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Variation-aware Design Survey

Variation-aware Design Survey
by Paul McLellan on 01-05-2011 at 5:56 pm

Solidohas run an interesting survey on variation-aware design. The data is generic and not specific to Solido’s products although you won’t be surprised to know that they have tools in this area.

What is variation-aware design? Semiconductor manufacturing is a statistical process and there are two ways to handle this in the design… Read More


Magma’s new version of Talus and updating infrastructure

Magma’s new version of Talus and updating infrastructure
by Paul McLellan on 01-04-2011 at 5:51 pm

One of the important but often unrecognized aspects of engineering is re-building the infrastructure underneath key design tools. Sometimes this gives a new desirable capability but often a lot of the effort is simply to modernize the code base so that it is possible to continue development effectively going forward. For example,… Read More


The Ultimate SPICE Circuit Simulator

The Ultimate SPICE Circuit Simulator
by Daniel Payne on 01-03-2011 at 1:19 pm


I love SPICE and Fast SPICE circuit simulators, so here’s my feature list for the ultimate SPICE circuit simulator:

[LIST=1]

  • Input netlists – HSPICE, Spectre, ELDO
  • Multi-core support – parse and simulate fast and accurate
  • LRC Reduction – built-in LRC reduction with a few knobs to control accuracy
  • Tuning
  • Read More

    The Future of Semiconductor Design!

    The Future of Semiconductor Design!
    by Daniel Nenni on 12-26-2010 at 10:15 pm

    Is EDA still an appropriate term for what we do? What applications will drive future semiconductor design innovation? Will further consolidation be required for EDA to thrive again? They are all good questions, questions that will hopefully be properly addressed at the EDAC CEO Forecast and Industry Vision event next week but… Read More


    Semiconductor and EDA Forecasts 2011 / 2012

    Semiconductor and EDA Forecasts 2011 / 2012
    by Daniel Nenni on 12-19-2010 at 5:25 pm


    Of course these are rolling forecasts which means they change every month, until they get them right. The missing forecaster here is Mike Cowen, developer of the Cowan LRA Model which forecasts global semiconductor sales. Mike has 2011 at a hilarious 2.3%! Below are the mid year market forecasts which were revised significantlyRead More


    Mentor – Cadence Merger and the Federal Trade Commission

    Mentor – Cadence Merger and the Federal Trade Commission
    by Daniel Nenni on 12-12-2010 at 5:33 pm


    More consolidation is coming to EDA and so is the Federal Trade Commission. Corporate raider Carl Ichan owns 15% of Mentor Graphics and now owns 1% of Cadence. Ichan buddy multi billionaire George Soros, a long time CDNS investor, just purchased more than 76 million convertible notes of MENT.You do the math…

    Unfortunately the FTC… Read More


    Webinar on Accelerating Analog Layout Productivity

    Webinar on Accelerating Analog Layout Productivity
    by Daniel Payne on 12-08-2010 at 11:58 pm

    MONROVIA, California – December 7, 2010 – With pressure to reduce time to market and with resources increasingly constrained, tools that can enable maximum productivity for analog and mixed-signal design are mission-critical. Tanner EDA, the catalyst for innovation for the design, layout and verification of analog and mixed-signal… Read More


    TSMC vs GlobalFoundries IBM Samsung

    TSMC vs GlobalFoundries IBM Samsung
    by Daniel Nenni on 12-05-2010 at 9:52 pm


    GlobalFoundries has brought the Common Platform Alliance back from the dead!?!?!?! Good thing too as it is probably their most comprehensive weapon against TSMC and answers the single biggest question customers have at 28nm and that is; Will there be enough CAPACITY?

    The Common Platform technology alliance hosted its first-ever… Read More


    Intel versus ARM (Linaro)

    Intel versus ARM (Linaro)
    by Daniel Nenni on 11-28-2010 at 11:35 am

    More than 2,500 companies will be exhibiting and more than 120,000 people will be attending the next Consumer Electronics Show(CES) and it is an easy bet that ARM processors will dominate the show yet again. In fact, my money is on ARM to dominate future generations of computing platforms (smartphones) due in large part to one simple… Read More