In the early days of integrated components, we used to think kHz (~10[SUP]3[/SUP]Hz) processing was pretty wild. Those systems were quickly eclipsed by MHz (~10[SUP]6[/SUP]Hz) performers and now we’re blasé about GHz (~10[SUP]9[/SUP]Hz) speeds. Recently (2014), DARPA announced a THz (~10[SUP]12[/SUP]Hz) amplifier, built… Read More
Driving the Future through the “Talent Empowering Program”: Why TSMC Charity Foundation’s Youth Career Initiative MattersThe future of work will not be shaped…Read More
Foundation IP for Intel 18A: Technical Overview and Why It MattersSynopsys Foundation IP for Intel 18A is a…Read More
WEBINAR: Defacto is Boosting Front-end SoC Design With AI-Powered EDA toolsThe real promise of AI in EDA is…Read More
Webinar: Caspia Shows You How to Fix Security Flaws Before It’s Too LateChip-level vulnerability is becoming an existential threat for…Read More
Why Real-Time Intelligence is the Next Differentiator in Semiconductor TestEven with advances in AI, automation, and advanced…Read More
TSMC Fab 12 is a Pokemon Go Stop!
It only seems fitting that Fab 12 is a PokeStop since TSMC stands to make a lot of money from the augmented reality gaming craze that is sweeping the world. Unfortunately, most of the press I have read about Pokemon Go has been negative but that is the new “negative media” world we live in. As a player myself (level 25) and a semiconductor… Read More
Time for U.S. Fatality Reduction Targets
Almost exactly a year ago I wrote a blog implicating the insurance industry in the high level of highway fatalities in the U.S. As part of that blog (“The Insurance Industry Has Blood on Its Hands”) I suggested that the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration ought to look into developing a fatality-reduction… Read More
Is Your Next Reality Going to be Augmented?
John Lennon reportedly once said “Reality leaves a lot to the imagination…” and now we have the technology to do something about making our reality a lot more imaginative. Unless you have been living under a rock (and there is nothing wrong with that – I just haven’t found the right rock myself) there is a LOT going on these days in the… Read More
AMD Zen and the Art of Microprocessor Maintenance
AMD is a fantastic company with highly talented people, but for some reason just hasn’t managed to put a winning streak of microprocessor architectures back-to-back. It’s frustrating to watch: they ride like mad to catch up to or even pull slightly ahead of Intel, then fall back in the pack when they have to make an extended pit stop,… Read More
The Role of IP Selection and Integration in First-Time Silicon Success
As IP expert Eric Esteve has written, Semiconductor IP has consistently outgrown the other design enablement segments and will continue to do so. This has been my personal experience as well during my EDA and IP career so we should all know how important Semiconductor IP is. We certainly know how valuable it is with ARM valued at $32B!… Read More
Three Steps for Custom IC Design Migration and Optimization
Popular companies designing smart phones, CPUs, GPUs and Memory components all employ teams of custom IC designers to create the highest performance chips that are as small as possible, and at the lowest costs. How do they go about doing custom IC design migration and optimization when moving from one process node to another one?… Read More
A new world of 10nm design constraints
Every time the industry transitions to a smaller process node IC design software undergoes extensive updates.
I talked to a couple of experts in physical design at Mentor Graphics about what is involved in making place-and-route software ready for a new node. This is what I learned from Sudhakar Jilla, the IC design marketing director… Read More
Millennial Tyranny in the Connected Car
Nielsen’s latest AutoTECHCAST study once again introduces confusion to the connected car debate, but it’s understandable and relates to a demographic gradient around technology. Young people are aware of an interested in so-called “brought-in” technologies, while the majority of (older) people… Read More
I3C Will Support MIPI Pervasion Beyond Mobile: IoT, Wearable, Automotive
MIPI I3C specification Draft Specification is now available to all MIPI Alliance members in First Draft Review, but we can be confident that I3C has been already implemented by some of the members. Before I3C specification, the de facto communication standard for sensors in mobile and consumer applications was I²C, requiring… Read More
The Packaging PDK Is the Missing Layer for Co-Packaged Optics