Atrenta, Forte and Jasper LOVE DAC

Atrenta, Forte and Jasper LOVE DAC
by Paul McLellan on 04-16-2013 at 8:20 pm

I LOVE DAC is back. This year the sponsors are Atrenta, Jasper and Forte (hey, all semiwiki subscribers). The way it works is that you register on the DAC website here and you get a free three-day exhibit pass. In addition to everything going on in the exhibit hall, including the pavilion panels held there, the pass also gives access… Read More


Wally Rhines: Embedded Software the Next Revolution?

Wally Rhines: Embedded Software the Next Revolution?
by Paul McLellan on 04-16-2013 at 8:10 pm

As seems to be traditional, Wally Rhines gave a keynote here at the GlobalPress Electronics Summit here in sunny Santa Cruz. It was entitled Embedded Software, the Next Revolution in EDA. Unlike Cadence and Synopsys, Mentor has a strong position in embedded software. It has been build up over a long time through a series of acquisitions… Read More


Cavendish Kinetics

Cavendish Kinetics
by Paul McLellan on 04-16-2013 at 8:05 pm

I have spent the last couple of days at the GlobalPress Electronics Summit at the Chaminade Resort in Santa Cruz. Hey, it’s tough, but someone has to do it. One interesting presentation was from Cavendish Kinetics. It is especially interesting because many years ago Cavendish was founded by Mike Beunder, who I know well since… Read More


Xilinx: Hide the RTL

Xilinx: Hide the RTL
by Paul McLellan on 04-16-2013 at 7:30 pm

Tom Feist of Xilinx presented here at the GlobalPress Electronics Summit about their strategy to take design abstraction up another level. In the SoC world, we are still pretty much stuck at the RTL level and have moved to higher abstractions by using an IP strategy. But at least all IC designers are RTL-literate.


Xilinx, in the Vivado… Read More


Variation-aware IC Design

Variation-aware IC Design
by Daniel Payne on 04-15-2013 at 4:18 pm

We’ve blogged before about Layout Dependent Effects (LDE) on SemiWiki and how it further complicates the IC design and layout process, especially at 28nm and lower nodes because the IC layout starts to change the MOS device performance. There’s an interesting webinarfrom Cadence on Variation-aware IC Design, … Read More


Chasing DP Rabbits

Chasing DP Rabbits
by SStalnaker on 04-15-2013 at 4:00 pm

“Now, here, you see, it takes all the running you can do, to keep in the same place. If you want to get somewhere else, you must run at least twice as fast as that!”
—Lewis Carroll, Through the Looking Glass

The use of stitching can greatly reduce the number of double patterning (DP) decomposition violations that a designer has to resolve.… Read More


TSMC Responds to Samsung!

TSMC Responds to Samsung!
by Daniel Nenni on 04-12-2013 at 10:00 pm

This was the 19[SUP]th[/SUP] annual TSMC Symposium and by far the best I have attended. Finally tired of the misinformation that plagues our industry, TSMC set the record straight with wafer and silicon correlated data. TSMC shipped more than 88 MILLION logic wafers in 2012, more than any other semiconductor company, that gives… Read More


How to make ESL really work – see EDPS

How to make ESL really work – see EDPS
by John Swan on 04-12-2013 at 6:53 pm

The Electronic Design Process Symposium (EDPS) is April 18 & 19 in Monterey. The workshop style Symposium is in its 20[SUP]th[/SUP] year. The first session is titled “ESL & Platforms”, which immediately follows the opening Keynote address by Ivo Bolsens, CTO of Xilinx.

In his keynote presentation Ivo will present how… Read More


Berkeley Design Automation and the Cadence Legal Action!

Berkeley Design Automation and the Cadence Legal Action!
by Daniel Nenni on 04-11-2013 at 7:30 pm

SemiWiki broke the story yesterday about the Cadence legal action against Berkeley Design Automation and today I spent time with customers of both companies in Silicon Valley getting reactions. That is the advantage of working in Silicon Valley for almost 30 years, if you don’t know the right people, you certainly know the people… Read More


Fabless to OIP

Fabless to OIP
by Paul McLellan on 04-10-2013 at 7:22 pm

Suk Lee drew the short straw at the TSMC Symposium yesterday, with the 5pm slot. Not only late in the day but between all the attendees and free beer. The morning sessions had been standing room only, with several hundred standees (as they call them on muni around here, but isn’t a standee really someone being stood on?). But … Read More