Using an assertion is a sure shot method to detect an error at its source, which may be buried deep within a design. It does not depend on a test bench or checker, and can fire automatically as soon as a violation occurs. However, writing assertions manually is very difficult and time consuming. To do so require deep design and coding… Read More
Altair SimLab: Tackling 3D IC Multiphysics Challenges for Scalable ECAD ModelingThe semiconductor industry is rapidly moving beyond traditional…Read More
AI Booming is Fueling Interface IP 23.5% YoY GrowthAI explosion is clearly driving semi-industry since 2020.…Read More
TSMC’s OIP: Everything You Need for 16FF+ SoCs
Doing a modern SoC design is all about assembling IP and adding a small amount of unique IC design for differentiation (plus, usually, lots of software). If you re designing in a mature process then there is not a lot of difficulty finding IP for almost anything. But if you are designing in a process that has not yet reached high-volume… Read More
ADAS Going Mainstream One Chip at a Time
Advanced Driving Assistance Systems (ADAS) are an essential element in the vision of autonomous or semi-autonomous vehicles, and they are becoming available today. The ADAS automotive technology raises driving safety by detecting obstacles around the vehicle such as other vehicles and pedestrians, as well as traffic signs… Read More
SEMI ISS: Samsung, the Keynote That Wasn’t
At the SEMI International Strategy Symposium last month, one of the keynotes was by Jim Elliot, the CVP of Memory Marketing for Samsung. Unfortunately, due to some personal emergency, he wasn’t able to make it. But he did allow the slides of the presentation he would have given to be put up on the SEMI website. So here, for the… Read More
UVM Debugging Made Easy & Productive in Questa
As design complexity and size is increasing, SoC verification has become one of the most difficult and time consuming tasks in the design closure.UVM (Universal Verification Methodology, an accellera initiative) is one of the best verification methodologies that support common language, coherent strategy, clarity and transparency… Read More
Using NoCs to Reduce Power
Earlier this week I moderated a webinar at Sonics entitled NoC 102: Using SonicsGN to Address Low Power Requirements. Drew Wingard, the CTO of Sonics, presented it. It goes without saying that power is a major concern in SoC design, not just with chips for battery powered devices but also tethered devices. A major cost of ownership… Read More
TSMC vs Samsung!
One of the trending topics in Taiwan last week is the escalating conflict between Samsung and TSMC. This time however it is of a legal nature which has been a long time coming for the semiconductor industry. Reverse engineering has been an integral part of the semiconductor business since the beginning, as has intellectual property… Read More
Sony Endorse FD-SOI to Attack Wearable & IoT
We are writing about FD-SOI technology since the beginning of 2013 in Semiwiki. So far, most of the design experience was related to ST-Microelectronics (even if IBM and GlobalFoundries have been actively working on the technology, probably more on a research mode than pure production). Sony being actively working to develop… Read More
Chips Are Going 3D, DRC Needs to Go 3D Too
The last paradigm shift in DRC was around 0.35um when designs got too large to handle as flat data, and hierarchical approaches were required. Back then the design rules themselves were not that complex, the explosion of data volume came from the complexity of the design itself. But each process node added more design rules intricacies… Read More
Open Forum for Semiconductor Professionals!
The semiconductor industry has never been more exciting than it is today, at least not in my 30 years of experience. Things are moving faster than ever before making collaboration at all levels a requirement. At SemiWiki we are afforded the privilege of passes to semiconductor conferences around the world. We also have access to… Read More
TSMC N3 Process Technology Wiki