Ten Ways Your Synchronizer MTBF May Be Wrong

Ten Ways Your Synchronizer MTBF May Be Wrong
by Jerry Cox on 08-25-2013 at 10:30 pm

Estimating the MTBF of an SoC should always include an analysis of synchronizer reliability. Contemporary process nodes are introducing new challenges to the reliability of clock domain crossings so it is prudent to revisit how your simulation tool calculates a synchronizer’s MTBF. Let’s list the ten most common pitfalls.… Read More


Low-Power Design Analysis and Optimization for Mobile and High-Performance Computing Applications

Low-Power Design Analysis and Optimization for Mobile and High-Performance Computing Applications
by Daniel Payne on 08-23-2013 at 7:36 pm

For several decades now consumers like me have enjoyed using mobile devices including:

  • Transistor radios, my first one had just 6 discreet transistors in the 1960’s
  • HP 21 Calculator, used in college with Reverse Polish Notation, circa 1976
  • Zenith Data Systems laptop, with two floppy drives, 1980’s
  • Palm Pilot V,
… Read More

20nm IC production needs more than a ready Foundry

20nm IC production needs more than a ready Foundry
by Pawan Fangaria on 08-23-2013 at 11:00 am

I think by now all of us know, or have heard about 20nm process node, its PPA (Power, Performance, Area) advantages and challenges (complexity of high design size and density, heterogeneity, variability, stress, lithography complexities, LDEs and so on). I’m not going to get into the details of these challenges, but will ponder… Read More


Web-based Circuit Design and Analysis

Web-based Circuit Design and Analysis
by Daniel Payne on 08-21-2013 at 11:27 am

Last month I blogged about CircuitLaband received some two dozen comments, so clearly there is keen interest in using web-based tools for electronic circuit design and using the cloud to save designs plus run simulations. Today I’m reporting on TINACloud, provided by a company called DesignSoft. … Read More


Calypto AMD Renesas and #50DAC

Calypto AMD Renesas and #50DAC
by Daniel Nenni on 05-28-2013 at 10:00 am

This year for DAC, Calypto has assembled an impressive lineup of customer presentation, suite sessions and Designer Tracks. To start with customer presentation, Steve Kommrusch, Fellow Design Engineer from AMD will be giving a talk in the Calypto Suite on AMD’s methodology for low power and will show how AMD was able to get further… Read More


The Only DM Platform Integrated with All Major Analog and Custom IC Design Flows

The Only DM Platform Integrated with All Major Analog and Custom IC Design Flows
by Daniel Nenni on 05-22-2013 at 10:00 am

As I have mentioned before, Cliosoft is the biggest little company in EDA with the most talked about products on SemiWiki. At DAC, ClioSoft will introduce integrated SOS design management (DM) solutions providing revision control, design management and multi-site team collaboration for Aglient Technologies’ Advanced Design… Read More


Cliosoft CEO on Design Collaboration Challenges!

Cliosoft CEO on Design Collaboration Challenges!
by Daniel Nenni on 05-12-2013 at 8:30 pm

Cliosoft was one of the first SemiWiki subscribers and it is a pleasure to work with them. They have one of the busiest landing pages with more than 30 articles authored by Daniel Payne, Paul McLellan, and myself. Srinath and I have lunch occasionally and exchange ideas, observations, and experiences:

Q: What are the specific design… Read More


Is my Library or Semi IP really OK to use?

Is my Library or Semi IP really OK to use?
by Daniel Payne on 05-10-2013 at 11:42 am

The tremendous growth in IC and SoC design complexity has now enabled engineers to place bilions of transistors on a single chip. To make that growth possible design teams resort to using libraries and semi IP provided by other groups in their company, or outside IP vendors. To lower risk, you must know that the IP being used in your… Read More


More Injustice in EDA Lawsuits

More Injustice in EDA Lawsuits
by Daniel Payne on 05-06-2013 at 6:38 pm

ss ipad

There’s a one-person EDA start-up called iSchematics.com that offers schematic capture and cloud-based simulation for both web browsers and mobile devices like the iPhone and iPad that is being sued. I’ve blogged about their EDA tools before:

… Read More

A Programmable Electrical Rule Checker

A Programmable Electrical Rule Checker
by Daniel Payne on 04-29-2013 at 11:21 pm

IC designers involved with physical design are familiar with acronyms like DRC (Design Rule Check), LVS (Layout Versus Schematic) and DFM (Design For Manufacturing), but how would you go about checking for compliance with ESD (Electro Static Discharge) rules? You may be able to kludge something together with your DRC tool and… Read More