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Give me a pair of wires, I’ll give you Ethernet in cars

Give me a pair of wires, I’ll give you Ethernet in cars
by Don Dingee on 11-27-2012 at 10:00 pm

A very astute gentleman said to me a few years ago that he’d seen a lot of networking technology come and go – Token Ring, FDDI, Fibre Channel, InfiniBand – but the only one that held up over time was Ethernet.… Read More


Anyone Can Build a Phone

Anyone Can Build a Phone
by Paul McLellan on 11-27-2012 at 2:49 am

Today’s Dilbert cartoon is about how anybody can build a smart phone. As if it was a technical problem these days. But back in the mid-90s it really was. All the contract manufacturers like Solectron and others figured that since they could build a PC they could build a phone. It turned out that building radios was really hard.… Read More


Will Andy Grove Save Intel By Recruiting Jen Hsun Huang?

Will Andy Grove Save Intel By Recruiting Jen Hsun Huang?
by Ed McKernan on 11-26-2012 at 10:00 pm

Intel may not know it but they are entering a crises moment due to the announced resignation of Paul Otellini that will not take place until May 2013. A six-month funeral with a 100,000 mourning employees will not calm customers who question whether to stick with the x86 PC roadmap much less the Atom mobile processors. A more dramatic… Read More


Second FPGA to the right, and straight on ‘til it works

Second FPGA to the right, and straight on ‘til it works
by Don Dingee on 11-26-2012 at 6:00 pm

In a fantasy world where there were no coding errors or integration issues, FPGA designs would fly straight through synthesis easily and quickly. Maybe that world does exist somewhere. For the rest of us, who have experienced the agony of running a large FPGA design – again – only to find another error and have to start over, there … Read More


Interview with David Eggleston on Rambus-Unity CMOx

Interview with David Eggleston on Rambus-Unity CMOx
by Ed McKernan on 11-26-2012 at 11:00 am

by Christie Marrian of ReRAM-Forum.com

Unity Semiconductor is a true veteran in the emerging memory/ReRAM field and was recently acquired by Rambus “one of the world’s premier technology licensing companies”. I must admit to being somewhat surprised by this acquisition when I first heard about it. Was this another example… Read More


ASIC Prototyping: Dini Group and Tektronix

ASIC Prototyping: Dini Group and Tektronix
by Daniel Payne on 11-25-2012 at 7:00 pm

Collaboration in EDA is nothing new, however you may not be aware of how the Dini Group and Tektronix have worked together on an FPGA prototyping platform to address issues like debugging with full visibility across an entire multi-FPGA design. At SemiWiki we’ve blogged a couple of times so far about the new debug approach… Read More


Dear Santa, please bring technology that brings us together

Dear Santa, please bring technology that brings us together
by Don Dingee on 11-23-2012 at 2:12 pm

Dear Santa,
It has been many years since I have written you. I was taught never to ask anyone for anything for myself, that it is a presumptuous and selfish thing to do, so this is not for me. I know you are busy filling the wish lists of children everywhere, but wanted to take a moment to ask for your help for everyone.… Read More


CEVA also bid to acquire MIPS… ARM still staying quiet?

CEVA also bid to acquire MIPS… ARM still staying quiet?
by Eric Esteve on 11-23-2012 at 4:21 am

We have seen in a previous post that Imagination Technologies has proposed to buy MIPS, in fact “MIPS operating business and certain patent properties, as well as license rights to all of the remaining patent properties”. Translated into understandable language Imagination has offered $60M for MIPS Processor IP core portfolio,… Read More


Tanner EDA Tops 1,200 Active Customers!

Tanner EDA Tops 1,200 Active Customers!
by Daniel Nenni on 11-22-2012 at 8:33 pm

It is always nice to see when an EDA company grows organically, versus inorganically by acquiring friends and foes. It is also nice to see when an EDA company invests in the fabless semiconductor ecosystem because, as we know, we are all in this together.

Tanner EDA celebrated its 25th anniversary this year by adding 149 new customers… Read More


Introduction to FinFET Technology Part III

Introduction to FinFET Technology Part III
by Tom Dillinger on 11-21-2012 at 5:30 pm

The preceding two Semiwiki articles in this thread provided an overview to the FinFET structure and fabrication. The next three articles will discuss some of the unique modeling requirements and design constraints that FinFET’s introduce, compared to planar FET technology.

Due to the complexity of FinFET modeling – … Read More