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Could FD-SOI be Cheaper too?

Could FD-SOI be Cheaper too?
by Eric Esteve on 12-08-2013 at 11:00 am

We agree now that FD-SOI technology is Faster, Cooler, Simpler. But can it also be a cheaper technology? Let start with an overview of the current estimation of the development cost for complex SoC on advanced technology nodes. The following data are extracted from International Business Strategies, Inc 2013 report. The first… Read More


Equipment Spending Down 2013; Expect 33% Growth in 2014

Equipment Spending Down 2013; Expect 33% Growth in 2014
by Daniel Nenni on 12-08-2013 at 10:10 am

Fab Equip Spending

SEMI’s World Fab Forecast report, published in November, predicts that fab equipment spending will decline about -9 percent (US$32.5 billion) in 2013 (including new, used and in-house manufactured equipment). Setting aside the used 300mm equipment Globalfoundries acquired from Promos at the beginning of 2013 (NT$20-30 … Read More


Capturing Analog Design Intent with Verification

Capturing Analog Design Intent with Verification
by Daniel Payne on 12-08-2013 at 10:05 am

Analog IC designers are gradually adopting what digital IC designers have been doing for years, metric driven verification. When you talk with analog designers about their methodology and approach, you hear terms like artisan being used which implies mostly a manually-oriented methodology. Thanks to automation from EDA companies,… Read More


How to Assure Quality of Power and SI Verification?

How to Assure Quality of Power and SI Verification?
by Pawan Fangaria on 12-08-2013 at 10:05 am

As power has become one of the most important criteria in semiconductor design today, I was wondering whether there is a standard set for the power verification for an overall chip. We do have formats evolved like CPF and UPF and there are tools available to check power and signal integrity (SI), however I don’t see a standard objective… Read More


A Brief History of ARM Holdings

A Brief History of ARM Holdings
by Daniel Nenni on 12-07-2013 at 12:00 pm

It was on 26th April 1985 (at 3pm to be precise) that the very first ARM silicon sprang in to life – it was a 25K transistor design implemented in 3um technology with just 2 layers of metal.

However back then the “A” in ARM stood for Acorn – ARM the company had yet to be formed. Acorn sold computers to schools and so cost… Read More


The Leading Edge Depends on What You Are Doing

The Leading Edge Depends on What You Are Doing
by Paul McLellan on 12-06-2013 at 11:10 pm

At Semicon Japan a few days ago, Subi Kengeri of GlobalFoundries delivered the keynote. While he covered a number of topics, using Tokyo’s recent win of the 2020 Olympics as a hook, one major theme was the increasing importance of processes other than the bleeding edge digital processes that get all the news.

What is leading… Read More


Virtual Prototypes Made Easier for SoC Design

Virtual Prototypes Made Easier for SoC Design
by Daniel Payne on 12-06-2013 at 6:24 pm

Using a virtual prototype for your SoC design is accepted, conventional wisdom today because it can save development time by eliminating design iterations and avoid costly bugs that will cause an expensive product recall. In order to simulate your virtual prototype you need models, so a major question has always been, “Where… Read More


Physically Aware Synthesis

Physically Aware Synthesis
by Paul McLellan on 12-06-2013 at 2:47 pm

Yesterday Cadence had their annual front-end summit, the theme of which was physically aware design. I was especially interested in the first couple of presentations about physically aware synthesis. I joined Cadence in 1999 when they acquired Ambit Design Systems. One of the products that we had in development was called PKS… Read More


What Makes A Designer’s Day? A Bottleneck Solved!

What Makes A Designer’s Day? A Bottleneck Solved!
by Pawan Fangaria on 12-04-2013 at 3:00 pm

In an environment of SoCs with tough targets of multiple functionalities, smallest size, lowest power and fastest performance to achieve within a limited design cycle window in order to meet the rigid time-to-market requirements, any day spent without success becomes very frustrating for a designer. Especially during tape-out… Read More


3D: Atlanta and Burlingame

3D: Atlanta and Burlingame
by Paul McLellan on 12-04-2013 at 12:44 pm

Two conferences on 3D, one just over and one coming up next week. The one that was just over was hosted by Georgia Tech, the 3rd Annual Global Interposer Technology Workshop (GIT). I wasn’t there but my ex-colleague from VLSI Technology Herb Reiter was. Herb has become very much associated with all things 3D since he led the … Read More