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HW Prototyping and HLS at DAC

HW Prototyping and HLS at DAC
by Daniel Payne on 06-28-2013 at 12:20 pm

I love it when EDA companies send their engineers to DAC because I learn more of the unvarnished truth about their products. I met with Bill Thomas of Aldec to get an update on their HW prototyping boards, then two NEC engineers to learn about High Level Synthesis.

HW Prototyping

Bill Thomas, Research Engineer at Aldec
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Validating Hard IP & Std Cell Libraries at DAC

Validating Hard IP & Std Cell Libraries at DAC
by Daniel Payne on 06-27-2013 at 3:13 pm

The building blocks for every SoC are standard cell libraries that are assembled, designed and verified together. But how do we really know if all the data formats used during design are correct and consistent? To answer that question I spoke with Johan Peetersof Fractal Technologiesat DAC.


Johan Peeters, Rene Donkers
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A 3D Field Solver for Parasitic Extraction Thermal ESD Analysis

A 3D Field Solver for Parasitic Extraction Thermal ESD Analysis
by Daniel Payne on 06-27-2013 at 2:38 pm

The smaller the process node the more necessary it is that you extract accurate parasitics from interconnect and 3D structures in order to analyze timing, thermal effects and ESD compliance. Silicon Frontlinehas EDA tools in all three of these categories, so I met with Dermott Lynchat DAC to get an annual update.


Dermott Lynch,Read More


Dan Niles: Everything Changed on May 22nd

Dan Niles: Everything Changed on May 22nd
by Paul McLellan on 06-26-2013 at 11:09 pm

I listened to Dan Niles’s quarterly report that he does for GSA. He had a lot of the usual background data on savings rates and GDP growth, but the big story is that everything changed on May 22nd and that this will turn out to be a very significant moment. That was the day that the Fed basically announced that it would start to “taper”… Read More


Aart: Technomic Push-Pull

Aart: Technomic Push-Pull
by Paul McLellan on 06-26-2013 at 11:00 pm

Aart de Geus gave one of the visionary look to the next 50 years of EDA as a warmup to Stephen Wu’s keynote. EDA is enabling the greatest push-pull ever, part of an exponential change on a scale never before seen.

Technologies seem to go through a 50 year technical push phase (driven by improving the technology) followed by a 50… Read More


What is inside the iPhone5s? Samsung or TSMC?

What is inside the iPhone5s? Samsung or TSMC?
by Daniel Nenni on 06-26-2013 at 6:00 pm

As a semiconductor professional and an Apple customer I’m very interested to see what is inside the iPhone5s. Rumors are spreading, photos are leaking, creating a nice build up to the next release of the mobile device that changed the world.

Honestly, last year I was a bit disappointed with the iPhone5. Inside is the A6 SoC which uses… Read More