Machine Learning Enabled Root Cause Analysis For Low Power Verification


By Himanshu Bhatt and Susantha Wijesekara Next-generation SoCs with advanced graphics, computing and artificial intelligence capabilities are posing unforeseen challenges in verification. Designers and verification engineers using static verification technologies for low power often see many violations in the initial stages. Efficient debugging and determining root cause is a real issue and ... » read more

Maximizing Value Post-Moore’s Law


When Moore's Law was in full swing, almost every market segment considered moving to the next available node as a primary way to maximize value. But today, each major market segment is looking at different strategies that are more closely aligned with its individual needs. This diversity will end up causing both pain and opportunities in the supply chain. Chip developers must do more with a ... » read more

Navigating Timing Margins Like Waze


Remember the pre-smartphone days, before navigation apps had our backs? Thanks to a lack of real-time visibility, ‘arriving early’ was the go-to strategy to avoid arriving late. Factor in too much ‘holdup time’ and you’d arrive a little too early. There’s nothing worse than nervously burning off an excess 30 minutes over a coffee you really didn’t need. Today you wouldn’t ... » read more

Week In Review: Manufacturing, Test


Market research After years of falling demand, the PC market is back. The second quarter of 2020 ended well for the traditional PC market, including desktops, notebooks, and workstations. Global PC shipments jumped 11.2% year-over-year reaching a total of 72.3 million units, according to IDC. As restrictions around the world tightened in the first few weeks of the quarter, demand for notebo... » read more

Week In Review: Design, Low Power


Arm plans to double down on its core IP business and transfer its two IoT Services Group (ISG) businesses, IoT Platform and Treasure Data, to new entities that would be owned and operated by SoftBank. “SoftBank’s experience in managing fast-growing, early-stage businesses would enable ISG to maximize its value in capturing the data opportunity," said Arm CEO Simon Segars. "Arm would be in a... » read more

Week In Review: Auto, Security, Pervasive Computing


IoT Arm is proposing to transfer its two IoT divisions to SoftBank Group Corp., which will own and operate them under new entities. The two IoT Services Group (ISG) businesses are IoT Platform and Treasure Data. Arm intends to focus more on its IP roadmap in data and compute, once the transfer becomes finalized. It is subject to more board review. “Arm believes there are great opportunities ... » read more

An Expanding Application Space For GDDR6 Memory


The origins of graphics double data rate (GDDR) memory can be traced to the rise of 3D gaming on PCs and consoles. The first GPUs used single data rate (SDR) and double data rate (DDR) DRAM, the same memory used for CPU main memory. The quest for higher frame rates at higher resolutions drove the need for a graphics-workload specific memory solution. The commercial success of gaming PCs and con... » read more

Different Roles, Different Tools


A question often posed is: does the use of tools and processes change as you go from block level to subsystem and chip level and as you add software to your system on chip (SoC)? And of course, the answer is that things change a lot. The primary differences between designing individual blocks and designing a big chip are that blocks tend to be designed by individual engineers or very small g... » read more

Enabling Cost-Effective, High-Performance Die-to-Die Connectivity


System advances in accelerated computing platforms such as CPUs, GPUs and FPGAs, heterogeneous systems on chip (SoCs) for AI acceleration and high-speed networking/interconnects have all pushed chip integration to unprecedented levels. This requires more complex designs and higher levels of integration, larger die sizes and adopting the most advanced geometries as quickly as possible. Facing th... » read more

Easier Low Power ICs With Reference Flows


By Terence Chen and Alexander Volkov Power-sensitive ICs for wearables and internet of things (IoT) products are in demand for markets ranging from automotive to military/aerospace to consumer. As with most ICs, cost and time-to-market pressures are important determiners of success. Reducing risk by using a vendor-created reference flow can confer a serious business advantage. Reference f... » read more

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