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Variation-aware IC Design

Variation-aware IC Design
by Daniel Payne on 04-15-2013 at 4:18 pm

We’ve blogged before about Layout Dependent Effects (LDE) on SemiWiki and how it further complicates the IC design and layout process, especially at 28nm and lower nodes because the IC layout starts to change the MOS device performance. There’s an interesting webinarfrom Cadence on Variation-aware IC Design, … Read More


Chasing DP Rabbits

Chasing DP Rabbits
by SStalnaker on 04-15-2013 at 4:00 pm

“Now, here, you see, it takes all the running you can do, to keep in the same place. If you want to get somewhere else, you must run at least twice as fast as that!”
—Lewis Carroll, Through the Looking Glass

The use of stitching can greatly reduce the number of double patterning (DP) decomposition violations that a designer has to resolve.… Read More


Two New TSMC-Cadence Webinars for Advanced Node Design

Two New TSMC-Cadence Webinars for Advanced Node Design
by Daniel Payne on 04-15-2013 at 3:43 pm

Foundries and EDA vendors are cooperating at increasing levels of technical intimacy as we head to the 20nm and lower nodes. Cadence has a strong position in the EDA tools used for IC design and layout of custom and AMS (Analog Mixed-Signal) designs. They have created a series of webinars to highlight the design challenges and new… Read More


Adam Osborne Pays Wintel a Visit

Adam Osborne Pays Wintel a Visit
by Ed McKernan on 04-14-2013 at 8:15 pm

The news this week that PC sales dropped by double digit percentages and to a level not seen since 2006 sent shudders down the halls of OEMs and chip suppliers. Are we entering a final death spiral as opposed to the gradual decline that most expected? Perhaps there is another explanation. From a distance, it appears that the mobile … Read More


FinFETs: Ask the Experts!

FinFETs: Ask the Experts!
by Daniel Nenni on 04-14-2013 at 4:00 pm

On Friday (April 19[SUP]th[/SUP]) I will be keynoting FinFET day at the EDPS conference in Monterey. This is an excellent opportunity to ask the experts about the challenges of FinFET design and manufacturing in an intimate setting (60 people). If you are interested register today and use the promo codeSemiWiki-EDPS-JFR and … Read More


Ivo Bolsens’ Keynote on the All-Programmable SoC

Ivo Bolsens’ Keynote on the All-Programmable SoC
by Paul McLellan on 04-13-2013 at 8:00 pm

Ivo Bolsens, the CTO of Xilinx, is giving the opening keynote at the Electronic Design Process Symposium (EDPS) in Monterey on Thursday and Friday this coming week. The title of his keynote is The All Programmable SoC – At the Heart of Next Generation Embedded Systems. He covers a lot of ground but the core of his presentation… Read More


3D IC: Are We There Yet?

3D IC: Are We There Yet?
by Paul McLellan on 04-13-2013 at 4:42 pm

For the last few years, thru silicon via (TSV) based ICs have been looming in the mist of the future. Just how far ahead are they? Xiliinx famously has a high-end gate-array in production on a 2.5D interposer, Micron has a memory cube, TSMC has done various things in 3D that it calls CoWoS (chip on wafer on substrate), Qualcomm have been… Read More


TSMC Responds to Samsung!

TSMC Responds to Samsung!
by Daniel Nenni on 04-12-2013 at 10:00 pm

This was the 19[SUP]th[/SUP] annual TSMC Symposium and by far the best I have attended. Finally tired of the misinformation that plagues our industry, TSMC set the record straight with wafer and silicon correlated data. TSMC shipped more than 88 MILLION logic wafers in 2012, more than any other semiconductor company, that gives… Read More


How to make ESL really work – see EDPS

How to make ESL really work – see EDPS
by John Swan on 04-12-2013 at 6:53 pm

The Electronic Design Process Symposium (EDPS) is April 18 & 19 in Monterey. The workshop style Symposium is in its 20[SUP]th[/SUP] year. The first session is titled “ESL & Platforms”, which immediately follows the opening Keynote address by Ivo Bolsens, CTO of Xilinx.

In his keynote presentation Ivo will present how… Read More


High Level Synthesis – It’s for Real

High Level Synthesis – It’s for Real
by Luke Miller on 04-11-2013 at 8:30 pm

It was spring 2010 and I was asked to attend an HLS (High Level Synthesis) meeting. To be honest I cringed, after my bad relationship with Accel DSP and broken promises my heart was all walled up and needed counseling. But my management had a way of making me an offer I could not refuse, like keeping my job. So reluctantly I went. Does your… Read More