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MIPS Warrior Goes Into Battle

MIPS Warrior Goes Into Battle
by Paul McLellan on 06-26-2013 at 7:00 am

You are probably aware that Imagination Technologies, perhaps most well known for creating the GPU that is in the iPhone and iPad, acquired MIPS, which was originally a spinout from Silicon Graphics and licenses a line of general purpose microprocessors.

MIPS considers that they have a purer implementation of the RISC philosophy… Read More


Can China alone drive semiconductor growth?

Can China alone drive semiconductor growth?
by Bill Jewell on 06-25-2013 at 9:04 pm

Production of electronic equipment (including computers, communications, consumer, etc.) has been sluggish over the last year in all key regions of the world except China. The chart below shows three-month-average change versus a year ago for electronics production in local currency through April 2013 (May 2013 for China).… Read More


Kathryn Kranen: The Problem with EDA is…

Kathryn Kranen: The Problem with EDA is…
by Paul McLellan on 06-25-2013 at 5:35 pm

Kathryn Kranen, CEO of Jasper Design Automation, got to give her view of the future of EDA on the Thursday of DAC. For many years she has been on the EDAC board and is currently chair. When she first was on the board she talked to many of the stakeholders in the EDA ecosystem: EDA companies, IP companies, semiconductor companies, academics,… Read More


Remember FPGA Memory

Remember FPGA Memory
by Luke Miller on 06-25-2013 at 3:10 pm

We must admit the excitement of the FinFETs and all that coupled with the enormous amount of DSPs and BRAMs in the FPGA world is very cool. They even have ARMs, and I highly recommend that they get Legs then they can run around and everything and fit in with the rest of us. Perhaps the Feds can grant them immigration status and they could… Read More


Visual AMS Debug, an update at DAC

Visual AMS Debug, an update at DAC
by Daniel Payne on 06-24-2013 at 4:07 pm

If you’re involved with AMS or transistor-level IC design then having visual tools will help you design and debug quicker. At DAC I met with Gerhard Angst, President and Founder of Concept Engineering to get an update.


Gerhard Angst (center), Concept EngineeringRead More


Full Visibility in ASIC Prototypes at DAC

Full Visibility in ASIC Prototypes at DAC
by Daniel Payne on 06-24-2013 at 3:46 pm

ASIC prototyping from multiple vendors using FPGA boards was popular at DAC again this year in Austin, Texas. I stopped by the Tektronix booth for a few minutes to meet with Dave Orecchio to get an update.


Dave Orecchio (right), TektronixRead More


Fujitsu, Mediatek, Richtek and Synopsys om Custom IC Design

Fujitsu, Mediatek, Richtek and Synopsys om Custom IC Design
by Daniel Payne on 06-24-2013 at 3:01 pm

Synopsys has been acquiring EDA and IP companies at a fast clip over the past few years and it’s often made me wonder how they are going to craft a coherent tool flow for custom IC design. At DACthis year I learned that for schematic capture the winning tool is Custom Designer SE– a relatively new tool, while the IC layout… Read More


Is Your Synchronizer Doing its Job (Part 2)?

Is Your Synchronizer Doing its Job (Part 2)?
by Jerry Cox on 06-23-2013 at 8:10 pm

In Part 1 of this topic I discussed what it takes to estimate the mean time between failures (MTBF) of a single stage synchronizer. Because supply voltages are decreasing and transistor thresholds have been pushed up to minimize leakage, the shortened MTBF of many synchronizer circuits at nanoscale process nodes is presenting… Read More


TSMC and Xilinx on the FinFAST Track!

TSMC and Xilinx on the FinFAST Track!
by Daniel Nenni on 06-23-2013 at 2:00 am

The power of the fabless semiconductor ecosystem never ceases to amaze me. On one hand you have the Intel backed press crowing about Intel stealing Altera from TSMC. On the other hand you have Xilinx and TSMC crowing about a new ‘one-team’ approach. If you are interested in the real story you’ve come to the right place.

“Altera’sRead More


Pat Pistilli: the first cell library, the first computer-printed label and more

Pat Pistilli: the first cell library, the first computer-printed label and more
by Paul McLellan on 06-22-2013 at 1:45 pm

At the DAC 50th anniversary banquet, Pat Pistilli won the award for most tenacious attendee, having been to all 50 DACs. Well, and for creating DAC and sustaining it. He was general chair for the first DAC (not yet called DAC) and, of course, would eventually form MP Associates with his wife Marie, which still runs DAC today. In 2010… Read More