Mentor Teaches Us About the Higg’s Boson

Mentor Teaches Us About the Higg’s Boson
by Paul McLellan on 09-17-2013 at 4:46 pm

Once a year Mentor has a customer appreciation event in Silicon Valley with a guest speaker on some aspect of science. This is silicon valley, after all, so we all have to be geeks. This year it was Dr Sean Carroll from CalTech on The Particle at the End of the Universe, the Hunt for The Higg’s Boson and What’s Next.

Wally … Read More


TSMC OIP: Mentor’s 5 Presentations

TSMC OIP: Mentor’s 5 Presentations
by Paul McLellan on 09-09-2013 at 6:30 pm

At TSMC’s OIP on October 1st, Mentor Graphics have 5 different presentations. Collect the whole set!

11am, EDA track. Design Reliability with Calibre Smartfill and PERC. Muni Mohan of Broadcom and Jeff Wilson of Mentor. New methodologies were invented for 28nm for smart fill meeting DFM requirements (and at 20nm me may … Read More


Real Time Concurrent Layout Editing – It’s Possible

Real Time Concurrent Layout Editing – It’s Possible
by Pawan Fangaria on 09-03-2013 at 2:00 pm

Layout editing is a complex task, traditionally done manually by designers, and the layout design productivity largely depends on the designer’s skills and expertise. However, a good tool with features for ease of design is a must. Layout productivity has been an area of focus and various features are constantly being added in… Read More


Test, The Forgotten Step-Child of Semiconductor Design

Test, The Forgotten Step-Child of Semiconductor Design
by Paul McLellan on 08-20-2013 at 7:56 pm

Somehow, when designing a chip it is synthesis and place & route that gets all the attention. But it is no good taping out perfect layout without also having away to test the silicon. Somehow, test just isn’t as glamorous.

On September 10-12th is the International Test Conference which, as usual, is at the Disneyland Hotel… Read More


Let’s Drive To Dearborn on 19th Sep….

Let’s Drive To Dearborn on 19th Sep….
by Pawan Fangaria on 08-15-2013 at 11:00 am


[The VLC developed by Edison2, winner of the Progressive Automotive X-Prize]

Now that we have “The Very Light Car” of the world at more than 100 MPG!! Yes, this is the car developed by Edison2, one among the three winners of the Progressive Insurance Automotive X-Prize, a global competition; Edison2 won in the main stream class. … Read More


Robust Design <- Robust Flow <- Robust Tools

Robust Design <- Robust Flow <- Robust Tools
by Pawan Fangaria on 08-10-2013 at 6:00 pm

I could have written the sequence of the title in reverse order, but no, design is the one which initiates the need of a particular flow and the flow needs support of EDA tools to satisfy that need. It’s okay if the design is small; some manual procedures and workarounds/scripts may be able to perform certain jobs. However, as the design… Read More


Best Practices for Using DRC, LVS and Parasitic Extraction – on YouTube

Best Practices for Using DRC, LVS and Parasitic Extraction – on YouTube
by Daniel Payne on 07-10-2013 at 1:21 pm

EDA companies produce a wealth of content to help IC engineers get the best out of their tools through several means:

  • Reference Manuals
  • User Guides
  • Tutorials
  • Workshops
  • Seminars
  • Training Classes
  • Phone Support
  • AE visits
Read More

Towards the 0 DPM Test Goal

Towards the 0 DPM Test Goal
by Paul McLellan on 07-10-2013 at 10:43 am

At Semicon yesterday I attended Mentor’s presentation on improving test standards. Joe Sawicki was meant to present but he was unable to get a flight due to the ongoing disruption at SFO after last weekend’s crash. I just flew in myself and it is odd to see the carcase of that 777 just beside the runway we landed on.

The … Read More


DAC: Wally’s Vision

DAC: Wally’s Vision
by Paul McLellan on 06-06-2013 at 3:07 pm

One new feature at DAC this year is that several of the keynotes are preceded by a ten minute vision of the future from one of the EDA CEOs. Today it was Wally Rhines’s turn. Wally is CEO of Mentor Graphics. He titled his talk Changing the World Through EDA. Since EDA as we know it started in the late 1970s, the number of transistors… Read More