Designing SmartCar ICs

Designing SmartCar ICs
by Daniel Payne on 09-30-2014 at 7:00 am

When I upgraded cars from a 1988 to 1998 Acura it seemed like my car had become much smarter with a security chip in the key, security codes in the radio and a connector for computer diagnosis, however in today’s modern auto there’s a lot more mixed-signal design content. Micronasand Synopsysgot together and hosted … Read More


180nm still a big deal

180nm still a big deal
by Don Dingee on 05-07-2014 at 3:00 pm

When I was reading the recent Daniel Payne article “Designing Change Into Semiconductor Techonomics” with commentary on a recent presentation from Aart de Geus of Synopsys, one chart jumped out at me: the most popular process node for new design starts today is 180nm.

Upon mentioning that to a few of my IoT counterparts, they quickly… Read More


Mark your Date for Semiconductor Design Vision

Mark your Date for Semiconductor Design Vision
by Pawan Fangaria on 03-13-2014 at 4:30 am

A very popular acronym is ‘WYSIWYG’ – What You See Is What You Get! This is very true and is important to visualize things to make it better in various aspects such as aesthetics, compactness, organization, structure, understandable for correction and so on; the most important, in case of semiconductor design, is being able to identify… Read More


Mixed-Signal SoC Debugging & IP Integration Made Easy

Mixed-Signal SoC Debugging & IP Integration Made Easy
by Pawan Fangaria on 02-28-2014 at 7:30 am

A semiconductor SoC design can have multiple components at different levels of abstractions from different sources and in different languages. While designing an SoC, IPs at different levels have to be integrated without losing the overall design goals. Of course, quality of an IP inside and outside of an SoC must be tested thoroughly.… Read More


Xilinx’s Mixed Signal FPGA

Xilinx’s Mixed Signal FPGA
by Luke Miller on 01-28-2014 at 10:00 am

Something in all the Xilinx chatter of UltraScale 20nm, 16nm, having massive amounts of Gigabit transceivers, DSP blocks, RAM, HLS, Rapid Design Closure gets lost… and that is Xilinx’s ability for Mixed Signals. I do not mean when you are talking with the wife (Remember Listen!), but a wonderful block that lives within… Read More


Cadence’s Mixed-Signal Technology Summit

Cadence’s Mixed-Signal Technology Summit
by Randy Smith on 10-28-2013 at 1:45 am

On October 10, I attended another Cadence Summit, this one titled the Cadence Mixed-Signal Technology Summit. Recently, I had written about the Cadence Silicon Verification Summit. The verification event was the first of its kind, and I thought it had terrific content. Being more of a digital guy myself, I was unaware that Cadence… Read More


Mixed Signal SOC verification Webinar

Mixed Signal SOC verification Webinar
by Daniel Payne on 07-16-2013 at 8:29 pm

When looking at the time to design and verify an SoC we’ve known for many years now that the verification effort requires more time than the design process. So anything that will shorten the verification effort will have the biggest impact on keeping your project on schedule.

A second trend is the amount of Analog content in… Read More


When the lines on the roadmap get closer together

When the lines on the roadmap get closer together
by Don Dingee on 02-28-2013 at 12:53 pm

Tech aficionados love roadmaps. The confidence a roadmap instills – whether using tangible evidence or just a good story – can be priceless. Decisions on “the next big thing”, sometimes years and a lot of uncertain advancements away, hinge on the ability of a technology marketing team to define and communicate a roadmap.

Any roadmap… Read More


Integrating your SoC into the analog world

Integrating your SoC into the analog world
by Don Dingee on 01-02-2013 at 7:00 pm

Our world is decidedly analog, made up of stimuli for our five basic senses of sight, touch, hearing, taste, and smell, and more advanced senses like balance and acceleration. To be effective on the Internet of Things, digital devices must integrate with the analog world, interfacing with sensors and control elements.… Read More