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Webinar Replay – Insight into Creating a Common Testbench

Webinar Replay – Insight into Creating a Common Testbench
by Tom Simon on 06-04-2020 at 6:00 am

Common Tesbanch

These days the verification process starts right when the design process begins, and it keeps going well past the end of the design phase. Simulation is used extensively at every stage of design and can go a long way to help validate a design. However, for many types of designs, especially those that process complex data streams, … Read More


Tesla Driving on the Edge

Tesla Driving on the Edge
by Roger C. Lanctot on 06-03-2020 at 10:00 am

Tesla Driving on the Edge

It’s happened again. Yesterday, on a highway in Taiwan, a Tesla Model 3 plowed into the trailer of an overturned truck. Accounts of the event suggest the vehicle’s Autopilot system was engaged. The failure of the system to perceive the danger ahead and avoid the inevitable collision suggests an “edge case”… Read More


Free Webinar on Verifying On-Chip ESD Protection

Free Webinar on Verifying On-Chip ESD Protection
by Tom Simon on 06-03-2020 at 6:00 am

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Walking across a carpet can generate up to 35,000 volts of static charge, which is tens of thousands of times higher than the operating voltages of most integrated circuits. When charge build up from static electricity is exposed to the pins of an IC, the electrostatic discharge (ESD) protection network on the chip is intended to… Read More


Feature-Selective Etching in SAQP for Sub-20 nm Patterning

Feature-Selective Etching in SAQP for Sub-20 nm Patterning
by Fred Chen on 06-02-2020 at 10:00 am

Feature Selective Etching in SAQP for Sub 20 nm Patterning

Self-aligned quadruple patterning (SAQP) is the most widely available technology used for patterning feature pitches less than 38 nm, with a projected capability to reach 19 nm pitch. It is actually an integration of multiple process steps, already being used to pattern the fins of FinFETs [1] and 1X DRAM [2]. These steps, shown… Read More


Arm Reinforces the Mobile Fortress

Arm Reinforces the Mobile Fortress
by Bernard Murphy on 06-02-2020 at 6:00 am

Arm Mobile 2020 Announcement

Arm did it again. They continue to press their advantage, most recently with an announcement on their 2020 release of cores for mobile applications, in Cortex-A, in what they now call Cortex-X custom cores, in Mali GPUs and in the next generation of their Ethos neural net core.

Paul Williamson, VP GM of the client line of business,… Read More


TSMC Pushes out Equip Purchases – SIA and SEMI ask for Government Help

TSMC Pushes out Equip Purchases – SIA and SEMI ask for Government Help
by Robert Maire on 06-01-2020 at 9:00 am

TSMC China

TSMC pushing out equipment purchases
Covid/China trickles down to chip industry
SIA and SEMI ask for financial/govt help to keep up
The beginning of another down cycle?

We have heard from a number of sources that TSMC has started to push out equipment orders as concerns grow about the second half of the year.

Right now is the most logical… Read More


Tortuga Logic CEO Update 2020

Tortuga Logic CEO Update 2020
by Daniel Nenni on 06-01-2020 at 6:00 am

Jason Oberg

We started working with Tortuga Logic two years ago beginning with a CEO interview so it is time to do an update. The venerable Dr. Bernard Murphy did the first interview with Jason which is worth reading again, absolutely.

Security is also one of the vertical markets we track which has been trending up for the last two years. In looking

Read More

Misunderstanding the Economic Factors of Cybercrime

Misunderstanding the Economic Factors of Cybercrime
by Matthew Rosenquist on 05-31-2020 at 6:00 am

Misunderstanding the Economic Factors of Cybercrime

A new study by Cambridge Cybercrime Centre titled Cybercrime is (often) boring: maintaining the infrastructure of cybercrime economies concludes that cybercrime is boring and recommends authorities change their strategy to highlight the tedium in order to dissuade the growth of cybercrime.

Warning: Full-blown rant ahead,Read More


Time for Chip Diplomacy

Time for Chip Diplomacy
by Terry Daly on 05-29-2020 at 10:00 am

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An industry caught in the crosshairs of geopolitics needs global emeritus leadership

The semiconductor industry is at the epicenter of great power politics. An ascendant China is on a quest for a unified global system with China as the leading power. The United States seeks to maintain its position as leader of the liberal democratic… Read More


Minimizing Power Consumption in Ultra Low Power MCU Based SoCs

Minimizing Power Consumption in Ultra Low Power MCU Based SoCs
by Tom Simon on 05-29-2020 at 6:00 am

ULP SoC Demand

When it comes to extremely power sensitive applications such as IoT and edge devices, there is literally an arsenal of power saving techniques that could be used. The tricky part is figuring out which ones to use and how to use them for maximum benefit. This is coupled with the need to not hamper device performance or functionality.… Read More