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What you compress may not be all you get

What you compress may not be all you get
by Don Dingee on 10-30-2013 at 4:00 pm

Now that we’ve looked at the basics, we wrap up this three-part series exploring PVRTC texture compression. We’ll take a brief look at PVRTC2, the latest version of the technology, and then explore the issues behind visual quality from several different angles.

PVRTC2 is supported on the newest Series5XT or Series6 GPU cores from… Read More


The Alternative to FinFET: FD-SOI

The Alternative to FinFET: FD-SOI
by Paul McLellan on 10-30-2013 at 11:00 am

Everywhere you turn these days you find FinFETs. Intel has had them since 22nm (they use the word Tri-gate but it is the same as what the world calls FinFET) and TSMC will have them at 16nm. So why FinFET? And is there an alternative?

The reason that regular bulk planar transistors have run out of steam is that the channel area underneath… Read More


ARC EM SEP Processor, Safety Ready Solution for Automotive

ARC EM SEP Processor, Safety Ready Solution for Automotive
by Eric Esteve on 10-30-2013 at 5:24 am

If you are familiar with Processor IP core, you certainly know DesignWare ARC EM4 core, 32-bit CPU that SoC designers can optimize for a wide range of uses, and differentiate by using patented configuration technology to tailor each ARC core instance to meet specific performance, power and area requirements. If you develop a product… Read More


Social Media at Mentor Graphics

Social Media at Mentor Graphics
by Daniel Payne on 10-29-2013 at 5:52 pm

You can often tell how important blogging and social media is to an EDA company by how much effort it takes to find their blog from the Home page. For the folks at Mentor Graphics I’d say that blogging is quite important, because it shows up as a top-level menu item. Notice also how important Twitter is, their latest tweets show… Read More


Correct by Construction Semiconductor IP

Correct by Construction Semiconductor IP
by Daniel Payne on 10-29-2013 at 11:23 am

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?

MEMS in The World of ICs – How to Quickly Verify?
by Pawan Fangaria on 10-29-2013 at 10:00 am

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)

TSMC ♥ Mentor (Calibre PERC)
by Daniel Nenni on 10-29-2013 at 8:00 am

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

Pigs Fly. Altera Goes with ARM on Intel 14nm
by Paul McLellan on 10-29-2013 at 7:00 am

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

Diagnosing Double Patterning Violations
by Beth Martin on 10-28-2013 at 5:16 pm

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

Getting the Most Out of the ARM CoreLink™ NIC-400
by Daniel Payne on 10-28-2013 at 12:27 pm

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