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A Brief History of SoCs

A Brief History of SoCs
by Daniel Nenni on 08-19-2012 at 10:00 am

Interesting to note; our cell phones today have more computing power than NASA had for the first landing on the moon. The insides of these mobile devices that we can’t live without are not like personal computers or even laptops with a traditional CPU (central processing unit) and a dozen other support chips. The brain, heart, and… Read More


Ex ante: disclose IP before, not after standardization

Ex ante: disclose IP before, not after standardization
by Don Dingee on 08-17-2012 at 3:46 pm

Many of the audience here are involved in standards bodies and specification development, so the news from the Apple v. Samsung on the invocation of ex ante in today’s testimony is useful.

I worked with VITA, the folks behind the VME family of board-level embedded technology, on their ex ante policy several years ago, and … Read More


I/O Bandwidth with Tensilica Cores

I/O Bandwidth with Tensilica Cores
by Paul McLellan on 08-17-2012 at 3:00 pm

It is obviously a truism that somewhere in an SoC there is something limiting a further increase in performance. One area where this is especially noticeable is when a Tensilica core is used to create a highly optimized processor for some purpose. The core performance may be boosted by a factor of 10 or even as much as 100. Once the core… Read More


What’s Next For Emerging Memories

What’s Next For Emerging Memories
by Ed McKernan on 08-17-2012 at 11:00 am

In doing some digging in preparation for the start of www.ReRAM-Forum.com Christie Marrian asks if ReRAM.CBRAM technology is approaching a ‘tipping point’ relative to NAND Flash. You can read more of his analysis over at the blog he moderates (ReRAM-Forum.com). Also a note to readers. The blog is interested in collecting new … Read More


2012 semiconductor market decline likely

2012 semiconductor market decline likely
by Bill Jewell on 08-16-2012 at 9:00 pm

The worldwide semiconductor market in 2Q 2012 was $73.1 billion, according to WSTS data released by the SIA. 2Q 2012 was up 4.7% from 1Q 2012 but down 2.0% from 2Q 2011. Major semiconductor companies are generally expecting slower revenue growth in 3Q 2012 versus 2Q 2012. The table below shows revenue estimates for calendar 3Q 2012… Read More


The Generational Legacy of Steve Jobs

The Generational Legacy of Steve Jobs
by Ed McKernan on 08-16-2012 at 12:00 pm

Truly great leaders are recognized by the impact they leave several generations down the road. Roosevelt and Churchill are two historical figures who together saved Western Civilization, thus leaving a tremendous legacy even now, two generations later. In the semiconductor world we mark our generations in the two-year cadence… Read More


SystemVerilog from Nevada?

SystemVerilog from Nevada?
by Daniel Payne on 08-16-2012 at 10:58 am

When I think of EDA companies the first geography that comes to mind is Silicon Valley because of the rich history of semiconductor design and fabrication, being close to your customers always makes sense. In the information era it shouldn’t matter so much where you develop EDA tools, so there has been a gradual shift to a wider… Read More


40 Billion Smaller Things On The Clock

40 Billion Smaller Things On The Clock
by Don Dingee on 08-15-2012 at 8:00 pm

Big processors get all the love, it seems. It’s natural, since they are highly complex beasts and need a lot of care and feeding in the EDA and fab cycle. But the law of large numbers is starting to shift energy in the direction of optimizing microcontrollers.

I mulled the math in my head for a while. In a world with 7 billion people and … Read More


What’s Inside Your Phone?

What’s Inside Your Phone?
by Daniel Nenni on 08-14-2012 at 7:35 pm

Now that the mobile market is keeping us all employed, take a close look at what is actually inside those devices we can’t live without. Before SoCs you could just read the codes on the chips. Now it is all Semiconductor IP so you have to do a little more diligence to find out what is really powering your phones and tablets. One thing you… Read More


Chip-Package-System Solution Center

Chip-Package-System Solution Center
by Paul McLellan on 08-14-2012 at 5:48 pm

One of the really big changes about chip design is the way over the last decade or so it is no longer possible to design an SoC, a package for it to go in and the board for the package using different sets of tools and methodologies and then finally bond out the chip and solder it onto the board. The three systems, Chip-Package-System have… Read More