A Methodology To Verify Functionality, Security, And Trust for RISC-V Cores


Modern processor designs present some of the toughest hardware verification challenges. These challenges are especially acute for RISC-V processor core designs, with a wide range of variations and implementations available from a plethora of sources. This paper describes a verification methodology available to both RISC-V core providers and system-on-chip (SoC) teams integrating these cores. It... » read more

Week In Review: Design, Low Power


Tools Cadence unveiled Cerebrus Intelligent Chip Explorer, a new machine learning-based tool to drive the Cadence RTL-to-signoff implementation flow. The tool aims to use reinforcement learning to find flow solutions that otherwise might not be explored and applies models to future designs. The company says it can improve productivity up to 10X and PPA up to 20% with optimization of the flow f... » read more

Blog Review: July 21


Cadence's Paul McLellan listens in as Partha Ranganathan of Google argues that a new era of Moore's Law is emerging, defined both by the efficient design of hardware accelerators and improving the ways that hardware is utilized. Siemens EDA's Chris Spear continues exploring classes in SystemVerilog with a look at the relationship between the class variables that point to an object and how to... » read more

EDA, IP Numbers In Record Territory


EDA and semiconductor IP revenue soared to a new high, up 17% worldwide in Q1 compared to the same period in 2020, with revenue in China surging 73%, according to new data from SEMI's Electronic System Design Alliance. For many financial reports outside of semiconductors, strong growth numbers can be misleading because they reflect comparatively weak earnings stemming from pandemic-related s... » read more

Week In Review: Design, Low Power


Tools Andes Technology certified Imperas reference models for the complete range of Andes IP cores with the new RISC-V P SIMD/DSP extension. The reference models can be used to evaluate multicore design configuration options for SoC architecture exploration and support early software development before silicon prototypes are available. Cadence's digital full flow was optimized and certified... » read more

Blog Review: July 14


Siemens EDA's Wei-Lii Tan considers the tradeoffs when running library characterization in the cloud and how to think about running CPUs in parallel, the cost of throughput, and runtime reductions. A Synopsys writer checks out the reduced blanking feature in HDMI 2.1, which can help reduce the transmission rate while keeping the resolution and refresh rate intact for higher resolution displa... » read more

CEO Outlook: Chiplets, Longer IC Lifetimes, More End Markets


Experts at the Table: Semiconductor Engineering sat down to discuss chiplets, longer IC lifetimes, and a spike in the number of end applications with Lip-Bu Tan, CEO of Cadence; Simon Segars, CEO of Arm; Joseph Sawicki, executive vice president of Siemens IC EDA; John Kibarian, CEO of PDF Solutions; Prakash Narain, president and CEO of Real Intent; Dean Drako, president and CEO of IC Manage; an... » read more

Week In Review: Design, Low Power


Tools Aldec extended its TySOM family of embedded prototyping boards with the introduction of TySOM-M-MPFS250, the first in a planned series to feature a Microchip PolarFire SoC FPGA MPFS250T-FCG1152 and to have dual FMC connectivity. The board contains 16Gb FPGA DDR4 x32, 16Gb MSS DDR4 x36 with ECC, eMMC, SPI Flash memory, 64 Kb EEPROM and a microSD card socket. The PolarFire SoC is a five-st... » read more

Blog Review: July 7


Cadence's Sangeeta Soni provides a primer on the PIPE SerDes architecture and some of the changes that can introduce verification challenges for SerDes compliant PHY and MAC devices. Siemens EDA's Chris Spear demystifies the $cast() method in SystemVerilog, which checks values at runtime rather than compile time, and gives some examples of when it is useful. Synopsys' Chris Clark warns th... » read more

Cell Library Verification Using Symbolic Simulation


Standard cell libraries have been a mainstay of chip design for many decades since the inception of logic synthesis and composition methodologies. Cell library IP typically contains Verilog models describing the cell functionality, schematic derived transistor level netlists, place and route views, physical layout views, post-layout extracted netlists as well as characterized timing and power m... » read more

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