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How Much Cost Reduction Will 450mm Wafers Provide

How Much Cost Reduction Will 450mm Wafers Provide
by Paul McLellan on 09-28-2012 at 9:05 pm

I’ve been digging around the Interwebs a bit trying to find out what the received wisdom is about how big a cost reduction can be expected if and when we transition to 450mm (18″) wafers from today’s standard of 300mm (12″). And the answers are totally all over the place. They vary from about a 30% cost reduction… Read More


A Brief History of RTL Design

A Brief History of RTL Design
by Daniel Payne on 09-27-2012 at 9:00 pm

300px Register transfer level   example toggler.svg

RTL is an acronym for Register Transfer Level and refers to a level of hardware design abstraction using Registers and logic gates. Here’s an example schematic showing one DFF as a register, and one inverter as a logic gate.


Figure 1: RTL diagram of a DFF (D Flip Flop) and InverterRead More


Variation at 28-nm with Solido and GLOBALFOUNDRIES

Variation at 28-nm with Solido and GLOBALFOUNDRIES
by Kris Breen on 09-27-2012 at 9:00 pm

At DAC 2012 GLOBALFOUNDRIES and Solido presented a user track poster titled “Understanding and Designing for Variation in GLOBALFOUNDRIES 28-nm Technology” (as was previously announced here). This post describes the work that we presented.

We set out to better understand the effects of variation on design at 28-nm. In particular,… Read More


Will Paul Otellini Convince Tim Cook to Fill Intel’s Fabs?

Will Paul Otellini Convince Tim Cook to Fill Intel’s Fabs?
by Ed McKernan on 09-27-2012 at 8:30 pm

An empty Fab is a terrible thing to waste, especially when it is leading edge. By the end of the year Intel will, by my back of the envelope calculation, be sitting with the equivalent of one idle 22nm Fab (cost $5B). What would you do if you were Paul Otellini?

Across the valley, in Cupertino, you have Tim Cook, whose modus operandi is … Read More


Samsung going vertical Qualcomm cry CEVA laugh

Samsung going vertical Qualcomm cry CEVA laugh
by Eric Esteve on 09-27-2012 at 11:09 am

These last days have been full of Apple related stories; maybe it’s time to discuss a new topic? Like for example Samsung, direct competitor for Apple in the smartphone market, and take a look at the company move toward more vertical integration. Everybody working in the SC industry knows that Samsung is ranked #2 behind Intel, even… Read More


A Brief History of Atrenta and RTL Design

A Brief History of Atrenta and RTL Design
by Daniel Nenni on 09-26-2012 at 7:41 pm

We’re plagued by acronyms in this business. Wikipedia defines RTL as follows: “In digital circuit design, register-transfer level (RTL) is a design abstraction which models a synchronous digital circuit in terms of the flow of digital signals (data) between hardware registers, and the logical operations performed on those… Read More


Mentor Graphics Update at TSMC 2012 OIP

Mentor Graphics Update at TSMC 2012 OIP
by Daniel Payne on 09-26-2012 at 10:45 am

What
In just 20 days you can get an update on four Mentor Graphics tools as used in the TSMC Open Innovation Platform (OIP). Many EDA and IP companies will be presenting along with Mentor, so it should be informative for fabless design companies in Silicon Valley doing business with TSMC.
Read More


iPhone 5: Boost to semiconductor market?

iPhone 5: Boost to semiconductor market?
by Bill Jewell on 09-25-2012 at 11:03 pm

The release of Apple’s iPhone 5 has led to much speculation on its impact on the economy. An analyst at J.P. Morgan estimated the iPhone 5 could add $3.2 billion to U.S. GDP in the fourth quarter, adding ¼ to ½ point to the GDP growth rate.

Analysts’ estimates for total iPhone sales in 4Q 2012 are in the range of 46 million to 50 million units.Read More


Aldec-Altera DO-254

Aldec-Altera DO-254
by Daniel Nenni on 09-25-2012 at 9:58 pm

As described in DO-254, any inability to verify specific requirements by test on the device itself must be justified, and alternative means must be provided. Certification authorities favor verification by test for formal verification credits because of the simple fact that hardware flies not simulation models. RequirementsRead More