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Design & Verification of Platform-Based, Multi-Core SoCs

Design & Verification of Platform-Based, Multi-Core SoCs
by Daniel Payne on 02-02-2012 at 11:16 am

Consumer electronics is a new driver in our global semiconductor economy as we enjoy using Smart Phones, Tablets and Ultra Books. The challenge of designing and then verifying the electronic systems to meet the market windows is a daunting one. Instead of starting with a blank sheet for a new product, most electronic design companies… Read More


3D Standards

3D Standards
by Paul McLellan on 02-01-2012 at 5:06 pm

At DesignCon this week there was a panel on 3D standards organized by Si2. I also talked to Aveek Sarkar of Apache (a subsidiary of Ansys) who is one of the founding member companies of the Si2 Open3D Technical Advisory Board (TAB), along with Atrenta, Cadence, Fraunhofer Institute, Global Foundries, Intel, Invarian, Mentor, Qualcomm,… Read More


21st Century Moore’s Law Providing Unforeseen Boost to Silicon Valley

21st Century Moore’s Law Providing Unforeseen Boost to Silicon Valley
by Ed McKernan on 01-30-2012 at 10:00 pm

It has been a great conundrum to many of the 20[SUP]th[/SUP] century trained economists and Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government folks as to why a government led massive spending spree and Ben Bernanke’s non-stop printing presses can’t at least engender a mediocre economic recovery.

I blame 21st century Moore’s Law!

Today’s… Read More


The Future of Lithography Process Models

The Future of Lithography Process Models
by Beth Martin on 01-30-2012 at 4:02 pm

Always in motion is the future. ~Yoda

For nearly ten years now, full-chip simulation engines have successfully used process models to perform OPC in production. New full-chip models were regularly introduced as patterning processes evolved to span immersion exposure, bilayer resists, phase shift masking, pixelated illumination… Read More


Semiconductor Packaging (3D IC) Emerging As Innovation Enabler!

Semiconductor Packaging (3D IC) Emerging As Innovation Enabler!
by Daniel Nenni on 01-29-2012 at 4:00 pm

The ASIC business is getting more and more complicated. The ability to produce innovative die at a competitive price to solve increasingly complex problems just isn’t enough. The technology required to package that die is now front and center.

Here, at the junction of advanced design, process technology and state-of-the art … Read More


Power Issues for Chip and Board

Power Issues for Chip and Board
by Paul McLellan on 01-29-2012 at 3:39 pm

Next week there are two Apache, a subsidiary of Ansys, events. At DesignCon there are a couple of workshops on chip-package-system (CPS). In addition to Apache themselves, each of the two workshops has a number of representatives of leading edge companies doing semiconductor design. I already blogged about this in more detail… Read More


Arteris vs Sonics battle: remind Clausewitz!

Arteris vs Sonics battle: remind Clausewitz!
by Eric Esteve on 01-29-2012 at 1:56 pm

I have bloggedbefore Christmas about the Arteris-Sonics war, initiated by Sonics, claiming that Arteris NoC IP product was infringing Sonics patent. We had shown in this post that the architecture of Sonics interconnects IP product was not only older but also different from Arteris’ NoC architecture: the products launched … Read More


SemiWiki and Mentor Graphics Seminar Series!

SemiWiki and Mentor Graphics Seminar Series!
by Daniel Nenni on 01-28-2012 at 10:49 am

For the greater good of the semiconductor ecosystem, SemiWiki and Mentor Graphics present SemiWiki Seminars, a free seminar and software demonstration series addressing the latest innovations in IC design. SemiWiki Seminars discuss interesting new challenges and potential solutions aimed at increased circuit density … Read More


Premier International Gathering for … Application Developers!

Premier International Gathering for … Application Developers!
by Daniel Nenni on 01-27-2012 at 8:53 pm


For the greater good of the semiconductor ecosystem, I have agreed to Co-Chair the 2012 International Conference on Engineering of Reconfigurable Systems and Algorithms (ERSA), the “Premier International Gathering for Commercial and Academic Reconfigurable Computing Application Developers”, July 16-19, 2012,… Read More


How Is Your IC Design Flow Glued Together?

How Is Your IC Design Flow Glued Together?
by Daniel Payne on 01-25-2012 at 2:36 pm

Most IC designers I talk to really enjoy the creative process of developing a new SoC design, debugging it, then watching it go into production. They don’t really like spending time learning how to make their EDA tools work together in an optimal IC design flow where they may have a dozen tools each with dozens of options. Fortunately… Read More