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Ann Mutschler

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Ann Mutschler is senior executive editor at Semiconductor Engineering.

Author's Latest Posts

The Controversial Spec
By Ann Mutschler - 11 Jul, 2013 - Comments: 0

By Ann Steffora Mutschler Design sophistication and complexity has made it increasingly difficult to fully specify the expected behavior of a block in an SoC, but this is necessary for design and verification teams. How do you write a “good” and “complete” specification of functionality? It turns out that the discussion of defining what a good and complete specification is and how t... » read more

To DVFS Or Not To DVFS
By Ann Mutschler - 11 Jul, 2013 - Comments: 0

I’m in a great position to hear lots of interesting opinions about technology today and this week was no different. During a discussion with Atrenta CTO Bernard Murphy about power and performance tradeoffs, he mentioned that he is not hearing a lot of engineering teams using DVFS (dynamic voltage and frequency scaling) because it creates complications for clock synchronization and makes the d... » read more

System Bits: July 9
By Ann Mutschler - 09 Jul, 2013 - Comments: 0

New quantum computing algorithm Researchers at the University of California, San Diego, have proposed a new algorithm for quantum computing that they believe will speed a particular type of problem…but swifter calculations would come at the cost of greater physical resources devoted to precise timekeeping. The algorithm would be used to conduct a task called an unstructured search. The go... » read more

The Ubiquitous GPU
By Ann Mutschler - 27 Jun, 2013 - Comments: 0

By Ann Steffora Mutschler No matter the application area, GPUs are likely playing a role like never before—even to accelerate EDA software algorithms. It’s no wonder given the ability of GPUs to handle parallel processing much more effectively than CPUs. And when coexisting in a heterogeneous system, GPUs allow the design team to maximize efficiency and performance by allocating tasks... » read more

Watching And Waiting For DFP
By Ann Mutschler - 13 Jun, 2013 - Comments: 0

By Ann Steffora Mutschler Although the semiconductor industry has been talking about the need to optimize SoC designs for power for many years, it is safe to say it’s still in the very early stages of the 'Design for Power' approach. That’s not to say that methodologies and tools are not in place. There are actually a number of options available, depending on the level of abstractio... » read more

Reflecting on the Future
By Ann Mutschler - 13 Jun, 2013 - Comments: 0

Since returning from the Design Automation Conference, I’ve been reflecting on some very interesting discussions I had last week in Austin. The ones that are sticking with me concern the old, sequential algorithms that run EDA tools today. The fact is, given design complexity, they are running out of steam. As a result, the industry is looking at possibly leveraging GPUs since they may be ... » read more

The Growing Need For Behavioral Modeling
By Ann Mutschler - 30 May, 2013 - Comments: 0

By Ann Steffora Mutschler When it comes to behavioral or functional modeling, there is an inherent notion of function, architecture and interconnect. This approach has long been considered a future requirement, but in complex designs the future part no longer applies. Behavioral modeling is a way of isolating or abstracting out a key part of the architectural description and making sure i... » read more

Pitfalls In Subsystem Reuse
By Ann Mutschler - 30 May, 2013 - Comments: 0

By Ann Steffora Mutschler IP subsystems provide a ‘divide and conquer’ approach to SoC design by combining multiple IP blocks together to perform individual functions such as audio, graphics or video. The advantage of this approach is that these functions can be tested and verified at the unit level then integrated with the top-level SoC. This also facilitates reuse because each of ... » read more

3D Brings Test Into Fashion
By Ann Mutschler - 16 May, 2013 - Comments: 0

By Ann Steffora Mutschler As integral and critical as test is to the success of an SoC, it isn’t always one of those topics in semiconductor design that seems fashionable. But as Bassilios Petrakis, director of product marketing for test products at Cadence pointed out, “[Test] is not in fashion, but when we hit one of those brick walls then suddenly we have to think how we are going to... » read more

Cost vs. Value
By Ann Mutschler - 10 May, 2013 - Comments: 0

By Ann Steffora Mutschler The increasing amount of mixed-signal content being included in SoCs for automotive, networking and all manner of mobile devices is reinvigorating the mixed-signal industry. While this is great news for companies playing in anything related to mixed-signal technology, it also means increasing complexity for the engineering teams pulling all the pieces together. “... » read more

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