OIF Eyes Expanded Electrical Link Definitions For 112 Gbps


The insatiable demand for more bandwidth, lower latencies, and higher speeds is driven by a diverse range of applications and use cases. These include artificial intelligence /machine learning, sophisticated ADAS systems for semi-autonomous vehicles, 4K-8K video streaming, eSports, and AR/VR. With global IP traffic now measured in zettabytes (ZB) per year, hyperscalers and service providers ... » read more

Week In Review: Manufacturing, Test


Fab tools Lam Research has rolled out two new tools for use in the production of 3D NAND. The first tool, called the VECTOR DT, is geared for backside deposition. The second system, the EOS GS, is a wet etch tool for film removal on backside and bevel. Designed to control the wafer bow in 3D NAND manufacturing, the VECTOR DT system is the latest addition to Lam’s plasma-enhanced chemical ... » read more

Week in Review: IoT, Security, Autos


Products/Services Synopsys agreed to acquire QTronic, a German company specializing in simulation, test tools, and services for automotive software and systems development. The transaction is expected to close in the fourth quarter of the company’s 2019 fiscal year. “The terms of the deal, which is not material to Synopsys financials, are not being disclosed,” Synopsys said in a statemen... » read more

Week In Review: Design, Low Power


Synopsys will acquire QTronic GmbH, a provider of simulation, test tools, and services for automotive software and systems development. Based in Germany, QTronic was founded in 2006 and makes a virtual ECU platform as well as a test automation solution with test case generator. Terms of the deal were not disclosed. VeriSilicon uncorked VIP9000, a highly scalable and programmable processor fo... » read more

Speed Returns As The Key Metric


For the foreseeable future, it's all about performance. For the past decade or so, power and battery life have been the defining characteristics of chip design. Performance was second to those. This was particularly important in smart phones and wearable devices, where time between charges was a key selling point. In fact, power-hungry processors killed the first round of smart watches. But ... » read more

Writing Reusable UPF For RTL And Gate-Level Low Power Verification


By Durgesh Prasad, Jitesh Bansal and Madhur Bhargava The Unified Power Format (UPF) is used to specify the power intent of a design. Once written, the UPF file is applied at every stage of the design cycle — starting with the RTL, then the gate-level, and finally during place and route. A major problem is that the UPF needs to be refined or modified at every stage to keep it compatible ... » read more

Optimizing Power For Learning At The Edge


Learning on the edge is seen as one of the Holy Grails of machine learning, but today even the cloud is struggling to get computation done using reasonable amounts of power. Power is the great enabler—or limiter—of the technology, and the industry is beginning to respond. "Power is like an inverse pyramid problem," says Johannes Stahl, senior director of product marketing at Synopsys. "T... » read more

Getting To Tape-Out Quicker With Analog Layout Generators


All design engineers know it well: there is hardly any time left until tape-out, but the amount of work that remains is not decreasing as fast as the deadline is approaching. The intricate schematic must still be implemented as a layout, and many recurring tasks slow down the progress. The real crux often lies in specific parts of the circuit – parts that often have lower performance demands ... » read more

Determining Where Power Analysis Matters Most


How much accuracy is required in every stage of power analysis is becoming a subject of debate, as engineering teams wrestle with a mix of new architectures, different use cases and increasing pressure to get designs out on time. The question isn't whether power is a critical factor in designs anymore. That is a given. It is now about the most efficient way to tackle those issues, as well as... » read more

Is Your Functional Safety An Afterthought?


Imagine the air bag in your car not inflating during a collision or deploying without a crash during driving! These are two of the failure modes associated with the air bag in your car, none of which you as a driver have any control over. The severity of both these failures is of course very high, but which one would you rate as a higher hazard? The probability of getting into an accident is lo... » read more

← Older posts Newer posts →