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In-Memory Computing for Low-Power Neural Network Inference

In-Memory Computing for Low-Power Neural Network Inference
by Tom Dillinger on 07-17-2020 at 10:00 am

von Neumann bottleneck

“AI is the new electricity.”, according to Andrew Ng, Professor at Stanford University.  The potential applications for machine learning classification are vast.  Yet, current ML inference techniques are limited by the high power dissipation associated with traditional architectures.  The figure below highlights the … Read More


Mentor Cuts Circuit Verification Time with Unique Recon Technology

Mentor Cuts Circuit Verification Time with Unique Recon Technology
by Mike Gianfagna on 07-17-2020 at 6:00 am

Screen Shot 2020 07 13 at 2.42.36 PM

Most of us will remember the productivity boost that hierarchical analysis provided vs. analyzing a chip flat. This “divide and conquer” approach has worked well for all kinds of designs for many years. But, as technology advances tend to do, the bar is moving again. The new challenges are rooted in the iterative nature of high complexity… Read More


Talking Sense With Moortec … Ask Yourself a “Probing” Question?

Talking Sense With Moortec … Ask Yourself a “Probing” Question?
by Ramsay Allen on 07-16-2020 at 10:00 am

Managing and controlling thermal conditions in-chip is nothing new and embedded temperature monitoring has been going on for many years. What is changing however, is the granularity and accuracy of the sensing now available to SoC design teams. Thermal activity can be quite destructive and if not sufficiently monitored can … Read More


Using AI to Locate a Fault. Innovation in Verification

Using AI to Locate a Fault. Innovation in Verification
by Bernard Murphy on 07-16-2020 at 10:00 am

innovation in verification

After we detect a bug, can we use AI to locate the fault, or at least get close? Paul Cunningham (GM of Verification at Cadence), Jim Hogan and I continue our series on novel research ideas, through a paper in software verification we find equally relevant to hardware. Feel free to comment.

 

The Innovation
This month’s pick is… Read More


Novel DFT Approach for Automotive Vision SoCs

Novel DFT Approach for Automotive Vision SoCs
by Tom Simon on 07-16-2020 at 6:00 am

Mentor Tessent IC Design

You may have seen a recent announcement from Mentor, a Siemens business, regarding the use of their Tessent DFT software by Ambarella for automotive applications. The announcement is a good example of how Mentor works with their customers to assure design success. On the surface the announcement comes across as a nice block and… Read More


A tour of Cliosoft’s participation at DAC 2020 with Simon Rance

A tour of Cliosoft’s participation at DAC 2020 with Simon Rance
by Mike Gianfagna on 07-15-2020 at 10:00 am

Simon Rance

As chip complexity grows, so does the need for a well-thought-out design data management strategy.  This is a hot area, and Cliosoft is in the middle of it.  When I was at eSilicon, we used Cliosoft technology to manage the design and layout of high-performance analog designs across widely separated design teams. The tool worked… Read More


A Look at the Die of the 8086 Processor

A Look at the Die of the 8086 Processor
by Ken Shirriff on 07-15-2020 at 6:00 am

Intel 8086 Die

The Intel 8086 microprocessor was introduced 42 years ago last month,1 so I made some high-res die photos of the chip to celebrate. The 8086 is one of the most influential chips ever created; it started the x86 architecture that still dominates desktop and server computing today. By looking at the chip’s silicon, we can see… Read More


Ansys Multiphysics Platform Tackles Power Management ICs

Ansys Multiphysics Platform Tackles Power Management ICs
by Mike Gianfagna on 07-14-2020 at 10:00 am

Screen Shot 2020 07 08 at 7.14.17 PM

Ansys addresses complex Multiphysics simulation and analysis tasks, from device to chip to package and system. When I was at eSilicon we did a lot of work on 2.5D packaging and I can tell you tools from Ansys were a critical enabler to get the chip, package and system to all work correctly.

Ansys recently published an Application Brief… Read More


Hierarchical CDC analysis is possible, with the right tools

Hierarchical CDC analysis is possible, with the right tools
by Bernard Murphy on 07-14-2020 at 6:00 am

Design complexity demands hierarchical CDC

Back in my Atrenta days (before mid-2015), we were already running into a lot of very large SoC-level designs – a billion gates or more. At those sizes, full-chip verification of any kind becomes extremely challenging. Memory demand and run-times explode, and verification costs explode also since these runs require access to … Read More


SystemC Methodology for Virtual Prototype at DVCon USA

SystemC Methodology for Virtual Prototype at DVCon USA
by Daniel Payne on 07-13-2020 at 10:00 am

Register Model min

DVCon was the first EDA conference in our industry impacted by the pandemic and travel restrictions in March of this year, and the organizers did a superb job of adjusting the schedule. I was able to review a DVCon tutorial called “Defining a SystemC Methodology for your Company“, given by Swaminathan Ramachandran… Read More