Power grids all over the world are already overloaded even without the slew of new electronic gadgets and cars coming out this year. At ISSCC, Dr. Jack Sun, TSMC Vice President of R&D and Chief Technology Officer made the comparison of a human brain to the closest thing available in silicon, a graphical processing unit (GPU).… Read More
With EUVL, Expect No Holiday
For a brief time in the 1990s, when 4X magnification steppers suddenly made mask features 4X larger, there was a period in the industry referred to as the “mask vendor’s holiday.” The party ended before it got started with the arrival of sub-wavelength lithography, and we all trudged back to the OPC/RET mines. Since then, the demands… Read More
Semiconductor Design Flows: Paranoia or Prudence
I was recently talking to a friend who works for a semiconductor company (I can’t tell you which one or how big it is. I am not even sure I can tell you that he/she works for a semiconductor company.) I was describing Semiwiki.com to him/her and this person thought it was a great concept but wondered how much of the site would be focused … Read More
Will Thunderbolt kill SuperSpeed USB?
And probably more protocols, like: Firewire, eSATA, HDMI …
Some of you probably know it as Light Peak, as it was the code name for the just announced (last week) Thunderbolt Intel proprietary interface, supporting copper (or optical) interconnect when Light Peak was optical only. This will make Thunderbolt easier to implement,… Read More
Intel Sandy Bridge Fiasco and EDA
I purchased two Toyotas last year and both have since been recalled. Why has Toyota spent $1B+ on recalls in recent years? Same reason why it will cost Intel $700M (which does not include reputation damage) to recall Sandy Bridge chip sets, because someone did not do their job! The WHAT has been discussed, lets talk about HOW it happened.… Read More
ISSCC Semiconductors for Healthy Living
Not only do I enjoy San Francisco, I really enjoy the International Solid-State Conference that was held in San Francisco again last week. This was ISSCC #57 I believe. ISSCC attracts a different crowd than other semiconductor conferences, probably because there are no exhibits and no sales and marketing nonsense, just serious… Read More
Semiconductor Ecosystem Collaboration
After 27 years in semiconductor design and manufacturing I actually had to look up the word collaboration. Seriously, I did not know the meaning of the word.
Collaboration:a recursive process where two or more people or organizations work together to realize shared goals, (this is more than the intersection of common goals seen… Read More
Wally Rhines DvCon 2011 Ketnote: From Volume to Velocity
Abstract:
There has been a remarkable acceleration in the adoption of advanced verification methodologies, languages and new standards. This is true across all types of IC design and geographic regions. Designers and verification engineers are surprisingly open to new approaches to keep pace with the relentless rise in design… Read More
Evolution of process models, part I
Thirty five years ago, in 1976, the Concorde cut transatlantic flying time to 3.5 hrs, Apple was formed, NASA unveiled the first space shuttle, the VHS vs Betamax wars started, and Barry Manilow’s I Write the Songs saturated the airwaves. Each of those advances, except perhaps Barry Manilow, was the result of the first modern-era,… Read More
Custom and AMS Design
For IC designers creating full-custom or AMS designs there are plenty of challenges to getting designs done right on the first spin of silicon. Let me give you a sneak peek into what’s being discussed at the EDA Tech Forum in Santa Clara, CA on March 10th that will be of special interest to you:
3D TSV (Through Silicon Vias) are… Read More
What would you do if you were the CEO of Intel?