Even digital designers need to be aware of how noise impacts their circuits because most clocked designs today use a Phase Locked Loop (PLL) block which contains a circuit called a Voltage Controlled Oscillator (VCO) that is quite sensitive in operation to the effects of noise and process variation. As process node scaling continues… Read More




Good AI
A hot debate recently, promoted notably by Elon Musk and Stephen Hawking, has explored whether we should fear AI. A key question centers around the ethics of AI – how we can instill ethical values in intelligent systems we will build and how, I hope, we can ensure we use those systems ethically. This is not an academic question – autonomous… Read More
Getting out of DIY Mode for Virtual Prototypes
Virtual prototyping has, inexplicably, been largely a DIY thing so far. Tools and models have come from different sources with different approaches, and it has been up to the software development team to do the integration step and cobble together a toolchain and methodology that fits with their development effort.
That integration… Read More
The Status and Future of FDSOI
I recently took a look at the current status and future direction of FinFET based logic processes in my Leading Edge Logic Landscape blog. I thought it would be interesting to take a similar look at FDSOI and to compare and contrast the two processes. My Leading Edge Logic Landscape blog is available here.… Read More
Top 5 Highlights from the 2016 TSMC Open Innovation Platform Forum
Recently, TSMC conducted their annual Open Innovation Platform forum meeting in San Jose. Although TSMC typically eschews a theme for the forum, David Keller, EVT TSMC North America, used a phrase in his opening remarks that served as a foundation for the rest of the meeting – “celebrate the way we collaborate”.
The forum begins… Read More
Windows 10 Anniversary Update May Finally Bring New Consumer Hardware Sales
Ever since Microsoft launched Windows 10, they have primarily been focused on getting people to upgrade their existing machines from Windows 7 or 8 to Windows 10, in addition to promoting their Surface line. The upgrade program allowed users of both operating systems to upgrade their systems to Windows 10 for free for a year. That… Read More
The renegade whose dream started the latest space race
Elon Musk’s company SpaceX and Jeff Bezos’s Blue Origin have grabbed the headlines in the space race, both of them building rockets and spacecraft. But there is fascinating backstory on how this race and the private space industry came into existence. It is the tale of a renegade entrepreneur, Peter Diamandis, who founded the XPRIZE… Read More
Network vs. Platform
So, how do we define these terms? What is the core difference? Why does it matter – what is the implication on business models? And finally, which firms today embody these models?
First, the basics. Digital business models are inherently exponential in terms of value generation. Data drives powerful flywheel effect, and these … Read More
Mentor Webinar on Power Exploration for Optimizing Power
There are a lot of clever techniques to automatically find and even implement methods for register gating and memory gating, but the bulk of power-saving still depends on designer and architect insight based on expected range of use of a device, complemented by practical use-case simulations. Of course this team needs to be able… Read More
The Virus of Car Ownership
What if we all looked at driving as less of a right and more of an addiction, a disability, or a disease to be avoided, cured or overcome? What if driving were seen as a menace to society draining lives, money and time from the economy? What would our public policy priorities become in this new context?
Sweden isn’t waiting to find… Read More
Should the US Government Invest in Intel?