Of late, it has become painfully obvious that the value of electronics is in the system. And since systems demand continuing improvement, increasing performance and decreasing cost (once partially guaranteed by semiconductor process advances) is now sought through algorithm advances – witness the Google TPU and custom… Read More
Tag: semiconductor design
Top Ten #53DAC Highlights
Here is a very subjective list of the Top 10 logistical and technical highlights from DAC’53.
(10) With DAC attendance down from its peak days, the Austin Convention Center served as an excellent venue. There was good participation from companies with design centers in the “Silicon Hills”. And, I saw colleagues from Silicon Valley,… Read More
iDRM – A Complete Design Rule Development System
Design rules are at the heart of the interface between the foundry and semiconductor designers, which makes them so critical. Traditionally, design rules and DRC decks have been developed manually with no or little automation. Design rule definitions are written using WORD or other general purpose office tools, and DRC decks… Read More
Quick Guide to FD-SOI at #53DAC
If you’re headed to #53DAC (June 5-9 in Austin,TX) and are interested in learning more about FD-SOI, there will be lots of opportunities. Here’s a quick guide to get you started. … Read More
TSMC Leads Again with 3-D Packaging!
Continuing to find new ways to extend Moore’s Law, the foundry and technology leader is ready to show off its wafer level system integration prowess with two scalable platforms targeting key growth markets.
CoWoS® (Chip-On-Wafer-On-Substrate) goes after high-performance applications, providing the highest bandwidth and… Read More
What Does an MPW and a Pizza Have in Common?
Design starts are critical to the growth of the semiconductor industry so enabling them is a common theme on SemiWiki. One thing we have not covered in detail is multi-project wafer services (MPW) which is the equivalent of ride sharing through the initial mask and wafer process. Larger semiconductor companies already do this … Read More
"Re-Inventing" Tapeout Sign-off — Applying Big Data Techniques to Electrical Analysis
A common SoC design methodology in current use starts with preparation of the physical floorplan — e.g., block/pin placement, global clock domain and bus signal planning, developing the global/local power distribution (and dynamic power domain management techniques). Decoupling capacitor estimated densities and… Read More
Stop FinFET Design Variation @ #53DAC and get a free book!
If you plan on visiting Solido (the world leader in EDA software for variation-aware design of integrated circuits) at the Design Automation Conference next month for a demonstration of Variation Designer, register online now and get an autographed copy of “Mobile Unleashed”. Such a deal!
Solido Variation Designer is used by… Read More
The ASIC Business Model is Critical for the DIY and Maker Movements!
If you look back at the beginning of the ASIC business you will see that it was really a critical time in the semiconductor industry. It all began in the 1980s which coincidentally is when I started my career in Silicon Valley. General purpose integrated circuits ruled the market, forcing system designers to cobble together off-the-shelf… Read More
DAC 2016 – Register Now
DAC is again going to be in Austin (reason enough to go), from June 6[SUP]th[/SUP]-8[SUP]th[/SUP] for the main event. A number of events caught my eye:
- Monday AM – custom hardware for algorithmic trading. If you want to know more about FinTech (technology for finance) this could be for you
- Another Monday morning session on Linux