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Cost Modeling as a Decision Making Tool

Cost Modeling as a Decision Making Tool
by Scotten Jones on 07-19-2015 at 10:00 am

The use of simulation is well established in the semiconductor industry. Virtually all circuit designs are run through a Spice simulation, layouts are analyzed for timing issues and even process development employs process simulation tools. What I believe is less widely used but just as useful is cost modeling.

The semiconductor… Read More


GPS Chronicle: The Early History

GPS Chronicle: The Early History
by Majeed Ahmad on 07-19-2015 at 4:00 am

There is really nothing new about GPS: the technology was reinvented from the old. After satellite communications was established, scientists and engineers started to look for different ways of utilizing this fascinating space marvel. Radio navigation systems had been developed during the World War II for aircraft operations,… Read More


TSMC (Apple) Update Q2 2015!

TSMC (Apple) Update Q2 2015!
by Daniel Nenni on 07-18-2015 at 8:00 pm

The TSMC quarterly conference call was last week and of course it stirred up quite a bit of controversy. Let me share with you my experience, observations, and opinions and maybe together we can come up with an accurate prediction for 2016. First let’s take a look at 20nm and what people now call the “Apple effect.”

Correct… Read More


Why Drones Love Atmel SAM E70

Why Drones Love Atmel SAM E70
by Eric Esteve on 07-18-2015 at 7:00 am

Avionics is by nature a mature market, requiring the use of validated system solution: safety is an absolute requirement, innovative systems require stringent qualification phase. That’s why the very fast adoption of drones as alternative solution for human piloted planes is impressive. It took 10 years or so for drones to be… Read More


How ARM Implemented a Mali GPU using Logic Synthesis and Place/Route Tools

How ARM Implemented a Mali GPU using Logic Synthesis and Place/Route Tools
by Daniel Payne on 07-17-2015 at 12:00 pm

ARM is a well-known semiconductor IP provider and they often create a reference design so that SoC companies can have a starting point to work with. On the GPU side of IP the ARM engineers have an architecture called Mali, and a recent webinar hosted by Synopsys reviewed how the physical design area was minimized by using a combination… Read More


GlobalFoundries 22nm FD-SOI: What Happens When

GlobalFoundries 22nm FD-SOI: What Happens When
by Paul McLellan on 07-17-2015 at 7:00 am

Earlier in the week I wrote about GlobalFoundries announcement of 22nm FD-SOI. At SEMICON West there were three events that filled in some more details. First, on Tuesday, a lunch presentation given by SOITEC who make the wafer blanks that FD-SOI requires. Then on Wednesday I sat down for an hour with Gary Patton and Subi Kengeri … Read More


How PowerArtist Interfaces with Emulators

How PowerArtist Interfaces with Emulators
by Pawan Fangaria on 07-16-2015 at 5:00 pm

Last month in DAC I could see some of the top innovations in the EDA world. EDA is a key enabler for advances in semiconductor designs. Among a number of innovations worth mentioning (about which I blogged just after DAC), the integration of Mentor’s Veloce with ANSYS’ PowerArtist for power analysis of live applications caught my… Read More


Leveraging Power Reduction Techniques for MCU Based SoCs

Leveraging Power Reduction Techniques for MCU Based SoCs
by Daniel Nenni on 07-16-2015 at 12:00 pm

Dolphin Integration launched a new 32-bit microcontroller, RISC-351 Zephyr, targeting low-power SoCs for IoT-like competitive markets taking into consideration three angles for optimization of power consumption: architectural, memory and software.

Architecture Angle
As a reminder, 8-bit versus 16-bit versus 32-bit… Read More


Coventor SEMulator3D, Now With Added Dopant, Diffusion, Illumination and More

Coventor SEMulator3D, Now With Added Dopant, Diffusion, Illumination and More
by Paul McLellan on 07-16-2015 at 7:00 am

Coventor just rolled out the latest version of SEMulator3D, their virtual fabrication tool. Very conveniently it is SEMICON West this week and they have a booth. I dropped by and got a demo from David Fried, Coventor’s CTO about all the new stuff. He’s very proud of SEMulator3D’s new logo but mostly he is proud… Read More


Internet of Things Bubble?

Internet of Things Bubble?
by Bill Jewell on 07-15-2015 at 10:00 pm

Speaking at the World Business Forum in Sydney, Australia in May, Steve Wonziak (cofounder of Apple) said about the Internet of Things : “I feel it’s kind of like a bubble, because there is a pace at which human beings can change the way they do things. There are tons of companies starting up.” According to market… Read More