TSMC OIP Ecosystem Forum 2017 Preview!

TSMC OIP Ecosystem Forum 2017 Preview!
by Daniel Nenni on 08-23-2017 at 12:00 pm

The TSMC OIP Ecosystem Forum is upon us again. I have yet to meet a disappointed attendee so it is definitely worth your time: Networking with more than 1,000 semiconductor professionals, the food, mingling with the 50+ EDA, IP, and Services Companies, the food, and of course the content. The 7nm and 7nm EUV updates alone are worth… Read More


HBM offers SOC’s dense and fast memory options

HBM offers SOC’s dense and fast memory options
by Tom Simon on 08-22-2017 at 7:00 am

Dual in-line memory modules (DIMM’s ) with double data rate synchronous dynamic random access memory (DDR SDRAM) have been around since before we were worried about Y2K. Over the intervening years this format for provisioning memory has evolved from supporting DDR around 1995, to DDR1 in 2000, DDR2 in 2003, DDR4 in 2007 and DDR4… Read More


HLS update from Mentor about Catapult

HLS update from Mentor about Catapult
by Daniel Payne on 07-17-2017 at 12:00 pm

I recall back in the late 1980’s when logic synthesis tools were first commercialized, at first they could read in a gate-level netlist from one foundry then output an optimized netlist back into the same foundry. Next, they could migrate your gate-level netlist from Vendor A over to Vendor B, giving design companies some… Read More


LETI Days 2017: FD-SOI, Sensors and Power to Sustain Auto and IoT

LETI Days 2017: FD-SOI, Sensors and Power to Sustain Auto and IoT
by Eric Esteve on 07-07-2017 at 7:00 am

I have attended last week to the LETI Days in Grenoble, lasting two days to mark the 50[SUP]th[/SUP] anniversary of the CEA subsidiary. Attending to the LETI Days is always a rich experience: LETI is a research center counting about 3000 research engineers, but LETI is also a start-up nursery. The presentations are ranging from Read More


ARM, Infineon, Synopsys, SK Hynix talk AMS Simulation

ARM, Infineon, Synopsys, SK Hynix talk AMS Simulation
by Daniel Payne on 06-28-2017 at 12:00 pm

Every SoC that connects to an analog sensor or device requires AMS (Analog Mixed-Signal) circuit simulation for design and verification, so this year at #54DAC the organizers at Synopsys hosted another informative AMS panel session over lunch time on Monday. What makes this kind of panel so refreshing is that the invited speakers… Read More


First Thoughts from #54DAC!

First Thoughts from #54DAC!
by Daniel Nenni on 06-24-2017 at 7:00 am

This was my 34[SUP]th[/SUP] DAC, yes 34. It is a shame blogging did not exist back then because I would have liked to have read thoughts from my eager young mind, or maybe not. The first thing that struck me this year is the great content. Before DAC I review the sessions I want to see and this year there were many more than I had time for. … Read More


Don’t Miss “The IP Paradox” Panel @ #54 DAC!

Don’t Miss “The IP Paradox” Panel @ #54 DAC!
by Eric Esteve on 06-15-2017 at 12:00 pm

Despite the strong consolidation in the semiconductor industry, the Design IP market is still growing: from $3 billion in 2015 to $3.4 billion in 2016. That’s why the DAC IP Committee has organized this panel, titled “The IP Paradox: Growing Business Despite Consolidations” (you can see more on the events page: https://dac.com/eventsRead More


AIM Photonics Catching Its Stride as They Move into 2nd Year

AIM Photonics Catching Its Stride as They Move into 2nd Year
by Mitch Heins on 06-02-2017 at 7:00 am

AIM Photonics held its 2017 Proposers Meetings on May 24[SUP]th[/SUP] in Rochester, NY. The meetings included a review of AIM’s progress and strategic direction by their TRB (technical review board) and a session targeted at PIC (photonic integrated circuit) design for multi-project wafer (MPW) runs. While these discussions… Read More


FD-SOI in Japan?

FD-SOI in Japan?
by Adele Hars on 05-27-2017 at 7:00 pm

If you want to get your finger on the Japan FD-SOI pulse, registration is still open for a free, two-day workshop in Tokyo this week organized by the SOI Consortium. This is the 3rd Annual SOI Tokyo Workshop, and there’s a really interesting line-up of speakers.

In case you’re wondering, Japan is doing FD-SOI. In fact… Read More


CDC Verification for FPGA – Beyond the Basics

CDC Verification for FPGA – Beyond the Basics
by Bernard Murphy on 05-23-2017 at 12:00 pm

FPGAs have become a lot more capable and a lot more powerful, more closely resembling SoCs than the glue-logic we once considered them to be. Look at any big FPGA – a Xilinx Zynq, an Intel/Altera Arria or a Microsemi SmartFusion; these devices are full-blown SoCs, functionally different from an ASIC SoC only in that some of the device… Read More