ICCAD: 30 years

ICCAD: 30 years
by Paul McLellan on 10-09-2012 at 9:00 pm

ICCAD is November 5th to 8th in the Hilton San Jose (downtown).

It is very off topic, but if you are British then November 5th is the rough equivalent of July 4th when there are fireworks displays all over the country. Britain is one of very few countries that transitioned from some sort of autocracy to a democracy without having a revolution.… Read More


Soft IP Quality Standards

Soft IP Quality Standards
by Paul McLellan on 10-09-2012 at 1:08 pm

As SoC design has transformed from being about writing RTL and more towards IP assembly, the issue of IP quality has become increasingly important. In 2011 TSMC and Atrenta launched the soft IP qualification program. Since then, 13 partners have joined the program.

IP quality is multi-faceted but at the most basic level, an IP block… Read More


Apache Dimensions of Electronic Design Seminars

Apache Dimensions of Electronic Design Seminars
by Paul McLellan on 10-07-2012 at 1:17 pm

Coming up are ANSYS/Apache seminars on Dimensions of Electronic Design. Watch the video where Arvind Shanmugavel gives some details about why you should attend. Probably most readers are in Silicon Valley, and the seminar here is on 18th at the Hyatt (next to Santa Clara convention center).

The seminars are free to qualified attendees.… Read More


A Brief History of RTDA

A Brief History of RTDA
by Paul McLellan on 10-05-2012 at 7:06 am

Andrea Casotto, the CEO of RTDA, started the company in Alameda in 1995, initially by himself, to market the FlowTracer software technology.

The early version of the technology was created as part of his PhD thesis at UC Berkeley, when Andrea sought automated ways to help engineering students who were having problems using EDA … Read More


EDA User: Rafaela Novais from TowerJazz Semi

EDA User: Rafaela Novais from TowerJazz Semi
by Daniel Payne on 10-04-2012 at 8:10 pm

While reading an article on DeepChip I found an interesting comment from Rafaela Novais, a Design Support Manager at TowerJazz Semi and decided to interview her to learn more about her experience as an IC designer and EDA tool user.

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High Frequency Analysis of IC Layouts

High Frequency Analysis of IC Layouts
by Daniel Payne on 10-03-2012 at 12:26 pm

IC designers of passive devices often use empirical approaches to perform High Frequency Analysis (HFA), however there is at least one new approach being offered by Mentor Graphics using a tool flow of:

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Dimensions of Electronic Design Seminars

Dimensions of Electronic Design Seminars
by Paul McLellan on 10-02-2012 at 6:37 pm

ANSYS and Apache are putting on a new series of seminars about designing future electronic systems. These are only getting more complex, of course, cramming more and more functionality into smaller portable devices with good battery life (and not getting too hot), integrating multiple antennas into a single platform, and TSV-based… Read More


Cooley on Synopsys-EVE

Cooley on Synopsys-EVE
by Paul McLellan on 10-02-2012 at 7:56 am

John Cooley has an interesting “scoop” on the Synopsys-EVE acquisition. The acquisition itself is not a surprise, it is the one big hole in Synopsys’s product line and EVE is the perfect plug to fill it. It was also about the only thing Cadence has (apart from PCB) that Synopsys does not.

The interesting thing … Read More


Converge in Detroit

Converge in Detroit
by Paul McLellan on 09-30-2012 at 10:04 pm

When I worked for VaST we went to a show that I’d never heard of in EDA: SAE Convergence (SAE is the Society of Automotive Engineers). It is held once every two years and it focuses on transportation electronics, primarily automotive although there did seem to be some aerospace stuff there too. This is an even year, Convergence… Read More


How Much Cost Reduction Will 450mm Wafers Provide

How Much Cost Reduction Will 450mm Wafers Provide
by Paul McLellan on 09-28-2012 at 9:05 pm

I’ve been digging around the Interwebs a bit trying to find out what the received wisdom is about how big a cost reduction can be expected if and when we transition to 450mm (18″) wafers from today’s standard of 300mm (12″). And the answers are totally all over the place. They vary from about a 30% cost reduction… Read More