Gary Smith has been talking about how the electronic system level (ESL) is where the future of EDA lies as design teams move up to higher levels encompassing IP blocks, high level synthesis, software development using virtual platforms and so on. At DAC this year in Austin he talked about how the fact that EDA controls the modeling… Read More



The Most Disturbing Economic Graphs Ever!
After driving to Silicon Valley for the past 30 years I am acutely aware of traffic patterns and to me that directly relates to the economy. The recession of 2009 really hit traffic patterns with what I would estimate as a 20% unemployment rate in Silicon Valley. I could leave my home in Danville anytime of the day and have no traffic … Read More
RTL Design For Power
My Samsung Galaxy Note II lasts about two days on a single battery charge, which is quite the improvement from the Galaxy Note I with only a one day battery charge. Mobile SoCs are being constrained by battery life limitations, and consumers love longer-laster devices.
There are at least two approaches to Design For Power:
- Gate-level
Robust Design <- Robust Flow <- Robust Tools
I could have written the sequence of the title in reverse order, but no, design is the one which initiates the need of a particular flow and the flow needs support of EDA tools to satisfy that need. It’s okay if the design is small; some manual procedures and workarounds/scripts may be able to perform certain jobs. However, as the design… Read More
Intel Is Continuing to Scale While Others Pause
Back in May, William Holt, EVP of technology and manufacturing at Intel gave a presentation to analysts entitled Advancing Moore’s Law, Imperatives and Opportunity. A pdf of the presentation is available here. I just saw it for the first time today and I’m not sure how to get my head around it. It starts off with a lot … Read More
How To Connect Your Cell-phone Camera
Your cell-phone contains a camera. In fact, it probably contains two: one forward facing for video-calls and one rear-facing for taking photographs and videos. The rear-facing one typically has much higher pixel count than the front-facing. The capabilities of cell-phone cameras are getting “good enough” that… Read More
SEMICON Taiwan 3D
SEMICON Taiwan is September 3rd to 6th in TWTC Nangang Exhibition Hall. Just as with Semicon West in July in San Francisco, there is lots going on. But one special focus is 3D IC. There is a 3DIC and substrate pavilion on the exhibit floor and an Advanced Packaging Symposium. Design tools, manufacturing, packaging and testing solutions… Read More
TSMC is a more profitable semiconductor company than Intel
There is an interesting article on Seeking Alpha, “A More Profitable Semiconductor Company Than Intel”, and for a change the author does not PRETEND to know semiconductor technology. Refreshing! Personally I think the stock market is a racket where insiders profit at the expense of the masses. But if you are going to gamble you … Read More
When Is a Good Time to Start Using High-Level Synthesis?
Of course if you are in the business of selling high-level synthesis (HLS) tools then the obvious answer is immediately. Start at 9am tomorrow morning. But a more realistic answer is when you are having to do something completely new. If you are working on a legacy design, perhaps with pre-existing IP, then moving the design up to … Read More
Non-volatile Memory in the Internet of Things
You have probably heard of the Internet of Things or IoT. This is the future world in which not only are our computers and smartphones connected to the internet, but all sort of other things like thermostats, medical monitors, smart car-keys and soil analyzers. What these “things” have in common is that, unlike computers… Read More
Should the US Government Invest in Intel?