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GlobalFoundries on the Road

GlobalFoundries on the Road
by Paul McLellan on 09-17-2014 at 5:12 pm

Every year in the fall GlobalFoundries has a series of technical seminars they take on the road around the US. This year it kicks off on Tuesday, October 21 at the Doubletree Hotel in San Jose. Two days later it is at Dana Point (southern CA) and on the 30th it goes to Austin (you don’t need me to tell you where Austin is, I’m… Read More


Designing the Right Architecture Using HLS

Designing the Right Architecture Using HLS
by Pawan Fangaria on 09-17-2014 at 9:05 am

With the advent of HLS tools, general notion which comes to mind is that okay, there’s an automated tool which can optimize your design description written in C++/SystemC and provide you a perfect RTL. In real life, it’s not so, any design description needs hardware designer’s expertise to adopt right algorithm and architecture… Read More


GLOBALFOUNDRIES Acquires IBM Semiconductor Unit!

GLOBALFOUNDRIES Acquires IBM Semiconductor Unit!
by Daniel Nenni on 09-17-2014 at 9:01 am

I have it on pretty good authority that IBM has in fact come to terms with GLOBALFOUNDRIES on the sale of their semiconductor business. For those of you who have been following the story, especially the IBM semiconductor people, it has been a real roller coaster ride. If in fact this handshake deal goes through (expect a public announcement… Read More


Optimize Your Interconnect & Design at System Level for Best Results

Optimize Your Interconnect & Design at System Level for Best Results
by Pawan Fangaria on 09-16-2014 at 7:00 am

As the SoC design size, complexity and functionality keeps on increasing with multiple IPs packed together and design time and time-to-market keeps on decreasing amid critical constraints on PPA, there is no other alternative than to do the design first-time-right not to miss the window of opportunity. And that could be possible… Read More


Interface IP Protocols: Status

Interface IP Protocols: Status
by Eric Esteve on 09-16-2014 at 3:52 am

If your company develops Design IP to support well-known protocols like USB, PCIe, HDMI, DDRn memory controller, MIPI specification (and more), it’s crucial to know your competition, the market size by segment, and even more important the market potential by segment. The latest can be obtained by the Compound Annual Growth Rate… Read More


Taiwan Trip Report: The Coming Simulation Crisis!

Taiwan Trip Report: The Coming Simulation Crisis!
by Daniel Nenni on 09-15-2014 at 7:00 am

Even though the flight to Taiwan is somewhat difficult, I really do enjoy my trips to Hsinchu. In addition to the top two pure-play foundries being there, one of the top SoC companies (MediaTek) and many of the leading semiconductor design companies are there as well. All are a quick taxi ride from my home away from home, the Hotel Royal.… Read More


Safer SoCs for safer driving

Safer SoCs for safer driving
by Don Dingee on 09-14-2014 at 4:00 pm

Flip on the TV, and a car commercial is bound to pop up shortly touting one of two technological aspects. One is center stack integration of smartphone-style applications. The other is advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS) featuring cameras, radar, and other sensors helping cars … Read More


Intel Core M vs Apple A8!

Intel Core M vs Apple A8!
by Daniel Nenni on 09-14-2014 at 10:00 am

There were two big announcements last week right in my backyard and I missed them both! Instead, I was in Taiwan investigating yet another big development and all three of these events will intersect next year, absolutely.

At IDF in San Francisco Intel outlined the new 14nm Core M. This is an impressive CPU, one that will fill the now… Read More


Pole Pole All the Way to the Top

Pole Pole All the Way to the Top
by Paul McLellan on 09-13-2014 at 6:25 pm

We made it! I have stood on the highest point in Africa, Uhuru Peak of Kilimanjaro.

Obviously this blog entry is totally off-topic. If you want to read about semiconductors and stuff, you can skip it.

So how do you get to the top of a nearly 20,000’ mountain? Slowly.

Slowly on two different levels. The first level is giving your body time… Read More


Sidense overlays OTP on TSMC 16nm FinFET

Sidense overlays OTP on TSMC 16nm FinFET
by Don Dingee on 09-13-2014 at 7:00 am

Process shrinks, which have served us well for most of the Moore’s Law journey, are reaching their limits. For switching transistors, the biggest problems of leakage current and gate oxide vulnerability in planar MOSFETs have led the industry to new 3D microstructures such as FinFET. For non-volatile memory, the problem is generally… Read More