At the SPIE Advanced Lithography conference I sat down with Mike Lercel, Director of Strategic Marketing for ASML for an update. ASML also presented several papers at the conference and I attended many of these. In this article, I will discuss my interview with Mike and summarize the ASML presentations.… Read More





Making Cars Smarter And Safer
The news media has naturally focused on the handful of deaths that have occurred while auto-pilot features have been enabled. In reality, automobile deaths are occurring at a lower rate now than ever. In 2014 the rate was 1.08 deaths per 100 million miles driven. Compare that to the 5.06 per 100M miles in 1960, or a whopping 24.09 in… Read More
An Ultra-Low Voltage CPU
A continuing challenge for large scale deployment of IoT devices is the need to minimize service/cost by extending battery life to decades. At these lifetimes, devices become effectively disposable (OK – a new recycling challenge) and maintenance may amount to no more than replacing a dead unit with a new unit. Getting to these… Read More
The Importance of EM, IR and Thermal Analysis for IC Design – Webinar
Designing an IC has both a logical and physical aspect to it, so while the logic in your next chip may be bug-free and meet the spec, how do you know if the physical layout will be reliable in terms of EM (electro-migration), IR (voltage drops) and thermal issues? EDA software once again comes to our rescue to perform the specific type… Read More
A New Product for DRC and LVS that Lives in the Cloud
Back in the day the Dracula tool from Cadence was king of the DRC and LVS world for physical IC verification, however more recently we’ve seen Calibre from Mentor Graphics as the leader in this realm. Cadence wanted to reclaim their earlier prominence in physical verification so they had to come out with something different… Read More
Live from the TSMC Earnings Call!
Last week I was invited to attend the TSMC earnings call at the Shangri-la Hotel in Taipei which was QUITE the experience. I generally listen in on the calls and/or read the transcripts but this was the first one I attended live. I didn’t really know what to expect but I certainly did NOT expect something out of Hollywood. Seriously,… Read More
How to Implement a Secure IoT system on ARMv8-M
This weekend my old garage door opener started to fail, so it was time to shop for a new one at The Home Depot, and much to my surprise I found that Chamberlain offered a Smartphone-controlled WiFi system. Just think of that, controlling my garage door with a Smartphone, but then again the question arose, “What happens when a … Read More
IP Traffic Control
From an engineering point of view, IP is all about functionality, PPA, fitness for use and track record. From a business/management point of view there are other factors, just as critical, that relate less to what the IP is and more to its correct management and business obligations. The problems have different flavors depending… Read More
IP Vendors: Call for Contribution to the Design IP Report!
The EDA & IP industry enjoys high growth for the Design IP segment, but a detailed analysis tool is missing. IPnest will address this need in 2017, expecting the IP vendors’ contribution! If we consider the results posted last March by the ESD Alliance, the EDA (and IP) industry is doing extremely well, as the global revenue has… Read More
SPIE 2017 ASML and Cadence EUV impact on place and route
As feature sizes have shrunk, the semiconductor industry has moved from simple, single-exposure lithography solutions to increasingly complex resolution-enhancement techniques and multi-patterning. Where the design on a mask once matched the image that would be produced on the wafer, today the mask and resulting image … Read More
Rapidus, IBM, and the Billion-Dollar Silicon Sovereignty Bet