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Smartphone Market Share

Smartphone Market Share
by Paul McLellan on 11-09-2012 at 12:47 pm

The numbers for smartphone sales in Q3 are starting to roll in. These are in units and not yet revenue (let alone profit) numbers although everyone down to Sony is for sure profitable. Samsung is running away with the volume, selling more than Apple, Huawei and Sony put together. One name that is missing is Motorola (Google) which … Read More


Carbon has Six Weeks of ARM, not to Mention Imagination and MIPS

Carbon has Six Weeks of ARM, not to Mention Imagination and MIPS
by Paul McLellan on 11-09-2012 at 12:18 pm

As George E.P. Box said, “essentially all models are wrong but some are useful.” That is certainly the case with Carbon’s models. For processors they have two models, one that is fast (but not timing-accurate) and one that is accurate (but not fast). But both are useful.

Carbon attended the ARM TechCon in Santa… Read More


ICCAD at 30: Alberto Looks Back and Forward

ICCAD at 30: Alberto Looks Back and Forward
by Paul McLellan on 11-08-2012 at 8:10 pm

At ICCAD earlier this week, CEDA sponsored a talk by Alberto Sangiovanni-Vincentelli looking back over the last 30 years (it is the 30th anniversary of ICCAD) and looking to the future. As is always the case in these sorts of presentations, the retrospective contained a lot more detail than the going forward part. Clayton Christensen… Read More


IJTAG, Testing Large SoCs

IJTAG, Testing Large SoCs
by Paul McLellan on 11-08-2012 at 5:57 pm

Test is the Rodney Dangerfield of EDA, it doesn’t get any respect. All designs need to be tested but somehow synthesis, routing, analog layout and the rest are the sexy areas. In my spoof all purpose EDA keynote address I even dissed it:You are short on time so slip in a quick mention of manufacturing test. Who knows anything … Read More


ARM adopting SpyGlass IP Kit, joining TSMC’s soft IP9000 Quality Assessment Program

ARM adopting SpyGlass IP Kit, joining TSMC’s soft IP9000 Quality Assessment Program
by Eric Esteve on 11-07-2012 at 12:17 pm

More than one year old now, TSMC’s soft IP quality assessment program is a joint effort between TSMC and Atrenta to deploy a series of SpyGlass checks that create detailed reports of the completeness and robustness of soft IP. This soft IP quality program has been the first to be initiated by a Silicon foundry on other than “Hard IP”,Read More


Solido and TSMC for 6-Sigma Memory Design

Solido and TSMC for 6-Sigma Memory Design
by Daniel Nenni on 11-06-2012 at 8:30 pm

Solido Design Automation and TSMC recently published an article in EE Times describing how Solido’s High-Sigma Monte Carlo tool is used with TSMC PDK’s to achieve high-yield, high-performance memory design. This project has been a big part of my life for the past three years and it is time for a victory lap!

In TSMC 28nm, 20nm and … Read More


Embedding 100K probes in FPGA-based prototypes

Embedding 100K probes in FPGA-based prototypes
by Don Dingee on 11-06-2012 at 8:15 pm

As RTL designs in FPGA-based ASIC prototypes get bigger and bigger, the visibility into what is happening inside the IP is dropping at a frightening rate. Where designers once had several hundred observation probes per million gates, those same several hundred probes – or fewer if deeper signal captures are needed – are now spread… Read More


A Most Significant Man

A Most Significant Man
by Beth Martin on 11-06-2012 at 8:10 pm

Most of us live perfectly good lives without distinction, fame, or note. Others rack up the honors, filling their walls and resumes with recognition of their brilliance. Like Dr. Janusz Rajski.

Rajski is the director of engineering for the test products at Mentor Graphics, an IEEE Fellow, and the inventor of embedded deterministic… Read More


Should ARM care about MIPS acquisition?

Should ARM care about MIPS acquisition?
by Eric Esteve on 11-06-2012 at 3:09 am

It was not really a surprise to learn that, finally, MIPS have been sold, as the company was officially for sale since April 2012. Nevertheless, the interesting part of this news comes from the buyer’ identity: Imagination Technologies. Imagination is an UK based company, like ARM, selling processor IP cores, like ARM, but the … Read More