Author's Latest Posts


Striking A Balance In Acoustic Inspection


Sound energy is a quick way to to spot voids, delamination, cracks, and other possible defects that are accessible from outside the chip or package, as well as some defects that are inside of chips. But acoustic inspection also is highly sensitive to different materials with different polarities, which can change the reflection of sound waves. Bill Zuckerman, product marketing manager at Nordso... » read more

Improving Image Resolution At The Edge


How much cameras see depends on how accurately the images are rendered and classified. The higher the resolution, the greater the accuracy. But higher resolution also requires significantly more computation, and it requires flexibility in the design to be able to adapt to new algorithms and network models. Jeremy Roberson, technical director and software architect for AI/ML at Flex Logix, talks... » read more

Chip Design CEO Outlook


Semiconductor Engineering sat down with Joseph Sawicki, executive vice president for IC EDA at Siemens Digital Industries Software; John Kibarian, president and CEO of PDF Solutions; John Lee, general manager and vice president of Ansys' Semiconductor Business Unit; Niels Faché, vice president and general manager of PathWave Software Solutions at Keysight; Dean Drako, president and CEO of IC M... » read more

The Impact Of ML On Chip Design


Node scaling and rising complexity are increasing the time it takes to get chips out the door. At the same time, design teams are not getting larger. What is needed is a way to automate the creative process, and to not have to start every design from scratch. This is where reinforcement learning fits in, with its ability to centralize and store “tribal knowledge. Thomas Andersen, vice preside... » read more

Chips Getting More Secure, But Not Quickly Enough


Experts at the Table: Semiconductor Engineering sat down to talk about the impact of heterogeneous integration, more advanced RISC-V designs, and a growing awareness of security threats, with Mike Borza, Synopsys scientist; John Hallman, product manager for trust and security at Siemens EDA; Pete Hardee, group director for product management at Cadence; Paul Karazuba, vice president of marketin... » read more

Challenges In Packaging 5G And 6G


Millimeter wave frequencies are essential for transferring more data more quickly, but they also require different packaging technology to minimize loss and drift. That opens up a number of tradeoffs around antenna in package, antenna on package, flexible circuits, and different substrates. Curtis Zwenger, vice president of R&D at Amkor Technology, talks about a host of new challenges rangi... » read more

LPDDR Flash In Automotive


New automotive architectures are raising challenges for how to utilize memory effectively and efficiently. An LPDDR interface for flash allows different processors to utilize multiple banks of flash memory, which in turn reduces latency and interference. Sandeep Krishnegawda, vice president of marketing and applications at Infineon, talks about the new zonal controllers in automotive design and... » read more

Challenges In Writing SDC Constraints


Writing design constraints is becoming more difficult as chips become more heterogeneous, and as they are expected to function longer in the field. Timing and power can change over time, and constraints need to be adjusted to that changing context. Synopsys’ Ajay Daga, group director for R&D at Synopsys, talks about the challenges in pushing constraints down to different hierarchical portions... » read more

Data Leakage Becoming Bigger Issue For Chipmakers


Data leakage is becoming more difficult to stop or even trace as chips become increasingly complex and heterogeneous, and as more data is stored and utilized by chipmakers for other designs. Unlike a cyberattack, which typically is done for a specific purpose, such as collecting private data or holding a system ransom, data leaks can spring up anywhere. And as the value of data increases, th... » read more

EDA Makes A Frenzied Push Into Machine Learning


Machine learning is becoming a competitive prerequisite for the EDA industry. Big chipmakers are endorsing and demanding it, and most EDA companies are deploying it for one or more steps in the design flow, with plans to add much more over time. In recent weeks, the three largest EDA vendors have made sweeping announcements about incorporating ML into their tools at their respective user eve... » read more

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