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Leveraging Design Team Energy!

Leveraging Design Team Energy!
by Eric Esteve on 05-03-2014 at 5:12 am

Once upon a time, in 1987 to be specific, a French design team was trying to develop a 100% Made in France supercomputer. In fact, not really 100%, as the CPU chips were supposed to be made by Weitek, but we never saw any of these chips, probably too challenging to be designed right first time! Anyway, I was in charge of the design of the … Read More


Aldec is Celebrating 30 Years @ #51DAC!

Aldec is Celebrating 30 Years @ #51DAC!
by Daniel Nenni on 05-02-2014 at 8:00 am

Dr. Stanley Hyduke founded Aldec in 1984 and their first product was delivered in 1985, named SUSIE (Standard Universal Simulator for Improved Engineering), a gate-level, DOS-based simulator. The SUSIE simulator was priced lower than other EDA vendor tools from the big three: Daisy, Mentor and Valid (aka DMV). Today, Aldec … Read More


FD-SOI : SMIC or…Who else?

FD-SOI : SMIC or…Who else?
by Eric Esteve on 05-01-2014 at 9:12 am

In fact, as of today, nobody can refer to an official statement made by any STM executive about name of the foundry able to process FD-SOI wafers in 28nm. We just know that the agreement is about to (or has been) signed… But we may speculate, and try to use our rational thinking. For example, the Semiwiki readers had the opportunity to… Read More


More “toddlers” innovating on the IoT

More “toddlers” innovating on the IoT
by Don Dingee on 05-01-2014 at 8:00 am

As the PC Era took shape, Tom Peters predicted the shift away from “where all the cars are parked”. He foresaw that large, established companies would no longer be the economic engine, or the dominant force in innovation. Smaller firms, even individuals, would rise to prominence in a new, technologically-driven economy.

That … Read More


Semiconductor Cost Models: Boring But Crucial

Semiconductor Cost Models: Boring But Crucial
by Paul McLellan on 05-01-2014 at 5:00 am

One of the most important and underrated tasks in a semiconductor company is creating the cost model. This is needed in order to be able to price products, and is especially acute in an ASIC or foundry business where there is no sense of a market price because the customer and not the manufacturer owns the intellectual property and … Read More


Eric Esteve to Present during CDN Live 2014 in Munich

Eric Esteve to Present during CDN Live 2014 in Munich
by Eric Esteve on 05-01-2014 at 4:00 am

I will have the privilege to give an “IP Outlook” presentation during next Cadence event in Europe, CDN-Live to be held in Munich the 19[SUP]th[/SUP] to 21[SUP]st[/SUP] of May. I had a look at the agenda, and the conference will be pretty busy, especially on Tuesday, as there will be more than fifty presentations, starting at 10:30… Read More


What Do You Do When You Are Not Designing?

What Do You Do When You Are Not Designing?
by Paul McLellan on 04-30-2014 at 10:07 pm

DAC is coming up in a month (OMG less than 4 weeks and we are so not ready I hear a hundred marketing people cry out). That gives you four weeks (and a couple of days) to tell Mentor what you do in your spare time that you are passionate about (spare time, I hear a hundred engineers cry out, what is that?) and you could win $300.

For DAC, Mentor… Read More


FD-SOI Not Just For France Any More, China Signs On?

FD-SOI Not Just For France Any More, China Signs On?
by Paul McLellan on 04-30-2014 at 9:07 pm

The COO of ST Microelectronics, Jean-Marc Chery announced that they have signed a new foundry agreement for FD-SOI. What he actually said doesn’t reveal who the foundry in question is:“We have just signed a strategic agreement with a top-tier foundry for 28nm FD-SOI technology. This agreement expands the ecosystem, assuresRead More


Living with DO-254? You need Aldec!

Living with DO-254? You need Aldec!
by Luke Miller on 04-30-2014 at 4:00 pm

I will say that as popular as DO-254 and the like is, I am not the fella for that. It can take the simplest of designs into a realm of test and verification like you have never seen before. Yes, when I am flying I happen to be a big fan of this rigorous testing but you will not find me doing that job anytime soon. While the topic is very dry, it … Read More


RTL Designers Can Win a GoPro Camera at DAC

RTL Designers Can Win a GoPro Camera at DAC
by Daniel Payne on 04-30-2014 at 10:05 am

DACis just 33 days away and who wouldn’t want a cool GoPro camerato play with? Your manager will certainly want you to first check out what’s new at DAC if your job involves getting to RTL signoff on time and within budget. The creative folks at Atrenta have figured out how to attract us with the offer of winning a GoPro camera,… Read More