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Playing the Long Game with 56G SerDes

Playing the Long Game with 56G SerDes
by Daniel Nenni on 11-02-2018 at 12:00 pm

IP has always been a hot topic on SemiWiki with quite a bit of our readers doing the “make versus buy” analysis. SerDes is one of the more difficult “makes” so it is mostly a “buy” analysis made by networking class ASIC architects and a handful of other applications that demand high performance and throughput. Based on the recent traffic… Read More


Basic Techniques for Managing EDA Business

Basic Techniques for Managing EDA Business
by Daniel Nenni on 11-02-2018 at 7:00 am

The “20 Questions with Wally Rhines” series finale

During the period from 1997, I had the privilege to work with Greg Hinckley, a superb “out of the box” thinker and excellent operational manager. We had such a common view of the world that we almost always agreed upon the best approach to problems and opportunities … Read More


Designing Integrated ADAS Domain Controller SoCs with ISO 26262 Certified IP

Designing Integrated ADAS Domain Controller SoCs with ISO 26262 Certified IP
by Camille Kokozaki on 11-01-2018 at 12:00 pm

As new automotive Advanced Driver Assistance System (ADAS) based product releases intensifies while a more stringent set of safety requirements are mandated, it is not surprising that subsystem and electronic suppliers are looking for pre-designed and ISO 26262 certified IP that can address both imperatives of schedule and… Read More


Wi-Fi Standards Simplified

Wi-Fi Standards Simplified
by Bernard Murphy on 11-01-2018 at 7:00 am

In the world of communications, the industry fairly quickly got a handle on a naming convention for cellular technology generations that us non-communication geeks could understand – 2G, 3G, 4G and now 5G, (though some of us could never quite understand the difference between 4G and LTE, at least as those terms are widely and no … Read More


Architecture for Machine Learning Applications at the Edge

Architecture for Machine Learning Applications at the Edge
by Tom Dillinger on 10-31-2018 at 2:01 pm

Machine learning applications in data centers (or “the cloud”) have pervasively changed our environment. Advances in speech recognition and natural language understanding have enabled personal assistants to augment our daily lifestyle. Image classification and object recognition techniques enrich our social media experience,… Read More


Mentor’s Busy ITC and Major Test Product Updates

Mentor’s Busy ITC and Major Test Product Updates
by Tom Simon on 10-31-2018 at 1:00 pm

In conjunction with the 2018 International Test Conference, Mentor has several interesting test announcements. They also have a busy round of technical activities, including a number of technical papers, presentations, tutorials and a poster from a major customer about using Mentor. I’d like to touch on the two product related… Read More


Parasitic Extraction for Advanced Node and 3D-IC Designs

Parasitic Extraction for Advanced Node and 3D-IC Designs
by Alex Tan on 10-31-2018 at 7:00 am

Technology scaling has made positive impacts on device performance, while creating challenges on the interconnects and the fidelity of its manufactured shapes. The process dimension scaling has significantly increased metal and via resistance for advanced nodes 7nm and onward, as shown in figures 1a,1b. Similar to a fancy… Read More


Solving and Simulating in the New Virtuoso RF Solution

Solving and Simulating in the New Virtuoso RF Solution
by Tom Simon on 10-30-2018 at 12:00 pm

Cadence has done a good job of keeping up with the needs of analog RF designs. Of course, the term RF used to be reserved for a thin slice of designs that were used specifically in RF applications. Now, it covers things like SerDes for networking chips that have to operate in the gigahertz range. Add that to the trend of combining RF and… Read More


A Smart Way for Chips to Deal with PVT Issues

A Smart Way for Chips to Deal with PVT Issues
by Tom Simon on 10-30-2018 at 7:00 am

We have all become so used to ‘smart’ things that perhaps in a way we have forgotten what it was like before many of the things we use day to day had sensors and microprocessors to help them respond to their environment. Cars are an excellent example. It used to be commonplace to run down your battery by leaving your lights on. Now cars … Read More


The Latest from Samsung Semiconductor

The Latest from Samsung Semiconductor
by Tom Dillinger on 10-29-2018 at 12:00 pm

Earlier this Spring, Samsung Foundry held a technology forum, describing their process roadmap and supporting ecosystem developments (link). Recently, the larger Samsung Semiconductor organization conducted a Tech Day at their campus in San Jose, presenting (and demo-ing) a broader set of products. The focus of the day was… Read More