In 1990 Xilinx notified us that they believed Actel was infringing a patent that had just been issued to them. My immediate thoughts – the patent system is all screwed up! Actel had been developing our product for five years. We had been shipping it for a year and a half. During all that time, we were totally unaware that there was … Read More
FPGA Prototyping in Practice: Addressing Peripheral Connectivity ChallengesModern chip design verification often encounters challenges when…Read More
An Insight into Building Quantum ComputersGiven my physics background I’m ashamed to admit…Read More
I Have Seen the Future with ChipAgents Autonomous Root Cause AnalysisI have seen a lot of EDA tool…Read More
Arm FCSA and the Journey to Standardizing Open Chiplet-Based DesignI have written before about an inter-chiplet communication…Read MoreCriminals Luring in Bitcoin Sellers to Launder Money
Cybercriminals are luring in bitcoin holders with the promise of easy money if they become a mule to convert stolen assets into clean currency. The reality is these volunteers will just join the ranks of other victims. But that is not stopping people from joining up to replace other mules who have paid the price.
Criminals are selling… Read More
Forget about 5G
There is a vast amount of hubbub in the automotive industry regarding the onset of 5G technology. Industry excitement is manifest in the 5G Automotive Association (5GAA) which is facilitating collaboration (among 120+ member) between the automotive industry and the wireless industry, possibly for the first time ever.
For … Read More
Chapter Eleven – International Semiconductor Competition
Semiconductor industry evolution was largely a U.S. phenomenon. While there were important contributions made by persons all over the world, the basic technology grew from the invention of the transistor at Bell Labs which was licensed broadly in the U.S. That created a level playing field for all who wanted to become producers. … Read More
Is Samsung having problems with 7NM? Do long lines at TSMC prove that?
Reports of increasing TSMC 7NM lead times
There have been a number of increasing media reports about lengthening leads times for TSMC 7NM process. From what we have been able to determine its not due to TSMC having a yield bust or other production issues, it is simply one of stronger than expected demand.
There have been reports of … Read More
Speeding Up Physical Failure Analysis (PFA)
The cost of an IC depends on many factors like: NRE, masks, fabrication, testing, packaging. Product engineers are tasked with testing each part and understanding what exactly is limiting the yields. Every company has a methodology for Physical Failure Analysis (PFA), and the challenge is to make this process as quick as possible,… Read More
WEBINAR: AI-Powered Automated Timing Arc Prediction for AMS IP’s
A directed approach to reduce Risk and improve Quality
Safety and reliability are critical for most applications of integrated circuits (ICs) today. Even more so when they serve markets like ADAS, autonomous driving, healthcare and aeronautics where they are paramount. Safety and reliability transcend all levels of an integrated… Read More
The Korea/Japan trade war benefits US more than US/China hurts US
Glasses and Open Architecture for Computer Vision
You know that AI can now look at an image and detect significant objects like a pedestrian or a nearby car. But had you thought about a need for corrective lenses or other vision aids? Does AI vision decay over time, like ours, so that it needs increasing help to read prescription labels and identify road signs at a distance?
In fact no.… Read More
Learn About Implementing SmartNICs, an Achronix White Paper
We have all seen the announcements to provide ever-increasing network capabilities within the data centers. Enabling these advances are improvements in connectivity including SerDes, PAM4, optical solutions, and many others. It seems 40G is old news now, and the current push is for 400G – things are changing very quickly.… Read More



An Insight into Building Quantum Computers