Semiwiki 400x100 1 final

Transistor Level IC Design?

Transistor Level IC Design?
by Daniel Payne on 08-26-2011 at 1:23 pm

If you are doing transistor-level IC design then you’ve probably come up against questions like:

  • What Changed in this schematic sheet?
  • How did my IC layout change since last week?

In the old days we would hold up the old and new versions of the schematics or IC layout and try to eye-ball what had changed. Now we have an automated… Read More


Third Generation DFM Flow: GLOBALFOUNDRIES and Mentor Graphics

Third Generation DFM Flow: GLOBALFOUNDRIES and Mentor Graphics
by Daniel Payne on 08-26-2011 at 11:17 am

calibre yield analyzer

Introduction
Mentor Graphics and GLOBALFOUNDRIES have been working together for several generations since the 65nm node on making IC designs yield higher. Michael Buehler-Garcia, director of Calibre Design SolutionsMarketing at Mentor Graphics spoke with me by phone today to explain how they are working with GLOBALFOUNDRIESRead More


Mentor catapults Calypto

Mentor catapults Calypto
by Paul McLellan on 08-26-2011 at 10:36 am

Mentor has transferred its Catapult (high level synthesis) product line, including the people, to Calypto. Terms were not disclosed but apparently it is a non-cash deal. Calypto gets the product line. Mentor gets a big chunk of ownership of Calypto. So maybe the right way to look at this is as a partial acquisition of Calypto.

It … Read More


20nm SoC Design

20nm SoC Design
by Paul McLellan on 08-25-2011 at 12:48 am

There are a large number of challenges at 20nm that didn’t exist at 45nm or even 32nm.

The biggest issues are in the lithography area. Until now it has been possible to make a reticle using advanced reticle enhacement technology (RET) decoration and have it print. Amazing when you think that at 45nm we are making 45nm features… Read More


Magic Media Tablet: illusion about a niche market?

Magic Media Tablet: illusion about a niche market?
by Eric Esteve on 08-24-2011 at 9:31 am

According with ABI research, worldwide annual media tablet shipments are expected to top 120 million units in 2015, which is more than decent for a niche market. But if you compare it with the smartphone market (you can find the smartphone shipments forecast here), media tablet will weight 15% in unit shipment of the smartphone … Read More


Itanium Neutron Bombs Hit HP Campuses, Oracle Looking for Survivors

Itanium Neutron Bombs Hit HP Campuses, Oracle Looking for Survivors
by Ed McKernan on 08-23-2011 at 11:37 pm

attachment

It was a series of Itanium Neutron Bombs detonating during the reign of 4 management teams (Platt, Fiorina, Hurd and Apotheker) that left HP campuses in Cupertino and Palo Alto in the custody of crickets. The devastation to employees and stockholders is absolutely immense and the current strategy calls for a further retreat into… Read More


Formal Verification for Post-silicon Debug

Formal Verification for Post-silicon Debug
by Paul McLellan on 08-23-2011 at 5:52 pm

OK, let’s face it, when you think of post-silicon debug then formal verification is not the first thing that springs to mind. But once a design has been manufactured, debugging can be very expensive. As then-CEO of MIPS John Bourgoin said at DesignCon 2006, “Finding bugs in model testing is the least expensive and most desired… Read More


Silicon One

Silicon One
by Paul McLellan on 08-23-2011 at 5:23 pm

I have talked quite a bit over the last few years about how the trend towards small consumer devices with very fast ramp times. For example, pretty much any time Apple introduces a new product line (iPod, iPhone, iPad…) it becomes the fastest growing market in history. This has major implications for semiconductor design … Read More


Cadence Verification IP Technical Seminar!

Cadence Verification IP Technical Seminar!
by Daniel Nenni on 08-22-2011 at 11:43 am

According to trusted sources it costs upwards of $50M to design a 40nm SoC down to the GDS. Semiconductor IP is a fast growing part of that equation and functional verification of that IP is critical. Hardware complexity growth continues to follow Moore’s Law but verification complexity is even more challenging. In fact, IP verification… Read More


WikiLeaks: Methodics vs IC Manage

WikiLeaks: Methodics vs IC Manage
by Daniel Nenni on 08-21-2011 at 4:00 pm

Human nature never ceases to amaze me. I understand the recent economic turmoil and looming National Debt has thrown us for a loop but please, let us all get some perspective here and in the words of Rodney King, “Can we all get along?”

A clever little scumbag recently registered the domain danielnenni.com and is now hawking event … Read More