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Webinar: how to reduce mobile device cost and board space with LLI

Webinar: how to reduce mobile device cost and board space with LLI
by Eric Esteve on 06-24-2012 at 2:46 am

LLI Specification has been officially released by the MIPI Alliance, at the occasion of the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, this year. As indicated by the name, the round-trip latency of the LLI inter-chip connection is fast enough for a mobile phone modem to share an application processor’s memory while maintaining… Read More


Designing a Wafer-Scale Image Sensor for use in X-Rays

Designing a Wafer-Scale Image Sensor for use in X-Rays
by Daniel Payne on 06-22-2012 at 1:32 pm

At Intel we mused about designing wafer-scale integration (WSI) back in the 70’s however I just learned about how Dr.Renato Turchetta at the Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC) designed a wafer-scale imaging sensor chip for X-Ray applications. I was also able to interview Dr. Turchetta to learn more about… Read More


Will Microsoft Go Thermonuclear?

Will Microsoft Go Thermonuclear?
by Ed McKernan on 06-21-2012 at 8:20 pm

Microsoft is in trouble. Many of you already know that. Steve Ballmer has one last opportunity to set the company on a growth path or they will retreat into IBM legacy mode… ala the post 1990s Lou Gerstner era. And so they introduce a large tablet-convertible in direct competition with their PC partners Dell and HP. The End Game is coming… Read More


EDA Tools to Optimize Memory Design

EDA Tools to Optimize Memory Design
by Daniel Payne on 06-21-2012 at 8:15 pm

I met with Amit Gupta, President and CEO of Solido at DAC on Tuesday to get an update on their EDA tools used in the design of memory, standard cells and low-power. In 2012 they’ve expanded to add three new software packages: Memory, Standard Cell, Low Power. They must be doing something right because at DAC this year I see more… Read More


Mike Muller’s ARM Keynote at DAC 2012

Mike Muller’s ARM Keynote at DAC 2012
by Paul McLellan on 06-21-2012 at 7:30 pm

Mike Muller’s keynote focused on a lot of changes since the ARM1 was designed in 1983 when ARM the company did not exist and ARM was the next generation processor for Acorn Computer, which was really in the hobby market and had its first boost when they had a contract to design the BBC Microcomputer to go along with a computer literacy… Read More


Off topic: Matt

Off topic: Matt
by Paul McLellan on 06-20-2012 at 8:12 pm

This has pretty much nothing to do with EDA or semiconductor. OK, absolutely nothing. Years ago a friend pointed me at a video of a guy who used to be a video game designer (wait, a semiconductor connection) who decided to take his savings and travel the world. As he put it, “I wasn’t a very good video game designer. But I … Read More


Double Patterning Technology at DAC

Double Patterning Technology at DAC
by Daniel Payne on 06-20-2012 at 5:12 pm

David Abercrombie from Mentor Graphics met with me on Tuesday at DAC to provide an update on DPT – Double Patterning Technology, something new required for several layers starting at the 20nm node in order to get any IC yield. DPT is also part of Multiple-Patterning.… Read More


Custom IC Layout Automation at DAC

Custom IC Layout Automation at DAC
by Daniel Payne on 06-20-2012 at 3:56 pm

Three people from Ciranova met with me at DAC this year: Eric Filseth (CEO), David Millman (Marketing) and Lindor Hendrickson (CTO). They gave me an update on how the Helix tools are being used to automate the layout of custom IC designs at 28nm and smaller nodes.… Read More