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Mind the Gap — Overcoming the processor-memory performance gap to unlock SoC performance

Mind the Gap — Overcoming the processor-memory performance gap to unlock SoC performance
by Sundar Iyer on 07-06-2012 at 3:25 pm

Remember the processor-memory gap— a situation where the processor is forced to stall while waiting for a memory operation to complete? This was largely a result of the high latency required for off chip memory accesses. Haven’t we solved that problem now with SoCs? SoCs are typically architected with their processors … Read More


Cadence at Semicon West Next Week: 2.5D and 3D

Cadence at Semicon West Next Week: 2.5D and 3D
by Paul McLellan on 07-05-2012 at 5:32 pm

Next week it is Semicon West in the Moscone Center from Tuesday to Thursday, July 10-12th. Cadence will be on a panel session during a session entitled The 2.5D and 3D packaging landscape for 2015 and beyond. This starts with 3 short keynotes:

  • 1.10pm to 1.25pm: Dr John Xie of Altera on Interposer integration through chip on wafer on
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Minitel Shuts Down

Minitel Shuts Down
by Paul McLellan on 07-05-2012 at 5:02 pm

When I first came to the US, one project that we had going on at VLSI Technology was an ASIC design being done by a French company called Telic. The chip would go into something called “Minitel” which the France Telecom (actually still the PTT since post and telecomunications had not yet been separated) planned to supply… Read More


IC Design at Novocell Semiconductor

IC Design at Novocell Semiconductor
by Daniel Payne on 07-05-2012 at 12:09 pm

In my circuit design past I did DRAM work at Intel, so I was interested in learning more about Novocell Semiconductor and their design of One Time Programmable (OTP) IP. Walter Novosell is the President/CTO of Novocell and talked with me by phone on Thursday.… Read More


Managing Differences with Schematic-Based IC Design

Managing Differences with Schematic-Based IC Design
by Daniel Payne on 07-02-2012 at 2:41 pm

At DAC in June I didn’t get a chance to visit ClioSoft for a product update so instead I read their white paper this week, “The Power of Visual Diff for Schematics & Layouts“. My background is transistor-level IC design so anything with schematics is familiar and interesting.

The Challenge
Hand-crafted … Read More


IC Test Sessions at SEMICON West 2012

IC Test Sessions at SEMICON West 2012
by Beth Martin on 07-02-2012 at 1:43 pm

SEMICON West is coming up this July 10-12 at the Moscone Center in San Francisco. It covers a broad swath of the microelectronics supply chain, but I was particularly interested in the test sessions. Here are two that I recommend.

The Value of Test for Semiconductor Yield Learning” on Tuesday, July 10, at 1:30p. The… Read More


Cadence’s NVM Express: fruit from subsystem IP based strategy

Cadence’s NVM Express: fruit from subsystem IP based strategy
by Eric Esteve on 07-02-2012 at 11:24 am

If we look at SoC design evolution, we have certainly successfully passed several steps: from transistor by transistor IC design using Calma up to design methodology based on the integration of 500K + gates IP like PCIe gen-3 Controller, one out of several dozens of IP integrated in today’ SoC for Set-Top-Box or Wireless Application… Read More


Crushed Blackberry

Crushed Blackberry
by Paul McLellan on 07-02-2012 at 12:00 am

I wasn’t going to write about the cell phone business again for some time. After all, this is a site about semiconductor and EDA primarily. But the cell-phone business in all its facets is a huge semiconductor consumer and continues to grow fast (despite my morbid focus on those companies that do anything but).

But Research… Read More


Synopsys IP Strategy 2012

Synopsys IP Strategy 2012
by Daniel Nenni on 07-01-2012 at 7:30 pm

Synopsys is the dominant player in the commercial EDA and semiconductor IP markets so it is always interesting to hear what John Koeter, Vice President of Marketing for IP, Services and System Level Solutions, has to say. John presented “The Role of IP in a Changing Landscape” at the SemiCO IMPACT Conference and I talked to him again… Read More