Let’s face it, the semiconductor world has always revolved around Silicon Valley and it always will. After commuting to Silicon Valley from the East Bay (45 miles each way) for the past 30+ years I’m acutely aware of the traffic patterns and how they relate to the economy. With the advent of smartphones I can work or be entertained … Read More
WEBINARS: Boost Your Simulation and Modeling EfficiencyUnlock the full potential of your semiconductor designs…Read More
Asia Driving Electronics GrowthElectronics production in the major developed countries has…Read More
Automating Reset Domain Crossing (RDC) Verification with Advanced Data AnalyticsThe complexity of System-on-Chip (SoC) designs continues to…Read More
The Immensity of Software Development and the Challenges of Debugging Series (Part 2 of 4)Part 2 of this 4-part series reviews the…Read More
Smartphone Penetration in Bali & Gili Islands
Whether you travel for business purpose or to stay for holidays in one of the paradise island part of the “Lesser Sunda Islands” like Bali or the Gili Meno, you always learn about mobile phone penetration. If you stay in one of the luxury resorts, populated by rich western or Chinese people, you probably don’t learn more than when walking… Read More
SEMATECH, Silvaco and SRAM
SEMATECH has been around for over 20 years, starting in Austin. Today it is in upstate New York which increasingly seems to be the area for semiconductor research with IBM (still doing research although they sold their semiconductor business to GlobalFoundries), GlobalFoundries’ own Fab 8, the College of Nanoscale Science… Read More
For high-volume manufacturing at 10 nm and below: technology and friendship
The technology for 10 nm is settled, but what about 7 nm and 5 nm? Those nodes will happen with silicon-based CMOS and 193nm immersion lithography, but exactly how is still being worked out. Right now, though, the focus is on getting 10 nm chips into high-volume production. TSMC and Intel both claim to be on track for high-volume manufacturing… Read More
Who is Leading in the Wearables Market?
My first experience with a wearable device was back in 1978 at college, it was an LED-based watch that had you push a button to read the time of day, saving battery life. Sad to say, but that electronic watch didn’t make it through the January winter at the University of Minnesota, so was promptly returned for a refund. Fast forward… Read More
Business Models: EDA Is Software But It Used To Be Sold As Hardware
Business models are really important. Just ask any internet startup company that has lots of eyeballs and is trying to work out how to monetize them. It is a lot easier to get people to use something for free, much harder to get people to pay for something especially when they don’t value it much. Different companies that look… Read More
Four Industries that will be Transformed by GaN
In a previous post we discussed a few automotive applications that will be big markets for GaN technology. But this is just a small part of the GaN story!
GaN transistors such as eGaN FETs from EPC are today available with performance 10 times better than the best commercial silicon. What happens when several devices are integrated… Read More
The Case for Data Management Amid the Rise of IP in SoCs
In the late 1990s and early 2000s, during the adolescent days of the system-on-chip (SoC) design movement, there was a lot talk about IP and design reuse, but it was seldom put into practice. A decade later, SoC turned into a juggernaut with a tripartite alliance of chipmakers, IP suppliers and semiconductor manufacturing fabs.… Read More
Threat Detection: How To Keep the Crown Jewels Secure
Let’s just take it as a given that securing IP design data is critical. It’s rather like saying that it’s a good idea to have security in the Tower of London to stop the crown jewels being stolen. IP blocks are the crown jewels of an SoC company.
Data now must be secured within the collaborative teams that share that… Read More
SoC and Foundry Update 2H 2015!
Rarely do I fly first class but I did on my recent trip to Asia. It was one of the new planes with pod-like seats that transforms into a bed. The flight left SFO at 1 A.M. so I fell asleep almost immediately missing the first gourmet meal. About half way through the flight I found myself barely awake staring straight up and what do I see? STARS!… Read More
TSMC 16th OIP Ecosystem Forum First Thoughts