There is a lot of talk about the Internet of Things (IoT) about how everything is going to be connected to the internet. For some reason the archetypal example is a refrigerator that knows what you are nearly out of and puts it on your shopping list. Or orders it from the store. Or something. This seems like pretty high on the list of things… Read More




PinPoint in Practice
I talked with a mystery person earlier this week. I would love to tell you his (or her) name and the company he (or she) works for but they are the sort of company that doesn’t casually endorse any suppliers so it all has to remain anonymous. But they have been a customer of Pinpoint, originally from Tuscany Design Automation until… Read More
Do my tests certify the quality of my products?
Honestly speaking, there is no firm answer to this question, and often when we get confronted by our customers, we talk about the coverage reports. The truth is a product with high rate of coverage can very easily fail in customer environment. Of course coverage is important, and to be clear about the fact that the failure is not because… Read More
It’s all in the details of FPGA requirements management
Word association: if I said “requirements management”, you’d probably say IBM Rational “DOORS,” or maybe Serena or Polarion if you come from the IT world. But what if the requirements you need to manage are for an FPGA or ASIC, with HDL and testbench code and waveform files and more details backing verification, and compliance… Read More
A Brief History of NanGate
NanGate got started in 2004 by a group of engineers from Vitesse Semi and Intel. The technology and market idea was to address and solve the inherent shortcomings of standard cell based design as compared to full custom. Anyone having tried to push the performance of a standard cell design knows the frustration… if only I had a better… Read More
Bats about DAC!
DAC 2013 is closing in fast now…and if you haven’t made your plans for what you want to see and do, you’d better get going! Of course, I’m happy to help you out with a few suggestions…starting with that most important objective—conference swag. Stop by the Mentor Graphics booth (#2046, for those of you who actually look at your floor… Read More
Network-on-Chip is the backbone of Application Processor and LTE Modem
I have mentioned NoC adoption explosion during the last two years, illustrated by the huge revenue growth of Arteris. This trend is now confirmed in the fastest moving segments, the Application Processors (AP) and LTE Modem for mobile applications. In fact, Arteris FlexNoC has been integrated in the majority of AP and LTE Modem… Read More
Do You Need to Worry About Soft Errors?
As we get down to smaller and smaller process nodes, the problem of soft errors becomes increasingly important. These soft errors are caused by neutrons from cosmic rays, alpha particles from materials used in manufacture and other sources. For chips that go into systems with high reliability this is not something that can be ignored.… Read More
TSMC Goes To DAC
TSMC will be at DAC again this year, of course. The main event, as last year, is the OIP Theater where TSMC’s partners come and present their collaboration stories. Here is the schedule:… Read More
IC Place and Route Perspective from Users at DAC
One of the most useful ways to learn about an EDA tool is to talk with other users that have experience with that tool. IC Place and Route tools are complex and yet necessary to implement every SoC designed today, so at DAC in just two weeks you have a chance to hear first-hand from several P&R tool users. To get a better idea about these… Read More
Facing the Quantum Nature of EUV Lithography