Different Shades Of Prototyping And Ecosystems: System Development At CDNLive 2018


Because of its unique great user interactions, my favorite EDA event of the year is the kickoff of our yearly series of CDNLive user conferences in Silicon Valley. This year blew out all my expectations. We had a dozen presentations in the Systems Track that I was sharing, 11 of them from customers and partners underlining the use model versatility of emulation, the hardware ecosystem for 5G, a... » read more

Looking For The Elephant In The Valley


As a new arrival in the Silicon Valley and a woman, my head is full of statistics and charts. Not the kind that data scientists use to power their decision-making, but the kind that has made its way into the public discourse more and more in the last few years—diversity numbers in the tech industry. Armed with this data, I set out to talk to my company’s female CEO, Sundari Mitra, as wel... » read more

Abstracting Abstracter Abstractions In Functional Verification


I heard a clear three-part message during DVCon at the end of February: verification engineers must abstractly embrace the abstract idea of abstracting abstract abstraction through higher levels of abstraction; we overuse the word abstract to emphasize the value of whatever verification technique we happen to be talking about; and the key to new abstractions is using Portable Stimulu... » read more

How Automotive ICs Are Reshaping Semiconductor Test


The growth of a new IC market creates ripples along the entire supply chain. Today, we see the semiconductor industry reacting to the needs of the growing automotive IC market, including the development of new IC test tools and methods. The automotive IC market is far and away the fastest growing end-use market with 15% CAGR (according to IC Insights). It is also seeing many new players. Mar... » read more

In-Design Rail Analysis Is A Beautiful Thing


As a long time designer, ASIC flows amaze me and making them better is my goal. Although a very complex and intricate process, each part of the ASIC flow abstracts the complexity underneath it to ultimately create silicon that could end up in your smartwatch, your electric vehicle, or the latest cell phone – how amazing! Consumers concerns include product reliability and robustness, which bri... » read more

Deep Learning Market Forces


Last week, eSilicon participated in a deep learning event at the Computer History Museum – “ASICs Unlock Deep Learning Innovation.” Along with Samsung, Amkor Technology and Northwest Logic, we explored how our respective companies form an ecosystem to develop deep learning chips for the next generation of applications. We also had a keynote presentation on deep learning from Ty Garibay, C... » read more

Simplifying SystemVerilog Functional Coverage


Let’s say you have a block you need to verify. How do you know that the stimulus you are about to use is exhaustive enough and that you have covered the necessary scenarios/situations to prove it is working correctly? This is where functional coverage comes in. SystemVerilog’s functional coverage constructs allow you to quantify the completeness of your stimulus by recording the values that... » read more

Embedded World 2018: Security, Safety, And Digital Twins


This year's embedded world in Nuremberg was again very well attended despite a cold wave in Europe. The key trends I had expected to see were safety and security, and the exhibits did not disappoint. One additional key theme that stood out to me was that of “digital twinning.” And, of course, the battle of processor ecosystems does continue. RISC-V has joined the games and feels a bit like ... » read more

Asterix In The Land Of Sudoku: The Fast, The Elegant, And The Popular Formal Solvers


It has become a time-honored tradition for OneSpin to pose a holiday puzzle challenge to engineers everywhere. Last year, we asked you to solve the famous Einstein riddle using assertions and a formal tool: It was a great success. For the 2017–18 holiday season, we asked you to solve the hardest Sudoku in the world and prove that the solution is unique. We are delighted that even more enthusi... » read more

A Reliability Baseline Is Essential For Today’s Complex IC Designs


Design rule checking (DRC) represents a common platform by which we can all compare relative rule complexity. The industry expectation is that all foundries will provide complete DRC and layout vs. schematic (LVS) rule decks at all process nodes for the successful tape-out of IC designs. However, not only are DRC operations growing significantly (Figure 1), but the scope of the rules needed to ... » read more

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