Marko Chew

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Marko Chew is a Technical Marketing Engineer in the Design-to-Silicon division of Mentor Graphics, a Siemens Company. He focuses on circuit analysis of parasitic extraction netlists.

Author's Latest Posts

Power Grid Simulation

By Marko Chew - 13 Mar, 2014 - Comments: 1

Introduction The underlying solver algorithms used in power grid (PG) simulation today are derivations of circuit simulation algorithms first developed many decades ago. In fact, the 40th anniversary of SPICE (a widely used circuit simulator), was celebrated in 2011. As such, it is understandable that many engineers have a jaundiced view towards claims of improved PG simulation performance. Ne... » read more

Stimuli-Driven Power Grid Analysis

By Marko Chew - 13 Feb, 2014 - Comments: 2

The terms vector and vectorless modes are commonly used in the context of dynamic power grid (PG) analysis, but what do these terms mean? The PG dynamic simulator uses a design’s activity suite to compute the voltages and currents in the PG network. In vector mode, logic simulation is used to generate the complete activity suite. Vector mode is typically referred as a VCD (Value Change Dump).... » read more

Embedded Memory Impact On Power Grids

By Marko Chew - 12 Sep, 2013 - Comments: 0

Introduction Due to the overwhelming technical advantages of having on-chip memories, embedded memories are ubiquitous in most chip designs, and can comprise significant portions of a chip (upwards of 50%, according to some authors). Accordingly, a chip’s power grid design and analysis must account for the impact of these embedded memories, but design teams often struggle to resolve power... » read more

Power Grid Analysis

By Marko Chew - 13 Jun, 2013 - Comments: 1

By Marko Chew Introduction Power grids (PGs) have consumed an increasingly larger percentage of routing resources in recent process node generations, due to lower maximum current limits imposed by the foundry. It is not uncommon to see upwards of 30% of the routing resources consumed by the PG, with correspondingly negative implications for a design’s routability. Of course, the design’... » read more