One of the strengths of the fabless semiconductor ecosystem is competition since it keeps innovation high and prices low. One of the challenges of fostering competition is that you have to make good on a threat of using a competing product during a pricing negotiation. Well, in my opinion, for the next version of the iPhone, Apple… Read More
Tag: semieda
EDA Plus ARM Equals Big Views!
In looking at the SemiWiki analytics, one of the top search terms that brings traffic to our site is ARM, just about anything ARM. In fact, that’s what the next SemiWiki book will be about. Yes, ARM is that interesting. While EDA is also one of our top search terms, EDA+ARM will get the most views, absolutely. And let’s face it, bloggers… Read More
Do you check your circuit DC stability?
Most analog designers are aware of loops stability. In most cases, stability is understood as AC stability, the goal is ensuring enough phase (gain) margin so as to avoid the loop to enter oscillation. But prior to studying AC stability, DC stability should be questioned. What is that DC stability only few people think of?… Read More
Distributed RLCK Models for Transmission Lines in High Speed Applications
Design engineers frequently struggle with transmission line design and modeling. We can define a length of interconnect that contains more than 1/100th of a wavelength as a transmission line. This seems to be the breakpoint where distributed effects to start to become significant. To improve circuit performance these long … Read More
Semiconductor Revenue Trends
Image Source: Wikipedia
Nescire autem quid ante quam natus sis acciderit, id est semper esse puerum. (Not to know what happened before you were born is to remain forever a child.)–Cicero
2014 is destined to be a pivotal year for Silicon Valley and High Tech in general. End user markets have been stagnating or declining over the last… Read More
How to Beat a New Entrant with Superior EDA tool
How to handle a new entrant with superior product quality is a point of worried to all EDA companies. Due to continuous research happenings and relatively lower investment requirement new and new EDA start-ups are coming in EDA domains regularly. In several situations, these start-ups offer product of superior quality in terms… Read More
The Internet of Things @ SEMICON West 2014!
Clearly I’m a fan of IoT in regards to the future of the fabless semiconductor industry. The fabless semiconductor transformation unleashed all sorts of innovation giving us the SoC and the life changing mobile devices SoCs enable. Unfortunately modern SoC design is expensive and raising capital for semiconductor start-ups… Read More
What can you do when your fab closes down?
A recent report from IC Insights described 72 wafer fabs that have closed in the past five years. Eight more plants have gone in 2014, showing the trend is continuing.
This leaves their customers with a problem: what can they do when the fab shuts down? Some may recognise that their own technology has reached the end of its life and work… Read More
Is SOI Really Less Expensive?
Introduction
There have been some claims made recently that planar Fully Depleted Silicon On Insulator (FDSOI) is less expensive than bulk planar processes and FinFETs at various nodes. Some of these claims suggest that FinFETs in particular are significantly more expensive. My company, IC Knowledge LLC produces the most widely… Read More
The “Key” to Reality
If we wanted to reduce the definition of authentication to its most Zen-like simplicity, we could say authentication is “keeping things real.” To keep something real you need to have some sort of confirmation of its identity, as confirmation is the key (so to speak).… Read More