Semiconductor IP re-use enables modern SoC designs to be realized in a timely fashion, yet with hundreds of IP blocks in a chip the chances are higher that an error in any IP block could cause the entire system to fail. At advanced nodes like 28nm and smaller, the number of Process, Voltage and Temperature (PVT) corners is increasing… Read More





MEMS in The World of ICs – How to Quickly Verify?
In the modern electronic world, it’s difficult to imagine any system working as a whole without MEMS (Micro-electromechanical Systems) such as pressure sensors, accelerometers, gyroscopes, microphones etc. working in sync with other ICs. Specifically in AMS (Analog Mixed-Signal) semiconductor designs, there can be significant… Read More
TSMC ♥ Mentor (Calibre PERC)
As semiconductors become more integrated into our lives reliability is becoming a critical issue. As IP consumes more of our die, IP reliability is becoming a critical issue. As we pack more transistors into a chip, reliability is becoming a critical issue. As we move from 28nm to 20nm to 16nm, reliability is becoming a critical … Read More
Pigs Fly. Altera Goes with ARM on Intel 14nm
Altera announced in February that they would be using Intel as a foundry at 14nm. Historically they have used TSMC. Then in June they announced the Stratix 10 family of FPGAs that they would build on the Intel process. At the Globalpress summit in May I asked Vince Hu about their processor strategy. Here is what I wrote about itat the… Read More
Diagnosing Double Patterning Violations
I’ll bet you’ve read a bunch of stuff about double patterning, and you’re probably hoping that the design tools will make all your double patterning issues just go away. Well, the truth is that the foundries and EDA vendors have worked really hard to make that true.
However, for some critical portions of your design, there … Read More
Getting the Most Out of the ARM CoreLink™ NIC-400
SoC designers are attracted to ARM as an IP provider because of their popular offerings and growing ecosystem of EDA partners like Carbon Design Systems. At the upcoming ARM Techcon on October 31 this week in Santa Clara you’ll have an opportunity to hear a joint presentation from ARM and Carbon Design Systems on: Getting … Read More
Cadence’s Mixed-Signal Technology Summit
On October 10, I attended another Cadence Summit, this one titled the Cadence Mixed-Signal Technology Summit. Recently, I had written about the Cadence Silicon Verification Summit. The verification event was the first of its kind, and I thought it had terrific content. Being more of a digital guy myself, I was unaware that Cadence… Read More
Smartphones Are More Amazing That You Can Believe
I’ve written before about just how widespread mobile phones are: more people use mobile phones that a a toothbrush and more know how to use one than to use a pencil to write. This all happened very recently. I bet if you are asked when you got your first mobile phone you will guess too early. I had a car-phone in 1993 and a real mobile… Read More
Let’s comment… a comment from Sonics (about Arteris)
We still don’t know the precise status about a potential acquisition of Arteris by Qualcomm, and I prefer not to comment a rumor and wait for the official announcement, if any. But I would like to comment … a comment about this rumor, recently made by Sonics. This comment has taken the form of an Open Letter, from “Grant Pierce, CEO of… Read More
Open Letter from Sonics to Arteris
I don’t remember seeing an open letter from one EDA or IP company to another until today. Sonics have published an open letter to Charlie Janac, the CEO of Arteris. What seems to have happened is that Arteris have sold their assets to Qualcomm and the development team (which is based in France) and several AEs are already Qualcomm… Read More
Musk’s new job as Samsung Fab Manager – Can he disrupt chip making? Intel outside