Previously, I examined chip design in the late 1970s and early 1980s. It was a nostalgic ride – thanks to all those who shared their stories. I enjoyed reading all of them. I drew two basic conclusions in the prior post:
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Tag: semiconductor design
Beware of Parameter Variability in Clock Domain Crossings
How should we assess the risk of harmful metastability in a clock domain crossing (CDC) when the semiconductor process has significant parameter variability? One possibility is to determine the MTBF of a synchronizer at the worst-case corner of the CDC. But that approach has some conflicting complications:
- Synchronizer failures
Feed Your Mind and Body at 52nd DAC!
My beautiful wife and I attend the Design Automation Conference together whenever possible. More so now that she is the co-founder and CFO of SemiWiki. It is really nice for her to put a face to the invoices and personally thank our subscribers. Her first DAC was 1985 in Las Vegas. We were married for less than a year so it was like a second… Read More
Chip Design Problems Remain the Same, More or Less
For those who may not know me, here is a brief introduction. I started in the semiconductor business when RCA was still making vacuum tubes and I wrote EDA software before there was an EDA industry. I’ve designed and sold chips and developed, sold and used EDA tools at companies as big as General Electric and as small as seven people.… Read More
The 2015 DAC Designer and IP Track
What an exciting year for DAC with record submissions in nearly every category. Most impressive is the increase in Designer and IP Track submissions, content that is helping to continue to evolve and improve the show. If you haven’t already registered, why not do so now?
A brief bit of background about the conference: DAC’s roots… Read More
SecurCore: Modern Hardware Security Approach
The increasing number of interconnected devices grows day by day and has slowly begun expansion into other consumer products. The need for safe, efficient, and reliable systems that meet modern user expectations has become increasingly important as a result. SoC engineers addressing these challenges must consider design … Read More
Advances in Nanometer Analog and Mixed Signal Design!
Mentor’s annual user group meeting at the Doubletree Hotel in San Jose, CA is coming up on Tuesday, April 21[SUP]st[/SUP]. This complementary event provides a unique opportunity to share design techniques and exchange ideas with other users and experts in the design community. As you may have read I am the star of the show; moderating… Read More
These Energy-Saving, Batteryless Chips Could Soon Power The Internet Of Things
Power consumption is always a major concern in the field of electronics, especially as the circuits controlling these electronics shrink in size while also growing in complexity. Utilizing a fairly new, ultra-low power technique known as a sub-threshold voltage mode for transistors operating in the circuit, the company named… Read More
The Changing Foundry Landscape: Trends and Challenges!
This will be a year of change for the fabless semiconductor ecosystem, absolutely. Last year we were wondering how Samsung Mobile was going to compete with the China clones and other low end smart phones. We now know the answer to that question thanks to the Chipworks tear down of the Galaxy S6. SemiWiki IP expert Dr. Eric Esteve blogged… Read More
Apple’s ARMed History
Apple has redefined three industries within a decade: media player with the iPod, mobile handset with the iPhone and portable computers with the iPad. If there is anything common in these three game-changing product development stories other than Apple, it’s the ARM footprint. Even now the technology media is abuzz with speculation… Read More