Priorities Shift In IC Design


The rush to the edge and new applications around AI are causing a shift in design strategies toward the highest performance per watt, rather than the highest performance or lowest power. This may sound like hair-splitting, but it has set a scramble in motion around how to process more data more quickly without just relying on faster processors and accelerators. Several factors are driving th... » read more

Moore’s Law, Supply Chains And Security


The debate about the future of Moore's Law continues, while other parts of the industry look for alternatives. In between, supply chains are being pulled in multiple directions, with safety and security often in the middle. All across the semiconductor industry, significant changes are underway. Some of these have been in the works for some time. Others are new or accelerating faster than an... » read more

CES 2020 Highlights New Automotive Tech


Another year, another Consumer Electronics Show (CES) packed with innovative technology. In the many years I’ve been coming to the show, I’ve seen it evolve from a launchpad for the year’s mainstream devices – televisions, laptops, smartphones – to encompass all manner of smart devices within the home and beyond. As the head of automotive at Arm, it’s that ‘beyond’... » read more

Random Directed Low Power Coverage Methodology


This paper proposes a low-power coverage methodology based on the recently introduced UPF 3.0 low-power information model HDL package. Verification engineers can use this approach to achieve low-power coverage closure earlier. We share relevant case studies and examples using the methodology to solve low-power verification problems. It also discusses the benefits of this approach and its advant... » read more

Transient Thermal Analysis For M.2 SSD Thermal Throttling: Detailed CFD Model vs Network-Based Model


Solid State Drive (SSD) technology continues to advance toward smaller footprints with higher bandwidth and adoption of new I/O interfaces in the PC market segment. Power performance requirements are tightening in the design process to address specific requirement along with the development of SSD technology. To meet this aggressive requirement of performance, one major issue is thermal throttl... » read more

Using Static Analysis For Functional Safety


Fadi Maamari, group director for R&D at Synopsys, explains why static analysis is suddenly in demand in auto chip design, how it can help to choose the best implementation of functional safety approaches, and where it fits into the design flow. » read more

Blog Review: Jan. 15


Cadence's Paul McLellan looks back at the history of lithography, from its fundamental equation to multiple patterning and the challenges facing EUV today. Synopsys' Taylor Armerding warns that medical device security isn't keeping up with new threats, despite positive steps, due in part to lack of funding, delayed initiatives, and a focus on critical service delivery. In a video, Mentor'... » read more

Photometric Qualification for Virtual Night Drive Testing


Headlamps are a mission-critical product system that must perform reliably at every time of day, in every possible weather condition. Engineering headlamps for the correct photometry is essential — but constructing physical prototypes and measuring their performance is expensive and time-consuming. In addition, physical photometry measurement tools are not always wellcalibrated and accurate. ... » read more

Uses And Limitations Of AI In Chip Design


Raik Brinkmann, president and CEO of OneSpin Solutions, sat down with Semiconductor Engineering to talk about AI changes and challenges, new opportunities for using existing technology to improve AI, and vice versa. What follows are excerpts of that conversation. SE: What's changing in AI? Brinkmann: There are a couple of big changes underway. One involves AI in functional safety, where y... » read more

Synopsys TestMAX CustomFault


The growth in safety-critical applications has ushered in a paradigm shift in automotive IC functional safety and test coverage analysis. The increased need for safety, low defect rate, and long-term reliability is driving automotive IC designers to augment expert judgment with systematic fault simulation, to ensure a high degree of confidence in their analysis and to comply with the stringent ... » read more

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