The proposed merger of NXP and Freescale, which creates a bigger semiconductor outfit, also brings forth some fascinating history bytes from the technology heritage that these two spin-offs carry from their respective corporate parents. In 2006, Philips Electronics sold its chip business division Philips Semiconductors… Read More


Synflow and Cx
When hardware designers hear about a new language their heart sinks. We already have Verilog, SystemVerilog and VHDL. And if you go up a level, we have C, C++ and SystemC. Isn’t that enough? However, if you tell a software engineer about a new language they are interested, there are hundreds of programming language and hundreds… Read More
CDN is Live in Silicon Valley!
As big of a fan as I am of Social Media there is still nothing like getting up close and personal when collaborating with the fabless semiconductor ecosystem. After 30+ years in Silicon Valley if there is one thing I have learned it’s that “showing up” is the #1 key to success, absolutely.
Speaking of showing up, each year there are three… Read More
Where a New IP Company Could Invest
Which IP which will give substantial return in next 3 – 5 years and where a company will invest as well as how it will differentiate itself from others, particularly the big ones, are key discussion topics for any start-up entering into semiconductor IP business.
In the last few decades we have seen a tremendous growth of interface… Read More
Exensio: Big Data in the Fab
For 20 years PDF Solutions have been working with fabs on yield enhancement. Today, they announced their Exensio Platform for big data manufacturing environments. They haven’t really been keeping it a secret and have been talking about it at events since late last year, but it has basically been in stealth mode for the last… Read More
All things being unequal for NXP and Freescale
When I read the news that NXP was buying Freescale, it felt like a part of me – and a big part of the history of high tech industry in Arizona – died. There was a time not that long ago where Motorola was the biggest employer in this state, way before Freescale and ON Semi separated from the mothership. Somehow, even with moving headquarters… Read More
Simple Analog ASIC Solves Thermal Analysis Problems
In a world where Application Specific Integrated Circuits (ASICs) and Application Specific Standard Products (ASSPs) are dominating every conceivable application, greater attention is being applied to their long term reliability. These chips are being built on smaller lithographies, running at higher speeds, dissipating… Read More
DAC: March Update
DAC is coming up. It is already March. If you are in the EDA industry then it is basically three months away, which sounds a lot until you actually have to get everything pulled together so that your booth is ready to go on Monday June 7[SUP]th[/SUP]. Exhibit hours have been extended and now run from 10am to 7pm (only until 6pm on Wednesday).… Read More
3D-IC: Embedded Passives
IEDM 2014 was held in the second week of December 2014 in San Francisco. The excitement is over now and the dust has settled. Last week, at my leisure, I was glancing through the conference proceedings and short course material from IEDM 2014, when a slide from the 3DIC short course caught my attention. The slide presented below gives… Read More
STMicro to Showcase Turnkey NFC Design at MWC
Near-field communication (NFC) technology is finally realizing its potential, thanks to the impetus provided by Apple Pay, and it’s becoming evident from the pre-Mobile World Congress (MWC) buzz coming from several makers of chips, smartphones and wearable devices.
Among the companies displaying NFC products at the 2015 … Read More
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