Design sizes and complexities have grown exponentially (it’s a Law!), and consequentially the task of silicon test has become proportionally more expensive. The cost of testing a device is proportional to the amount of test data that is applied, and therefore the time it takes, which in turn is proportional to both design size … Read More


SSD Storage Chips: Basic Interconnect Considerations
The joint development of 3D XPoint memory technology from Intel and Micron has once more brought the spotlight on data centers and chips for solid-state drives (SSDs). The two semiconductor industry giants claim that 3D XPoint memory is1,000 times faster than NAND Flash: the underlying memory content for SSDs. Such developments… Read More
I want to use USB Type C (and I want it now)
USB is certainly the most ubiquitous of the Interface protocols, used in our day to day life to connect multiple systems, as well as in professional segments like industrial or even high performance servers (yes, these systems integrates USB 3 connections). But USB is also one of the protocols able to generate frustration every… Read More
Silvaco 30 Years Ago
It’s Silvaco’s 30 year anniversary. You may already know the dry official story of the early days:
- Founded in 1984 by Dr Ivan Pesic
- In 1984 the initial product, Utmost, quickly became the industry standard for parameter extraction, device characterization and modeling.
- In 1985 Silvaco entered the SPICE circuit
ARM and the Law of Accelerating Returns!
ARM is one of the companies I have had professional experience with during my storied semiconductor career so I know some of their history first hand. I worked for a physical IP company that was purchased by ARM and at Virage Logic we competed against ARM head-to-head. ARM is also featured in our book “Fabless: The Transformation … Read More
A Key Aspect Missing for IoT to become NBT
The IoT (Internet of Things) is not one product, technology, segment, or market. It’s a combination of many things, many markets, and many technologies. However, it’s one thing that needs to connect everything together; edge device to gateway to cloud. That brings the complexity, how’s that possible amid large heaps of heterogeneous… Read More
Boost the Market for Interposer and 3D ICs with Assembly Design Kits
The traditional system-on-chip (SoC) design process has fully qualified verification methods embodied in the form of process design kits (PDKs). Why is it that chip design companies and assembly houses have no IC/package co-design sign-off verification process?
Package die are often produced using multiple processes and… Read More
Cadence 2015 Q2 Results
Let’s start by getting the financial stuff out of the way. Revenue was $416 million; non-GAAP operating margin was 28%; non-GAAP EPS was $0.27; and operating cash flow was $122 million (up at lot, it was just $47M in Q1 and $69M in Q2 of 2014).
The thing that the financial types are most interested in are the changes to Cadence’s… Read More
The Evolution of Smart Glass Design
The wearer says, “O.K., Glass” and glass leaps into action, performing most of the smartphone functions like check e-mails, take photos and videos, provide turn-by-turn navigation, and make and receive phone calls. Welcome to Smartphone 2.0.
Technology pundits called Google Glass the best thing that happened… Read More
The Antiportfolio
Last week Charlie Cheng of Kilopass wrote about venture capital for semiconductor. This reminded me of something amusing that I came across years ago.
See also VC For Semiconductor: Dead or Alive?
All VCs have a portfolio page and often a second exit page. The first shows the companies in which they currently hold investments and… Read More
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