July 2015 - Page 2 of 11 - Semiconductor Engineering

Prototyping To Help You Win The Battle
By Tom De Schutter - 30 Jul, 2015 - Comments: 0

Lately, my children and I are closely following a new show on ABC called “Battlebots”. The concept is as simple as it is cool—have a massive bulletproof arena where two remote-controlled robots battle it out until one is knocked out or the time is up (and a jury decides the winner). The battles are all about making physical contact with the other robot to either directly deal them damage ... » read more

7 Ways to Assess Semiconductor IP Quality
By Kurt Shuler - 30 Jul, 2015 - Comments: 0

Design teams today are struggling with the quality of semiconductor intellectual property. These teams want first-pass success for SoC creation, but that is becoming increasingly difficult to achieve—especially with highly configurable IP. Yet the more configurable the IP is, the more desirable it is as a differentiator. And if not developed correctly, it may be even more risky than non-confi... » read more

Consolidation Creates Confusion
By Mike Gianfagna - 30 Jul, 2015 - Comments: 0

Consolidation in any industry is a sign of maturation. Diverse business models converge to the ones that really work. Supply and demand find equilibrium with a right-sized supply base. And generally, the fittest survive. The semiconductor industry is somewhere around a half-century old, so consolidation in this industry is to be expected, and we have certainly seen some consolidation of late. ... » read more

Why DSA Is Cost Effective For 7nm And Below
By Yuansheng Ma - 30 Jul, 2015 - Comments: 0

The upcoming 7nm process node presents tough challenges both for printability and cost. At 7nm and below, multi-patterning is required, which makes the manufacturing process more expensive by requiring more masks. To control costs, any alternative technology that provides equivalent yields with fewer patterning steps should be explored. One promising option is to use directed self-assembly (... » read more

Tech Talk: USB Type-C
By Ed Sperling - 30 Jul, 2015 - Comments: 1

NXP's Ravi Shah explains how to design in the new USB standard, what to watch out for and why it's going to be so important for mobile and connected devices. [youtube vid=iPCwpaPy1pw] » read more

Analog FastSpice Platform Full-Spectrum Sampled Periodic Noise Analysis
By Mentor, a Siemens Business - 29 Jul, 2015 - Comments: 0

Many high-performance analog/mixed-signal ICs include track-and-hold circuits to sample analog signals at one or more discrete timepoints per period. Although track-and-hold circuits are periodic, traditional periodic noise (pnoise) analysis does not apply because it measures the device noise impact integrated over an entire period rather than at instantaneous time points within the target peri... » read more

Accelerate SoC Simulation Time Of Newer Generation FPGAs
By Aldec - 29 Jul, 2015 - Comments: 0

Comprehensive verification that can be provided by HDL simulators is good, but not ideal. What is necessary is a faster, safer, and more thorough verification environment that combines the robustness of an HDL simulator with the speed of FPGA prototyping boards. The goal is to put together the power of these two verification methodologies into one platform. To read more, click here. » read more

Is Your Automotive Software Robust Enough for Hardware Faults?
By Synopsys - 29 Jul, 2015 - Comments: 0

In this whitepaper, we will apply virtual Fault Mode and Effect Analysis (FMEA) concepts on a specific case study, an Electrical Vehicle Powertrain (EVP) system. We will show how this EVP system is refined from a Software-in-the Loop (SIL) level to a virtual Hardware-in-the-Loop level (vHIL), using a Virtualizer Development Kit (VDK). Hardware faults are applied to the resulting system and its ... » read more

Blog Review: July 29
By Jesse Allen - 29 Jul, 2015 - Comments: 0

NASA estimates they could reduce the cost of colonizing the moon to $10 billion, with mining fuel from the lunar surface potentially making the satellite a gas station on the way to Mars or beyond. This week's top five articles from Ansys' Bill Vandermark are mostly out of this world, but there's a down-to-earth aspect as airless tires roll closer to inclusion in consumer vehicles. How will ... » read more

Reliability After Planar Silicon
By Katherine Derbyshire - 29 Jul, 2015 - Comments: 2

Negative bias temperature instability (NBTI) poses a very serious reliability challenge for highly scaled planar silicon transistors, as previously discussed. However, the conventional planar silicon transistor appears to be nearing the end of its life for other reasons, too. The mobility of carriers in silicon limits switching speed even as it becomes more difficult to maintain sufficient elec... » read more

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