Standard cell and memory IP are key enablers for new process node availability. These two items must be in place early and be completely ready for a process node to scale to volume. Development of both leaves no room for error and they require the highest performance possible. Foundries are extremely focused on this and spend a lot… Read More




Apple Car Crumble
Software, mechanical and electrical engineers working for auto makers received a huge self-esteem injection this week as events unfolding at Apple suggested that the company had abandoned long-rumored plans for building a car. Considering the fact that Apple still hasn’t delivered a decent navigation app with traffic services,… Read More
The Fabless Empire Strikes Back, Global Foundries and Cadence make moves into Integrated Photonics!
In August I wrote an article proclaiming Score 1 for IDMs vs Fabless and discussedIntel’sannouncement of volume production of their 100G PSM4 and 100G CWDM4 transceiver products.
This week the Fabless Empire strikes back.Daniel Nenni and I attended a two-day Photonic Summit and workshop hosted by Cadence Design, PhoeniX Software… Read More
Why Integrate Bluetooth LE IP in a Single Wearable SoC?
Did you know that, in over 800 teardowns of mobile and wearable products from 2012 to 2015, wireless chips outnumbered the actual number of products, indicating multiple wireless ICs in some designs ([SUP]1[/SUP])? It could be interesting to look at the advantages of integrating wireless technology such as Bluetooth low energy… Read More
Disarming Trolls
An unintended consequence of the ubiquity of the Internet, particularly in social media, is the rise of the troll. Trolls post comments of unbelievable vitriol in some cases, comments that if issued in person and in public might lead to arrest and psych evaluations. Then vitriol turns into viral vitriol and the helpless target … Read More
S2C adds support for Juno ARM dev platform
We’ve had several blogs introducing the Juno ARM Development Platform as a vehicle for ARMv8-A software development. S2C has jumped in with a module connecting their FPGA-based prototyping platform to the Juno, enabling more advanced IP… Read More
Should Cybercrime Victims be Allowed to Hack-Back?
Being hacked is a frustrating experience for individuals and businesses, but allowing victims to hack-back against their attackers is definitely a dangerous and ill-advised path.
Compounding the issues is the apparent inability of law enforcement and governments to do anything about it. Cybercrime is expected to reach a dizzying… Read More
ARM and SoftBank: A Joint Vision of the Future!
Next week is ARM TechCon and I’m extra excited about this one because of the SoftBank acquisition. In fact, the opening keynote says it all. ARM CEO Simon Segar and SoftBank CEO Masayoshi Son will discuss the next chapter in the book of ARM. To better prepare for this keynote you should probably read our book “Mobile Unleashed: The … Read More
Achieving Lower Power through RTL Design Restructuring (webinar)
From a consumer viewpoint I want the longest battery life from my electronic devices: iPad tablet, Galaxy Note 4 smart phone, Garmin Edge 820 bike computer, and Amazon Kindle book reader. In September I blogged about RTL Design Restructuring and how it could help achieve lower power, and this month I’m looking forward to … Read More
Soitec – Enabling the FDSOI Revolution
Recently I published two blogs on Fully Depleted Silicon On Insulator (FDSOI) and the potential the technology shows for a variety of low power and wireless applications. In order to produce FDSOI devices, the device layer has to be thin enough to ensure the device is fully depleted and ideally the buried oxide has to be thin enough… Read More
TSMC Describes Technology Innovation Beyond A14