Author's Latest Posts


How to Make Sure IP will Float in the Rough SoC Sea


Today a typical SoC includes hundreds of instances of IP modules both digital and analog. These IPs are typically verified individually by the vendors. The burden of guaranteeing functionality when placed in the midst of a monster SoC is typically left to the SoC owner. With increasing frequencies, tighter margins, denser integrated circuits, new devices and materials, the task of verifying So... » read more

Electromagnetic Analysis and Signoff: Cost Savings


By Nikolas Provatas and Magdy Abadir We are often asked by SoC design teams about the benefits of an electromagnetic analysis and signoff methodology. Here is an overview of some of the big “cost savings”. Time to Market Savings Utilizing an EM crosstalk analysis and signoff methodology provides designers with an “insurance policy” against the risk of EM coupling in their SOC des... » read more

Minimizing The Risk Of Electromagnetic Crosstalk Failures


Leading semiconductor markets, such automotive, machine learning, large scale computing and networking, are driving the need for high density chips that integrate high performance digital cores with sensitive analog/RF IP, while operating at the lowest power and fastest bandwidth possible. These trends are increasing the sensitivity to electromagnetic (EM) coupling, and requiring designers to w... » read more

Taking Inductance And Electromagnetic Effects More Seriously


By Magdy Abadir and Yehea Ismail With increasing frequencies, tighter margins, denser integrated circuits, new devices and materials, the necessity of full EM analysis including magnetic/inductive effects is becoming a fundamental question for the industry. Where and when should full EM verification be included? Can some of major chip failures during development be attributed to ignoring ... » read more

Is It Time To Take Inductance And Electromagnetic Effects On SoCs Seriously?


Electromagnetic (EM) crosstalk impact on SoC performance has been a topic of discussion for a number of years, but how seriously have designers put EM crosstalk detection and avoidance into their SoC design practice? With increasing demand for faster bandwidth, lower power and higher density electronic systems, isn’t it about time to take inductance and EM effects seriously? This topic will b... » read more

Electromagnetic Crosstalk Considerations In Low Power Designs


By Magdy Abadir, Padelis Papadopoulos, and Yehea Ismail
 Power consumption continues to be a critical design metric in high-performance mobile electronics. In order to meet the aggressive power budget targets, chips today need to operate at extremely low power levels, which increases the critical signals’ susceptibility to electromagnetic (EM) crosstalk effects. Because a low-power So... » read more

IP Electromagnetic Crosstalk Requires Contextual Signoff


By Magdy Abadir and Anand Raman Continuous advancement in technology scaling is enabling the emergence of high-performance application markets such as artificial intelligence, autonomous cars and 5G communication. These electronic systems operate at multi-GHz speed, while consuming the lowest amount of power possible leaving very little margin for error. Chips in these systems are highly in... » read more

Why Inductance Is Good for Area, Power and Performance


By Magdy Abadir and Yehea Ismail For chips designed at advanced technology nodes, interconnect is the dominant contributor towards delay, power consumption, and reliability. Major interconnects such as clock trees, power distribution networks and wide buses play a significant role in chip failure mechanisms such as jitter, noise coupling, power distribution droops, and electro-migration. ... » read more

Preparing For Electromagnetic Crosstalk Challenges


By Magdy Abadir and Anand Raman Electromagnetic (EM) coupling/noise is not a new phenomenon, but increasing bandwidth and decreasing size, along with low-power demands of today’s electronic systems is making EM crosstalk a first order challenge. At clock frequency of 10GHz+ and data rate of 10Gbps+, parasitic inductance and inductive coupling that were previously safe to ignore are no long... » read more

SoC Electromagnetic Crosstalk: From A Tool Perspective


Most commercial electromagnetic (EM) solvers are limited by the size of the design that they can handle, or they may take a very large amount of time or memory to perform the task. These capacity, memory or runtime constraints often lead to dropping important details about the design and the surrounding environment, which in many cases can mask the effects of EM crosstalk, or can lead to the wr... » read more

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