category: Opinion

category: IoT, Security & Automotive

The Good Old Days Of EDA
By Brian Bailey - 30 Nov, 2023 - Comments: 5

Nostalgia is wonderful, but there is something about being involved in the formative years of an industry. Few people ever get to experience it, and it was probably one of the most fortuitous events to have happened in my life. Back in the early '80s, little in the way of design automation existed. There were a few gate- and transistor-level simulators, primarily for test and a few 'calculators... » read more

The Limits Of AI-Generated Models
By Brian Bailey - 26 Oct, 2023 - Comments: 2

In several recent stories, the subject of models has come up, and one recurrent theme is that AI may be able to help us generate models of a required abstraction. While this may be true in some cases, it is very dangerous in others. If we generalize, AI should be good for any model where the results are predominantly continuous, but discontinuities create problems. Unless those are found and... » read more

The Federation Needs A Taxonomy
By Brian Bailey - 28 Sep, 2023 - Comments: 0

While putting together the story about federated simulation, it brought back memories of an earlier part of my career when I spent a lot of time looking at modeling abstractions and simulation frameworks. In the mid-1990s, the notions of re-using pre-designed blocks of IP started to become popular, but the fledgling industry was in disarray. Every IP block had a different set of deliverables... » read more

Predicting The Future For Semiconductors
By Brian Bailey - 24 Aug, 2023 - Comments: 1

Is it possible to predict the future? Of course not. We all make projections of what happened in the past, where they are now, and the implications for the future. We bias that in various ways and think we are making some astounding revelation, which is highly unlikely to become true. Of course, by luck, some people get it right and they are bestowed with grand accolades and awards. The likelih... » read more

Who Will Regulate Data Exchanges In Chiplets?
By Ed Sperling - 17 Aug, 2023 - Comments: 0

Scaling is still important when it comes to logic and low power, but it's no longer the main avenue for improving performance. What used to be a single chip, comprised of various IP blocks and components on a single SoC, is giving way to a heterogeneous collection of chiplets — at least for the big chipmakers and system companies at the leading edge. Chiplets are currently the best solutio... » read more

Is Maskless Lithography Coming Into Its Own?
By Katherine Derbyshire - 17 Aug, 2023 - Comments: 0

Lithographers have always faced tradeoffs between speed and flexibility. Steppers are very good at printing hundreds or thousands of identical features onto hundreds or thousands of wafers. They are not especially good at handling surfaces with significant topography, though. Nor is customization feasible. Every exposure uses the same reticle. Direct write e-beam lithography has long been us... » read more

Are In-Person Conferences Sustainable?
By Brian Bailey - 27 Jul, 2023 - Comments: 2

DAC/Semicon are now over, and while I missed a large part of it due to a stomach bug, I increasingly have a stale taste in my mouth about in-person conferences in general. Let's split things up – an event such as DAC is both an academic conference and a trade show. It has been that way almost since its inception 60 years ago. There are many other conferences that are pure conferences, and the... » read more

The True Cost Of Software Changes
By Brian Bailey - 22 Jun, 2023 - Comments: 2

Safety and security are considered to be important in a growing number of markets and applications. Guidelines are put in place for the processes used to develop either the hardware or the software, but what they seem to ignore is that neither exists in a vacuum. They form a system when put together. Back when I was developing tools for hardware-software co-verification, there were fairly co... » read more

The Next Chip Shortages?
By Ed Sperling - 15 Jun, 2023 - Comments: 0

The rollout of chiplets and heterogeneous designs could have unexpected implications on a global scale, creating a whole new round of chip shortages that will be much harder to fix. It's impossible to say for certain what will happen here in the wake of massive changes in chip design and a fluid and unpredictable geopolitical situation. The trade war between the United States and China began... » read more

A Highly Wasteful Industry
By Brian Bailey - 25 May, 2023 - Comments: 1

The systems industry as a whole is not concerned about power. I know that is a bold statement, but I believe it to be true. The semiconductor industry is mildly concerned, but only indirectly. They care about power because thermal issues are limiting the functionality they can squeeze onto a chip, or in a package. Some users, such as data center operators, claim to care about power because i... » read more

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