Mentor ARM subscription signals ecosystem shift

Mentor ARM subscription signals ecosystem shift
by Don Dingee on 02-25-2016 at 4:00 pm

Since creating the landmark “all-you-can-eat” license with Samsung in 2002, ARM has inked several subscription deals with chipmakers and EDA firms. The latest ARM subscriber license deal just announced is for Mentor Graphics. What makes their strategy unique?… Read More


DDR4 is a complex interface to verify — assistance needed!

DDR4 is a complex interface to verify — assistance needed!
by Tom Dillinger on 02-16-2016 at 7:00 am

The design of parallel interfaces is supposed to be (comparatively) easy — e.g., follow a few printed circuit board routing guidelines; pay attention to data/clock/strobe signal lengths and shielding; ensure good current return paths (avoid discontinuities); match the terminating resistances to the PCB trace impedance;… Read More


How 16nm and 14nm FinFETs Require New SPICE Simulators

How 16nm and 14nm FinFETs Require New SPICE Simulators
by Daniel Payne on 02-07-2016 at 7:00 am

About 35 years ago the first commercial SPICE circuit simulators emerged and they were quickly put to work helping circuit designers predict the timing and power of 6um NMOS designs. Then we had to limit our circuit simulations to just hundreds of transistors and interconnect elements to fit into the RAM and complete simulation… Read More


Pathfinding to an Optimal Chip/Package/Board Implementation

Pathfinding to an Optimal Chip/Package/Board Implementation
by Tom Dillinger on 02-04-2016 at 4:00 pm

A new term has entered the vernacular of electronic design engineering — pathfinding. The complexity of the functionality to be integrated and the myriad of chip, package, and board technologies available make the implementation decision a daunting task. Pathfinding refers to the method by which the design space of technology… Read More


Mass customization coming to MEMS?

Mass customization coming to MEMS?
by Don Dingee on 12-18-2015 at 10:00 am

With the industry abuzz about the Apple purchase of a Maxim Integrated fab as a potential R&D facility for MEMS design, it begs the question: is creating a MEMS device that easy?

MEMS technology is approaching the same fork in the road where digital design encountered LSI four decades earlier. … Read More


Is That My Car on Fire?

Is That My Car on Fire?
by Daniel Payne on 12-14-2015 at 7:00 am

I was kind of shocked when the service manager at our local VW dealership told me that one of the wires in the ignition system of my wife’s New Beetle had started to overheat, melting the insulation and becoming a safety hazard. Why didn’t a fuze just blow, protecting the wiring from overheating? We decided to quickly … Read More


Mentor takes IoT devices to cloud and back

Mentor takes IoT devices to cloud and back
by Don Dingee on 11-27-2015 at 12:00 pm

Walking into the Mentor Graphics booth at ARM TechCon, I was greeted by my friends Warren Kurisu and Shay Benchorin. It was good to see them both again. They were poised in front of a table with a Samsung tablet and a small Wi-Fi-ish box, next to a large Samsung printer. The demonstration was similar to a lobby check-in process, where… Read More


Moore’s Law and Silicon Forest

Moore’s Law and Silicon Forest
by Daniel Payne on 11-04-2015 at 4:00 pm

When I first moved to Oregon in 1978 the largest industry was forestry, but then the endangered Spotted Owl was found and that put an end to many forestry companies and decimated the economy of many rural cities. Strangely enough it turns out that the Spotted Owl was found in great numbers across multiple states, so it never should’ve… Read More


Price of Admission $0.00 at Inaugural Silicon Valley Conference

Price of Admission $0.00 at Inaugural Silicon Valley Conference
by Beth Martin on 10-20-2015 at 7:00 am

Back in 2002, the Southwest DFT Conference was born and experts on design for test (DFT) and test got together to share ideas and talk to people in this industry that were trying to solve test challenges of the day.… Read More


IoT chipsets and enterprise emulation tools

IoT chipsets and enterprise emulation tools
by Don Dingee on 10-16-2015 at 12:00 pm

When most people talk about the IoT, it is usually all about wearables-this and low-power-that – because everyone is chasing the next huge consumer post-mobile device market. Mobile devices have provided the model. The smartphone is the on-ramp to the IoT for most consumers, with Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, and LTE, and maybe a dozen or … Read More