The Set Top Box Is Getting A Retrofit


Will processors jumpstart 8K? System-on-chip (SoC) designers and home device makers are experimenting with AI techniques to upscale high-definition or even standard-definition programs in a way that looks natural and realistic. Here’s how it works. Rather than stretching an image over a wider battery of pixels (causing pixelation) or filling in the new pixels by extrapolating informatio... » read more

If These Chips Could Talk: Actionable Insights From Path Margin Monitors


One of the most important current trends in electronics is the gathering and analysis of big data to reap benefits in cost, power, performance, and reliability. This is becoming common in the chip development flow. For example, data harvested from simulation regressions can aid in debug and reaching coverage goals. Machine learning (ML) uses the results of many passes through implementation (lo... » read more

Reliable DRC Voltage Text Annotation Means Faster And More Accurate DRC Verification


As the potential for complex interactions between voltage domains grows significantly with the increase in design density at each new process node, the complexity of spacing checks in design rule checking (DRC) also increases. To minimize these types of risk, many simple spacing checks have evolved to become voltage-aware DRC (VA-DRC) checks that incorporate voltage values to determine the requ... » read more

Design-Aware Data Management For Hybrid Cloud


Working from home is quickly becoming the norm. A recent survey by FlexJobs found that 70% of people would prefer a remote working environment over a traditional one. Working from home has become even more popular in the semiconductor design industry. Companies are now implementing design-aware data management for hybrid cloud to meet evolving design data management requirements. Why has workin... » read more

The Era Of Fluid Simulations In Hollywood


With the magnificent real images of water pouring from the sky and the after-fire fumes from a car, there is no escaping from the laws of physics in movies either! Fluid simulation in the '50s and '60s was modeled mathematically before the computer graphics industry made its appearance. In the early ’90s, computer graphics (CG) in movies such as Waterworld and Titanic were restricted to wi... » read more

Driving Toward A Sustainable Future


While the automotive industry has been focused on developing innovative electric vehicle (EV) designs for years, there is a new sense of urgency today. Worldwide sales of EVs are increasing quickly1, growing by 46% in 2020 and by 160% in the first half of 2021. Consumer demand is an important factor, but equally important are government mandates. In 2021, the European Union introduced strict... » read more

The Foundations Of Computational Electromagnetics


Maxwell’s Equations can be expressed in multiple variants – there are integral and differential versions in both frequency and time domains, along with quasi-static and full-wave forms. Their elegance is evident upon sight yet for only the simplest systems are there known solutions. Thus, without assumptions to simplify the math and/or system under study, it is frequently impossible to full... » read more

Seven Hardware Advances We Need to Enable The AI Revolution


The potential, positive impact AI will have on society at large is impossible to overestimate. Pervasive AI, however, remains a challenge. Training algorithms can take inordinate amounts of power, time, and computing capacity. Inference will also become more taxing with applications such as medical imaging and robotics. Applied Materials estimates that AI could consume up to 25% of global elect... » read more

Shifting The Design Paradigm To Improve Verification Efficiency


We are in the midst of a verification crisis manifested by a growing gap between verification efficiency and effectiveness. This crisis cannot be solved through improvements in verification methodologies and techniques alone. Indeed, it requires a philosophical change in the way we approach design, with an emphasis on bug prevention. We refer to this fundamental change as design using intent-fo... » read more

Virtual Testing Of Automotive Sensor Systems


The development of vehicles has always been a discipline of mechanical engineering. After all, cars were always about the engine, the power, the efficiency. Traditionally, the development of the complex overall automotive system has always been carried out in accordance with classical principles of mechanical engineering, for example by using development models like the V-model. Although the pr... » read more

← Older posts Newer posts →