AI For Circuit Design Quality, Productivity, And Advanced-Node Mapping


The future of circuit design, encompassing analog, RF/5G, and custom electronic circuits, is set to be revolutionized by the integration of generative AI tools. These advanced tools will not only enhance the quality of designs and boost designer productivity but also facilitate the mapping of designs from older semiconductor process nodes to more advanced nodes such as 3nm and below. This blog ... » read more

Megatrends At DAC


Spotting key trends over three days of a semiconductor design conference is a challenge, but some important ones come into focus after attending multiple sessions — AI/ML, chiplet integration, and heterogeneous integration in an SoC and package. Frank Schirrmeister, vice president solutions and business development at Arteris IP, talks about a variety of topics that fit under the DAC umbrella... » read more

What Does 2023 Have In Store For Chip Design?


Predictions seem to be easier to make during times of stability, but they are no more correct than at any other period. During more turbulent times, fewer people are courageous enough to allow their opinions to be heard. And yet it is often those views that are more well thought through, and even if they turn out not to be true, they often contain some very enlightening ideas. 2022 saw some ... » read more

Virtuoso ADE Assembler


Cadence Virtuoso ADE Assembler is an advanced design and simulation environment that extends the capabilities of Virtuoso ADE Explorer, adding all the tests needed to fully verify a design over all operational, process, and environmental conditions. As more analysis is required, users can take incremental advantage of the Virtuoso Variation Option to do more advanced statistical analysis on the... » read more

Custom Designs, Custom Problems


Semiconductor Engineering sat down to discuss power optimization with Oliver King, CTO at Moortec; João Geada, chief technologist at Ansys; Dino Toffolon, senior vice president of engineering at Synopsys; Bryan Bowyer, director of engineering at Mentor, a Siemens Business; Kiran Burli, senior director of marketing for Arm's Physical Design Group; Kam Kittrell, senior product management group d... » read more

Visually Assisted Layout In Custom Design


Avina Verma, group director for R&D in Synopsys’ Design Group, explains why visual feedback and graphical guidance are so critical in complex layouts, particularly for mixed-signal environments. » read more

Power Issues Rising For New Applications


Managing power in chips is becoming more difficult across a wide range of applications and process nodes, forcing chipmakers and systems companies to rethink their power strategies and address problems much earlier than in the past. While power has long been a major focus in the mobile space, power-related issues now are spreading well beyond phones and laptop computers. There are several re... » read more

Preparing For Bigger Changes Ahead


The semiconductor industry has undergone a fundamental shift over the past year, and it's one that will redefine chipmaking over the next decade or more. While the focus is still on building the fastest, lowest-power devices, whether that's by shrinking features or packaging them into blazing-fast 2.5D or fan-out configurations, these devices are being customized for specific use cases much ... » read more

Custom Vs. Non-Custom Design


Semiconductor Engineering sat down to discuss custom designs with Yong Pang, head of North American operations for [getentity id="22217" e_name="Imec"]; Phil Burr, director of portfolio product management for [getentity id="22186" e_name="Arm's"] embedded and automotive groups; Ambar Sarkar, chief technologist at eInfochips; and John Tinson, vice president of sales at Sondrel. What follows are ... » read more

Custom Chip Verification Issues Grow


With the transition to finFETs, design conditions have grown more intense. They now include a wider PVT range and less headroom. As a result, electronic systems for applications such as mobile, consumer, and automotive increasingly are becoming more difficult to design due to the exacting performance requirements of these applications. This is particularly evident in custom design, including... » read more

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