Most of us understand the basic concept of a virtual channel: mapping multiple channels of traffic, possibly of mixed priority, to a single physical link. Where priority varies, quality of service (QoS) settings can help ensure higher priority traffic flows unimpeded. SoC designers can capture the benefits of virtual channels… Read More



Something Old, Something New…EDA and Verification
When I got the opportunity to blog about verification, I thought, what new and interesting things should I talk about? Having started my EDA career in 1983, I often feel like one of the “oldies” in this business…remember when a hard drive required a static strap, held a whopping 33 MB, and was the size of a brick? Perhaps they should … Read More
Leveraging Synopsys’ Lynx Design System for SoC Designs on Advanced Nodes
There was a time when design goals were decided in the beginning, targeted on a particular technology node, design planning done for the same, and implementation done through point tools connected indesign flows customized according to the design. It’s no longer the case for modern SoC designs; there are multiple technology … Read More
TSMC Award Recognizes Andes’ IoT Credentials
The system-on-chip (SoC) movement is intrinsically linked to external IP products, and here, it’s not just fabless chipmakers who work closely with IP suppliers. Large foundries like TSMC also maintain close relationships with IP vendors to optimize their process nodes and libraries for processor cores and other design… Read More
What’s Testing Design Limits at ITC?
The 46[SUP]th[/SUP] IEEE International Test Conference (ITC) will be held the week of October 5, 2015 at the Disneyland Hotel Conference Center in Anaheim, California. ITC is where you will discover the latest ideas and learn about practical applications of test technologies.
As you take in panels, tutorials, presentations,… Read More
Getting EDA Across the Chasm: 15 Rules Before and 5 After
Crossing the Chasm by Geoffrey Moore (not that G. Moore!) is one of the most well known books on high technology marketing. When I worked at VaST, Mohr Davidow Ventures (MDV) invested in us and Moore (not Mohr), who was a partner there, spent an afternoon with us brainstorming what it would take for us to cross the chasm. Coincidentally,… Read More
Top 10 Reasons to invest in Interactive Design Rule Checking tools
One of the most energetic presentations at the recent TSMC OIP 2015 symposium was given by Tom Williams from Qualcomm, who shared his insights (and enthusiasm!) for Mentor’s Calibre RealTime interactive Design Rule Checking (iDRC) product.
Paraphrasing Tom’s presentation (and with a tip of the hat to David Letterman), here … Read More
EDA By the Numbers, Phil Kaufman, Emerging Companies and More
The quarterly numbers are out from the EDAC Market Statistics Service (MSS) for Q2. The headline number is that revenue for the industry increased by 8.5% for Q2 to $1906.5M versus $1759.9M in Q2 last year. The four quarter moving average, that smooths out a lot of seasonality by comparing the most recent four quarters to the prior… Read More
Xilinx Beats Altera to the First FinFET FPGA!
Why do I stalk the FPGA industry? Well, FPGAs are an important part of the fabless semiconductor ecosystem for two reasons: 1.) They enable very cost effective design starts which are the life’s blood of the semiconductor industry and 2.) FPGA prototyping allows designers to verify their designs before committing to silicon and… Read More
Automotive MCU code fault-busting with vHIL
With electronic and software content in vehicles skyrocketing, and the expectations for flawless operation getting larger, the need for system-level verification continues to grow. Last month, we looked at a Synopsys methodology for virtual hardware in the loop, or vHIL… Read More
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