Primarius 2B

Managing Semiconductor IP

Managing Semiconductor IP
by Daniel Payne on 01-21-2015 at 5:00 pm

SemiWiki blogger Eric Esteve does an excellent job writing about all of the semiconductor IP available, and the popularity of IP is only growing more each year. Here’s a projection from IBS about semiconductor IP showing revenues of $4.7B by 2020:

Analyst Gary Smith divides IP into three broad categories: Functional, Foundation… Read More


Analyzing Power Nets

Analyzing Power Nets
by Paul McLellan on 01-21-2015 at 7:00 am

One of the big challenges in a modern SoC is doing an accurate analysis of the power nets. Different layers of metal have very different resistance characteristics (since they vary so much in width and height). Even vias can cause problems due to high resistance. Typically power is distributed globally on high-level metal layers,… Read More


Not All RTL Synthesis Approaches are the Same

Not All RTL Synthesis Approaches are the Same
by Daniel Payne on 01-20-2015 at 7:00 pm

My first experience with logic synthesis was at Silicon Compilers in the late 1980s using a tool called Genesil. Process technology since that time has moved from 3 um down to 20 nm, so there are new challenges for RTL synthesis. Today you can find logic synthesis tools being offered by the big three in EDA: Synopsys, Cadence, MentorRead More


Methodics Access Controls

Methodics Access Controls
by Paul McLellan on 01-20-2015 at 7:00 am

My PhD thesis is titled The Design of a Network Filing System. Yes, that was a research topic back then (and yes, we did call them filing systems not file-systems). One big chapter was on access controls. There are several problems with designing an access control system:

  • it needs to be possible to implement it efficiently
  • it needs
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Aldec increasing the return on simulation

Aldec increasing the return on simulation
by Don Dingee on 01-19-2015 at 10:00 pm

Debate rages about which approach is better for SoC design: simulation, or emulation. Simulation proponents point to software saving the need for expensive hardware platforms. Emulation supporters stake their claims on accuracy and the incorporation of real-time I/O. A few years back, some creative types coined the term SEmulation,… Read More


Analyze Substrate Noise in SoC Design?

Analyze Substrate Noise in SoC Design?
by Pawan Fangaria on 01-19-2015 at 4:00 pm

Often substrate noise analysis takes place when everything is there on the chip, but that stage comes near the tape-out which is too late to make major changes in architecture, placement, introducing noise protection circuitry for the victims and so on. It was okay when there used to be very little analog content on the chip. But … Read More


FDSOI jump-start 2015 in Tokyo this week

FDSOI jump-start 2015 in Tokyo this week
by Eric Esteve on 01-19-2015 at 4:38 am

This news in May 2014 that Samsung had licensed FD-SOI Technology from ST-Microelectronics was really amazing, as most of the industry was expecting this kind of agreement, but not with the #2 SC Company. But since May 2014 the news flow has been quite reduced, we can imagine that both SC companies had a lot work to do for transforming… Read More


Wireless Charging: Magnetic Induction or Magnetic Resonance?

Wireless Charging: Magnetic Induction or Magnetic Resonance?
by Majeed Ahmad on 01-18-2015 at 7:00 pm

Standard wars are no stranger to technology business. In fact, they are the norm. Take, for instance, the rock star technology of 2015—wireless charging. Magnetic induction or magnetic resonance: which standard will dominate the wireless power ecosystem?

That’s the crucial question while wireless charging continues to win… Read More


Tracing methods to multicore gladness

Tracing methods to multicore gladness
by Don Dingee on 01-18-2015 at 9:00 am

Multiple processor cores are now a given in SoCs. Grabbing IP blocks and laying them in a multicore design may be the easy part. While verification is extremely important, it is only the start – obtaining real-world performance depends on the combination of multicore hardware and actual application software. What should engineers… Read More


Johan Peeters on quick IP check through Cdiff

Johan Peeters on quick IP check through Cdiff
by Pawan Fangaria on 01-17-2015 at 8:00 am

On the face of it, if we consider a simple ‘diff’ utility, it doesn’t need any explanation; almost everyone in our community would have used it. But imagine the CTO of a company investing his time in explaining how beneficial a specialized ‘Cdiff’ function can be in evaluating IP. Today’s SoC design world can’t live without IP and … Read More