EDA Tools to Optimize Memory Design

EDA Tools to Optimize Memory Design
by Daniel Payne on 06-21-2012 at 8:15 pm

I met with Amit Gupta, President and CEO of Solido at DAC on Tuesday to get an update on their EDA tools used in the design of memory, standard cells and low-power. In 2012 they’ve expanded to add three new software packages: Memory, Standard Cell, Low Power. They must be doing something right because at DAC this year I see more… Read More


TSMC Threater Presentation: Solido Design Automation!

TSMC Threater Presentation: Solido Design Automation!
by Daniel Nenni on 06-17-2012 at 9:00 pm

For a small company, Solido has some very large customers and partners, TSMC being on of them. Why? Because of the high yield and memory performance demand on leading edge technologies, that’s why.

Much has been made of and will continue to be said on the march of Moore’s Law. While economics of scale and performance vs. power… Read More


Understanding and Designing For Variation in GLOBALFOUNDRIES 28nm

Understanding and Designing For Variation in GLOBALFOUNDRIES 28nm
by Daniel Nenni on 06-03-2012 at 8:30 pm

On Wednesday there is a User Track Poster Session that examines the design impact of process variation in GLOBALFOUNDRIES 28nm technology. For those of you who are wondering what process variation looks like at 20nm take this 28nm example and multiply it by one hundred (slight exaggeration, maybe).

Variation effects have a significant… Read More


Solido Design Automation Update 2012

Solido Design Automation Update 2012
by Daniel Nenni on 05-24-2012 at 10:27 am

Having spent a considerable amount of time with Solido, they were one of the founding members of SemiWiki, I can tell you that at 20nm the Variation Designer Platform is a critical part of the emerging 20nm design methodology. You can read more on Solido’s SemiWiki landing page HERE. It is well worth the click.

With technology… Read More


High-efficiency PVT and Monte Carlo analysis in the TSMC AMS Reference Flow for optimal yield in memory, analog and digital design!

High-efficiency PVT and Monte Carlo analysis in the TSMC AMS Reference Flow for optimal yield in memory, analog and digital design!
by Daniel Nenni on 11-01-2011 at 9:00 am

Hello Daniel,
I am very interested on the articles on the PVT simulation, I have worked in that area in the past when I worked in process technology development and spice modeling and I also started a company called Device modeling technology (DMT) which built a Spice model library of discrete components, such as Bipolar/MOS /POWER
Read More


Solido & TSMC Variation Webinar for Optimal Yield in Memory, Analog, Custom Digital Design

Solido & TSMC Variation Webinar for Optimal Yield in Memory, Analog, Custom Digital Design
by Daniel Nenni on 10-09-2011 at 4:01 pm

Solido has announced webinars for North America, Europe and Asia on October 12-13. They will be describing the variation analysis and design solutions in the TSMC AMS Reference Flow 2.0 announced at the Design Automation Conference this year.

“We are pleased to broaden our collaboration with Solido in developing advanced variation… Read More


PVT and Statistical Design in Nanometer Process Geometries

PVT and Statistical Design in Nanometer Process Geometries
by Daniel Nenni on 09-18-2011 at 9:00 am

On Sept 22, 2011, the nm Circuit Verification Forumwill be held in Silicon Valley, hosted by Berkeley Design Automation. At this forum, Trent McConaghy of Solido DA will present a case study on the TSMC Reference Flow 2.0 VCO circuit, to showcase Fast PVT in the steps of extracting PVT corners, verifying PVT, and doing post-layout… Read More


Variation Analysis

Variation Analysis
by Paul McLellan on 07-18-2011 at 1:33 pm

I like to say that “you can’t ignore the physics any more” to point out that we have to worry about lots of physical effects that we never needed to consider. But “you can’t ignore the statistics any more” would be another good slogan. In the design world we like to pretend that the world is pass/fail. But manufacturing is actually a statistical… Read More


Moore’s Law and Semiconductor Design and Manufacturing

Moore’s Law and Semiconductor Design and Manufacturing
by Daniel Nenni on 03-12-2011 at 4:51 am

The semiconductor design and manufacturing challenges at 40nm and 28nm are a direct result ofMoore’s Law, the climbing transistor count and shrinking geometries. It’s a process AND design issue and the interaction is at the transistor level. Transistors may be shrinking, but atoms aren’t. So now it actually matters when even… Read More


Variation-aware Design Survey

Variation-aware Design Survey
by Paul McLellan on 01-05-2011 at 5:56 pm

Solidohas run an interesting survey on variation-aware design. The data is generic and not specific to Solido’s products although you won’t be surprised to know that they have tools in this area.

What is variation-aware design? Semiconductor manufacturing is a statistical process and there are two ways to handle this in the design… Read More