EDA vendors have long used proprietary file and database formats to keep their users locked into their specific tool flow and keep any competitors from sharing in the IC design process. Along the way the actual users of EDA tools have often requested and helped to create interoperable flows so that they could mix and match multiple… Read More




Dr. Walden Rhines on the Past Present and Future!
Who can present seventy six slides in sixty minutes, still have time for questions, AND make it interesting? Dr. Walden Rhines that’s who. Here is a link to the presentation but I have to warn you, it is a 100MB PDF file:
Design Verification Challenges: Past, Present, and Future
The DVCon conference was well attended again this year… Read More
My Last Day at Fairchild
Well today is the day. I am officially retired from Fairchild after 36 years and 9 months on the job. I have worked for Fairchild Camera and Instrument, Fairchild a Schlumberger Company, National Semiconductor and Fairchild Semiconductor. It’s been everything I was hoping for and more. By the way, I walked out the front door… Read More
3 IoT demos highlight Atmel SAMA5
At the high end of the Atmel product spectrum resides SAMA5 based on an ARM Cortex-A5 core. With an MMU supporting Linux or Android, plus on-the-fly memory encryption and ARM TrustZone in some variants, the SAMA5 family is drawing interest from IoT app developers. We’ll look at three examples, all illustrating how important seamless… Read More
Start Your HBM 2.5D Design Today!
Next week there is a live seminar at the famed Computer Museum in Silicon Valley that you won’t want to miss. If you haven’t been to the Computer Museum here is what you are missing:… Read More
A Brief History of Defacto Technologies
In early 2000s, semiconductor design at RTL level was gaining momentum. The idea was to process more design steps such as insertion of test and other design structures upfront at the RTL level. The design optimization and verification were to be done at the RTL level to reduce long iterations through gate level design because changes… Read More
The Next Big Thing for Tech in 2020
Gartner estimates that by 2020, there will be some 30 billion connected devices. IDC is even more bullish and expects there to be about 200 billion connected devices by 2021.
Around the world, city, state and federal governments, as well as other public-sector organizations, are leading the way in bringing the Internet of Everything… Read More
Waze Stealing the Keys to Your City!
Waze’s Connected Citizens program continues to get a lot of positive attention for its partnerships with cities and states around the world. The program provides free access to Waze traffic and crowd-sourced data in exchange for information about road closures and traffic incidents.… Read More
Google’s New Nexus 5X Features One Major Overlooked Wireless Upgrade
In the world of smartphones there is a never ending list of specifications that are constantly considered by consumers when buying them. No line of phones is more scrutinized for its specs than the Google Nexus line of smartphones. This is primarily because the people looking to buy Nexus phones are already Android enthusiasts … Read More
OCF shows there may be hope for IoT consortia yet
The recent launch of the Open Connectivity Foundation (OCF) was met first with a wave of “oh good, another IoT consortium”, then “phew, it’s just a rebrand of the OIC”, followed by a bit of confusion over why a few AllSeen Alliance players and some other names jumped in. Is it just a marketing ploy, or is there more to this?… Read More
Musk’s new job as Samsung Fab Manager – Can he disrupt chip making? Intel outside