As an IC designer I absolutely loved embarking on a new design project, starting with a fresh, blank slate, not having to use any legacy blocks. In the early 1980’s we really hadn’t given much thought to re-using semiconductor IP because each new project typically came with a new process node, so there was no IP even ready… Read More





SURGE 2018 Silvaco Update!
The semiconductor industry has been very good to me over the past 35 years. I have had a front row seat to some of the most innovative and disruptive things like the fabless transformation and of course the Electronic Design Automation phenomenon, not to mention the end products that we as an industry have enabled. It is truly amazing… Read More
Electronics healthy but trade wars loom
Production of electronic equipment is healthy based on July and August data. China, the largest electronics producer, showed three-month-average change versus a year ago (3/12) of 13.8% in August. Growth for China has been in the 12% to 15% range since January 2017, picking up from the 8% to 11% range in 2016. South Korea’s electronics… Read More
Design Automation and the Engineering Workstation
This is the seventeenth in the series of “20 Questions with Wally Rhines”
Several common aspects have existed for what is now the modern Electronic Design Automation (EDA) industry. When I joined TI in 1972, the company was very proud of its design automation capability as a competitive differentiator. Much of the… Read More
Custom SoC Platform Solutions for AI Applications at the TSMC OIP
The TSMC OIP event is next week and again it is packed with a wide range of technical presentations from TSMC, top semiconductor, EDA, and IP companies, plus long time TSMC partner and ASIC provider Open-Silicon, a SiFive Company. You can see the full agenda HERE.
AI is revolutionizing and transforming virtually every industry… Read More
Mesh Networks, Redux
It isn’t hard to understand the advantage of mesh networking (in wireless networks). Unlike star/tree configurations in which end-points connect to a nearby hub (such as phones connecting to a conventional wireless access point), in a mesh nodes can connect to nearest neighbors, which can connect to their nearest neighbors… Read More
Crossfire Baseline Checks for Clean IP at TSMC OIP
IP must be properly qualified before attempting to use them in any IC design flow. One cannot wait to catch issues further down the chip design cycle. Waiting for issues to appear during design verification poses extremely high risks, including schedule slippage. For example, connection errors in transistor bulk terminals where… Read More
LightSuite – Physical Design Goes Photonics!
Light is a form of energy. It reveals an object’s color and shape through the refraction (passing through light) or the reflection (bouncing back light) of its beam. While photon is the smallest measure of light, the term photonicscan be defined as the science and technology of generating, controlling, and detecting photons. … Read More
Cloud FPGA Optimal Design Closure, Synthesis, and Timing Using Plunify’s AI Strategies
Plunify, powered by machine learning and the cloud, delivers cloud-based solutions and optimization software to enable a better quality of results, higher productivity and better efficiency for design. Plunify is a software company in the Electronic Design Market with a focus on FPGA. It was founded in 2009, has its HQ in Singapore… Read More
Retro-uC: on a road to low-cost, (ridiculously) low-volume ASICs ?
I’m a long time reader of SemiWiki; almost from the start. I’ve sometimes been a passionate commenter but as some of you may have noticed my activity lately on the forum was lower. One of the reasons is a project I am working on and I feel honoured I was invited to present the background here on SemiWiki.
I am currently working… Read More
Semiconductor Equipment Spending Healthy