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3DIC in Burlingame

3DIC in Burlingame
by Paul McLellan on 12-01-2014 at 7:00 am

Every year in December is what I think of as the main 3D IC conference where you can get up to speed on all the latest. Officially it is called 3D Architectures for Semiconductor and Packaging or 3D ASIP. It is held in the Hyatt Regency in Burlingame (the one right by 101 near the airport). This year it is from December 10-12th.

The first… Read More


Don’t Mess with SerDes!

Don’t Mess with SerDes!
by Eric Esteve on 12-01-2014 at 2:23 am

SerDes stands for Serializer/Deserializer, and SerDes is a serious piece of design, requiring an extremely experienced team of analog engineers (below 10 years’ experience, you’re still a quasi-beginner). Better to rely on an analog guru to draw the SerDes architecture and manage the team! Why does SerDes is becoming more and… Read More


How to Optimize for Power at RTL

How to Optimize for Power at RTL
by Daniel Payne on 11-30-2014 at 7:00 pm

Last week I was traveling in Munich attending the MunEDA User Group meetingso I missed a live webinar on the topic of optimizing for power at RTL. I finally got caught up in my email this week and had time to view this 47 minute webinar, presented by Guillaume Boilletof Atrenta. He recommended using a combination of automatic, semi-automatic… Read More


Solution for PI, TI & SI Issues in 3D-ICs

Solution for PI, TI & SI Issues in 3D-ICs
by Pawan Fangaria on 11-30-2014 at 7:00 pm

As we move towards packing more and more functionalities and increasing densities of SoCs, the power, thermal and signal integrity issues keep on rising. 3D-IC is a great concept to stack multiple dies on top of each other vertically. While it brings lot of avenues to package dies with multiple functions together, it has challenges… Read More


IC Place and Route for AMS Designs

IC Place and Route for AMS Designs
by Daniel Payne on 11-30-2014 at 7:00 am

High-capacity IC place and route (P&R) tools can cost $200K and more to own from the big three vendors (Cadence, Synopsys, Mentor), but what about IC designs that are primarily Big Analog and Little Digital? In the EDA world we often have multiple choices for tools, and there are affordable alternatives to place and route out… Read More


Filling the Gap between Design Planning & Implementation

Filling the Gap between Design Planning & Implementation
by Pawan Fangaria on 11-29-2014 at 7:00 pm

As every other person is talking about IoT today, Michael Munsey of Dassault Systemes looks at this trend in the context of critical success factors and Dassault’s strategy towards providing semiconductor solution that integrates the design chain and continues to keep the semiconductor eco-system healthy and profitable. … Read More


Verification plans overcome hope-based coverage

Verification plans overcome hope-based coverage
by Don Dingee on 11-29-2014 at 7:00 am

Coverage is an important yet elusive metric for design verification. It often seems 90% of coverage comes with 10% of the effort, and getting the final 10% covered takes the remaining 90% of a project. Usually, it takes another tool or methodology to get at the 10% the first tool missed. With 100% closure difficult, most teams inspect… Read More


IC Design at ZMDI

IC Design at ZMDI
by Daniel Payne on 11-28-2014 at 7:00 pm

As a blogger I have the privilege of meeting many IC designers from around the world, mostly through contact on LinkedIn or from connecting at trade shows. Through a contact at DACI met up with Achim Graupner, a manager of methodology and design automation from ZMDI, then asked him for an interview to understand how his group does … Read More


Predicting Component Temperature Early in Design

Predicting Component Temperature Early in Design
by Pawan Fangaria on 11-28-2014 at 7:00 am

In today’s electronics with multiple functions working together, heat generation is on the rise; sometimes it becomes intolerable. In fact components running at different temperatures can cause timing issues, and very high temperatures can lead to operational issues such as latch-up. An electronic system can contain chips,… Read More


Xilinx Boards Make a Great Christmas Gift!

Xilinx Boards Make a Great Christmas Gift!
by Luke Miller on 11-27-2014 at 7:00 pm

Ok, first thing first, Happy Thanksgiving! For the Miller’s as I get older, it is new traditions as some old ones have passed on. Memories are great and new ones to make. So you know the great debate right?

These poor people working Thanksgiving to sell some tablet or smart phone to save a few bucks. Those that must work, my condolences… Read More