When it comes to functional verification of large designs, huge progress is being made in emulation and FPGA-based prototyping (about which I’ll have more to say in follow-on blogs), but simulation still dominates verification activity, all the way from IP verification to gate-level signoff. For many, while it is much slower… Read More




Prototyping: Sooner, Easier, Congruent
DVCon 2017 is a big week for Cadence verification announcements. They just released their Xcelium simulation acceleration product (on which I have another blog) and they have also released their latest and greatest prototyping solution in the Protium S1. This is new hardware based on Virtex UltraScale FPGAs on Cadence-designed… Read More
EUV is NOT Ready for 7nm!
The annual SPIE Advanced Lithography Conference kicked off last night with vendor sponsored networking events and such. SPIE is the international society for optics and photonics but this year SPIE Advanced Lithography is all about the highly anticipated EUV technology. Scotten Jones and I are at SPIE so expect more detailed… Read More
CTO Interview: Jeff Galloway of Silicon Creations
It is clear that IP companies play an important role in modern semiconductor design, in fact, I would say that they are imperative. Founded in 2006, Silicon Creations is one of those imperative IP companies that provide silicon proven IP to customers big and small around the world. To follow-up on our conversation with Silicon Creations… Read More
Webinar: FPGA Prototyping and ASIC Design
When you think about working with an ASIC service provider like Open-Silicon, you probably think about handling all the architecture, design and verification/validation in your shop, handing over a netlist and some other collateral, then the ASIC services provider takes responsibility for implementation and manufacturing.… Read More
Strong pickup in semiconductors in 2017
World Semiconductor Trade Statistics (WSTS) is an organization of semiconductor companies created to collect market data. The members of WSTS also meet twice per year to develop forecasts for the semiconductor market. The “forecast by committee” approach of WSTS usually results in conservative forecasts. However, WSTS called… Read More
OEMs Lead the Way on Self Driving Tech
It’s never a good sign when car makers are called before Congress. It’s almost as bad as being asked to visit the President. But last week the meeting didn’t involve allegations or investigations. It was just an occasion for a friendly chat regarding “Self-Driving Cars: Road to Deployment.”
IEEE… Read More
Another Live Event at Samsung!
Last week Samsung hosted the GSA Silicon Valley “State of the Industry” Meet-up which was well attended by the semiconductor elite, myself included. The agenda started with an update on the semiconductor industry outlook followed by deep dives into Automotive, IoT, Artificial Intelligence, and Cybersecurity all of which are… Read More
PowerTree — a data repository and simulation platform for PCB power distribution networks
The difficulty of managing the power domains on a complex SoC led to the development of a power format file description, to serve as the repository for data needed for functional and electrical analysis (e.g., CPF, UPF). Yet, what about complex printed circuit boards? How can the power domain information be effectively represented… Read More
Searching for Extraterrestrials
Since the beginning of time, people on Earth have peered into the night sky, pondering if they were alone in the universe. Today, we have a large group of scientists that are working to answer that question. The precision required for their search often depends on the performance of a key piece of technology – the analog-to-digital… Read More
TSMC Describes Technology Innovation Beyond A14