altair HPC Virtual Summit 2020 – The Latest in Enterprise Computing

On September 9 and 10 Altair held their high-performance computing virtual summit. Altair is a company with a large footprint. In their own words, “Altair is a global technology company that provides software and cloud solutions in the areas of data analytics, product development, and high-performance computing (HPC).” Their… Read More


Webinar: Static Verification for RISC-V Cores and SoCs

Webinar: Static Verification for RISC-V Cores and SoCs
by Daniel Nenni on 09-28-2020 at 6:00 am

Aldec RISC V Webinar SemiWiki 1

RISC-V has been trending ever since it landed on SemiWiki in 2016.  Even more so now that Arm is in flux with the Nvidia acquisition. Verification is a fast growing EDA challenge with the number of verification engineers steadily outpacing design, so this webinar is a best case scenario for SemiWiki traffic, absolutely.

Two thingsRead More


SMIC Cut off by US Government is Doomsday Scenario for US Chip Equipment Companies

SMIC Cut off by US Government is Doomsday Scenario for US Chip Equipment Companies
by Robert Maire on 09-27-2020 at 2:00 pm

US versus China Semiconductor

SMIC Cut Off = Worst case scenario
SMIC is on US gov “no fly” list for US Equipment Companies
Will likely lead to loss of all of China- 25% to 50% of revenues
Retaliation by China will worsen situation
SMIC cut off from US technology (Chip Equip)

It has been reported in the Wall St Journal and many news outlets that the US government… Read More


How to multiply currents: Inside a Counterfeit Analog Multiplier

How to multiply currents: Inside a Counterfeit Analog Multiplier
by Ken Shirriff on 09-27-2020 at 10:00 am

Inside a Counterfeit Analog Multiplier

A recent Twitter thread about a counterfeit analog multiplier chip attracted my attention since I’m interested in both counterfeit integrated circuits and how analog computers multiply. In the thread, John McMaster decapped a suspicious AD633 analog multiplier chip and found an entirely different Rockwell RC4200… Read More


Innovating to Survive

Innovating to Survive
by Vivek Wadhwa on 09-27-2020 at 8:00 am

Innovating to Survive

The global COVID-19 pandemic has almost shut down entire industries, forcing companies of all sizes to adapt and evolve. It has also done incredible things for a pivot to innovation.

Safety has had to come first. And for many, that meant changing how they worked, using technology to power a shift to remote work and servicing of customers.… Read More


Autonomous Vehicles: Avoiding Obstacles and Responsibility

Autonomous Vehicles: Avoiding Obstacles and Responsibility
by Roger C. Lanctot on 09-27-2020 at 6:00 am

Autonomous Vehicles Avoiding Obstacles and Responsibility

The headline screams off of the page and challenges all that we know about the fatal crash in Tempe, Ariz., that took the life of Elaine Herzberg two and a half years ago. “Backup Driver of Autonomous Uber SUV Charged with Negligent Homicide in Arizona.”

How could the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) associate itself… Read More