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IPL Alliance at DAC

IPL Alliance at DAC
by Daniel Payne on 06-20-2012 at 3:25 pm

Lunch on Tuesday at DAC was sponsored by the IPL Alliance and thankfully this year they skipped the attempt at humor and focused on interoperable PDKs. Presenting companies include: Synopsys, Dongbu HiTek, TowerJazz, X-FAB and Si2. Having both OpenPDK and iPDK on the same platform does sound like a peaceful co-existence to me,… Read More


Tensilica: We are #2 so we try harder

Tensilica: We are #2 so we try harder
by Paul McLellan on 06-20-2012 at 1:00 pm

The Linley group is the go-to source for information about the microprocessor market. If you go back to their roots in Michael Slater’s Microprocessor Report then they have been in the business for 25 years. We haven’t had microprocessors for that much longer. They just tagged Tensilica as being second in shipments… Read More


Atrenta Aquires NextOp

Atrenta Aquires NextOp
by Paul McLellan on 06-20-2012 at 10:00 am

Atrenta announced today that it is acquiring NextOp Software. NextOp sells a tool BugScope that provides assertion synthesis technology. This complements Atrenta’s SpyGlass products for improving the process for design of complex semiconductor IP and SoCs.

I went to Atrenta’s office to talk to Ajoy Bose (CEO)… Read More


Shape-based IC Routing at DAC

Shape-based IC Routing at DAC
by Daniel Payne on 06-19-2012 at 8:05 pm

IC place and route is a big challenge so we see many EDA companies creating tools. On Tuesday at DAC I met with Dave Noble of Pulsic to get an update.

Notes

Dave Noble, VP Operations (EDA since 2003), Sperry Univac since 1974
– had been an EDA distributor for Pulsic as well

More leads qualified on Monday than all days of last year … Read More


3D Thermal and Mechanical Stress for IC Packaging

3D Thermal and Mechanical Stress for IC Packaging
by Daniel Payne on 06-19-2012 at 8:02 pm

3D has been a growing buzz word in IC design and packaging for several years now, so it’s refreshing to actually find an EDA vendor that has developed tools to help analyze something like 3D thermal and mechanical stress at DAC. … Read More


Executive Opinion: The Future of EDA is Bright

Executive Opinion: The Future of EDA is Bright
by pravin on 06-19-2012 at 7:30 pm

The days following a major conference like DAC are a good time to reflect on the overall health and vibrancy of the electronic design automation (EDA) industry. I’ve been in EDA for 21 years and built two successful startups, and over the last couple of years, have witnessed some decline in both new talent and in venture investment… Read More


It takes an act of Congress…

It takes an act of Congress…
by Beth Martin on 06-19-2012 at 4:29 pm

Foreign students earn roughly two-thirds of the total engineering Ph.D.s earned in the U.S., yet there is no policy to allow, let alone encourage, them to stay in the U.S. after graduation. I was aware of this problem 14 years ago when I started working in EDA, but haven’t paid much attention since then.

So, I scoured the congressional… Read More


Selecting Non Volatile Memory IP: dynamic programming from Novocell Semiconductor lead to a lower “Cost Of Ownership”

Selecting Non Volatile Memory IP: dynamic programming from Novocell Semiconductor lead to a lower “Cost Of Ownership”
by Eric Esteve on 06-19-2012 at 9:07 am

NVM IP offering from NovocellSemiconductor is based on SmartBit, an antifuse, One Time Programmable (OTP) technology, and the OTP block are embedded in standard Logic CMOS without any additional process or post process steps and can be programmed at the wafer level, in package, or in the field, as end user requires. What makes Read More


What’s new with HSPICE at DAC?

What’s new with HSPICE at DAC?
by Daniel Payne on 06-18-2012 at 5:50 pm

One year ago I met with Hany Elhak of Synopsys to get an update on what was new with HSPICE in 2011, so this year at DAC Hany met me at the Synopsys booth for a quick update.

HSPICE has something called Precision Parallel so with 16 cores your IC circuit simulations will have about 10 x speed up compared to a single core.… Read More