September 2015 - Page 3 of 11 - Semiconductor Engineering


Don’t Forget To Consider Productivity In Semiconductor IP Evaluations


When companies consider purchasing Semiconductor IP (SIP), they often have a strict procedure for evaluating third-party vendors and their products. If they don’t have a set way of evaluating IP, the Global Semiconductor Alliance (GSA) has developed a Hard IP Licensing Risk Assessment Tool to aid in assessing the value of IP (there is also a quality assessment tool). This aid is part of the G... » read more

The Next Level Of Abstraction For System Design


Recently there have been a lot of discussions again about the next level of design abstraction for chip design. Are we there yet? Will we ever get there? Is it SystemC? UML/SysML perhaps? I am taking the approach of simply claiming victory: Over the last 20 years we have moved up beyond RTL in various areas—just in a fragmented way. However, the human limitations on our capacity for processin... » read more

What ESL Is Really About


There has been an almost constant disagreement between the generally held view about what ESL is and my own views on the subject. It is not completely surprising, given that I have spent most of my time as a verification specialist working within the EDA industry. EDA has been driven by design, and all of the largest EDA companies grew out of advances on the design side. [getkc id="10" kc_na... » read more

The Price Of Consolidation


Consolidation is causing far-reaching changes across the global semiconductor ecosystem due to the size of companies being bought and the dearth of startups to replenish those being acquired. Coupled with the rising cost and difficulty of shrinking features down to advanced process nodes—many argue that is the largest driver of consolidation—the market dynamics for who's buying IP, EDA t... » read more

Developing Effective Design Strategies For Today’s Wearable Devices


While many new fitness bands, smartwatches, and other wearable devices have entered the market, most have under-whelmed prospects and users. It is quite clear the wearable industry is in its infancy and fraught with growing pains. Software developers, embedded systems architects and engineers must take heed in the early miscalculations of these devices (whether it’s functionality, utility, pr... » read more

Property Synthesis Throughout The Design Flow For Application In Formal Verification, Simulation, And Emulation


This white paper describes the JasperGold Property Synthesis Apps, members of a family of interoperable, application-specific formal verification solutions that addresses verification challenges throughout the design flow. The Apps synthesize both behavioral and structural properties — also known as assertions — for use in formal verification, simulation and emulation. They significantly in... » read more

FinFET Technology


This white paper discusses the major challenges with FinFETs and how TSMC has been collaborating with Synopsys, one of their ecosystem partners, to deliver a complete solution. Key elements of this solution include comprehensive FinFET profiling without impact to design tool runtime and proven, verified IP availability. The TSMC 16-nm FinFET solution will ensure mutual customers swiftly move to... » read more

SoC Verification Made Easy With Aldec HES-DVM


As designs grow larger, the time spent verifying a project is growing longer as well. As a solution, some companies are trying to ‘shift-left’ their schedules. Verification via software simulators is not fast enough for large System-on-Chip (SoC) design projects, therefore one option is to use an FPGA emulator to speed up the design process. But what happens when a bug occurs? This document... » read more

Blog Review: Sept. 23


From the International Motor Show (IAA) in Frankfurt, NXP's Birgit Ahlborn brings us a discussion with on the challenges to building trust in connected cars and intelligent transport systems, and what is needed to ensure security in a world of connected mobility. From the world's largest aircraft to terahertz wireless to the launch of a partially reusable orbital rocket, innovation is in the... » read more

ESL: 20 Years Old, 10 To Go


It is a common perception that the rate of technology adoption accelerates. In 1873, the telephone was invented and, after 46 years, it had been adopted by one-quarter of the U.S. population. Television, invented in 1926 took 26 years. The PC in 1975 took just 16 years. It took only 7 years after the introduction of the Internet in 1991 before it was seeing significant levels of adoption. So... » read more

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