Anatomy Of A System Simulation

By Brian Bailey - 26 Oct, 2023 - Comments: 0

The semiconductor industry has greatly simplified analysis by consolidating around a small number of models and abstractions, but that capability is breaking down both at the implementation level and at the system level. Today, the biggest pressure is coming from the systems industry, where the electronic content is a small fraction of what must be integrated together. Systems companies tend... » read more

System-on-Chip Integration Complexity And Hardware/Software Contracts

By Frank Schirrmeister - 26 Oct, 2023 - Comments: 0

From the earliest days of my career, when designing chips, I have always navigated the interface between hardware and software for semiconductor design in my roles. My initial chip designs included video and audio encoding and decoding, supporting standards like MPEG and H.261. As acceleration parts of hardware/software systems, these had many Control and Status Registers (CSRs) to program. The... » read more

Rethinking Design, Workflow For 3D

By Karen Heyman - 26 Oct, 2023 - Comments: 0

In the 3D world, where NAND has hundreds of layers and packages come in intricate stacks, fresh graduates and veteran engineers alike are being confronted with design challenges that require a rethinking of both classic designs and traditional workflows, but without breaking the laws of physics. “There are pockets of things that have been on 3D for quite some time,” said Kenneth Larson, ... » read more

Leaps in Quantum Computing

By Barry Pangrle - 26 Oct, 2023 - Comments: 0

There are new computers that are generating some amazing results for solving problems in record time. You won’t see these computers on the classic Top500 lists though, because they aren’t approaching computing in the same way. Using quantum computing algorithms like Shor’s algorithm for factoring large numbers, quantum computing holds the promise of solving problems that take exponentia... » read more

Causes Of Memory Unsafety

By Roddy Urquhart - 26 Oct, 2023 - Comments: 0

Memory unsafety is a characteristic of many of today’s systems. The root cause of buffer bounds vulnerabilities such as buffer overflows and over-reads is unsafe programming. Major software vendors consistently report memory unsafety problems. For example, the Chromium open-source browser project has stated that 69% of CVEs (Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures) reported relate to memory... » read more

Making Connections In 3D Heterogeneous Integration

By Ann Mutschler - 26 Oct, 2023 - Comments: 0

Activity around 3D heterogeneous integration (3DHI) is heating up, driven by growing support from governments, the need to add more features and compute elements into systems, and a widespread recognition that there are better paths forward than packing everything into a single SoC at the same process node. The leading edge of chip design has changed dramatically over the last few years. Int... » read more

AI For Circuit Design Quality, Productivity, And Advanced-Node Mapping

By Steve Brown - 26 Oct, 2023 - Comments: 0

The future of circuit design, encompassing analog, RF/5G, and custom electronic circuits, is set to be revolutionized by the integration of generative AI tools. These advanced tools will not only enhance the quality of designs and boost designer productivity but also facilitate the mapping of designs from older semiconductor process nodes to more advanced nodes such as 3nm and below. This blog ... » read more

Let’s Do The (IC Design) Time Warp Again

By John Ferguson - 26 Oct, 2023 - Comments: 0

For the most part, we’ve all been doing integrated circuit (IC) and system-on-chip (SoC) layout the same way for decades. Designers put together the design, be it intellectual property (IP), block, or full chip, then begin running physical verification. For design rule checking (DRC), this process consists of running all appropriate rule checks for the component on all available layouts. The ... » read more

Powering Up Electric Heavy-Duty Vehicles

By Hwee Yng Yeo - 26 Oct, 2023 - Comments: 0

Smokey tailpipe emissions may soon be a thing of the past, as the heavy transport vehicle market catches up with the electric car market to lower their contribution to greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Private sedans and light-duty trucks lead the vehicle electrification race, leaving much upside opportunity for heavy transport fleets such as trucks and buses to catch up. In the United Stat... » read more

Navigating EDA Vendor Cloud Options

By Ann Mutschler - 25 Oct, 2023 - Comments: 0

Experts at the Table: Semiconductor Engineering sat down to discuss the challenges of cost-dependent cloud decisions, and how to navigate between different EDA vendor clouds options with Philip Steinke, fellow, CAD infrastructure and physical design at AMD; Mahesh Turaga, vice president of business development for cloud at Cadence Design Systems; Richard Ho, vice president hardware engineering ... » read more

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Knowledge Centers
Entities, people and technologies explored

Shift Left Is The Tip Of The Iceberg

A transformative change is underway for semiconductor design and EDA. New languages, models, and abstractions will need to be created.

by Brian Bailey

Partitioning In The Chiplet Era

Understanding how chiplets interact under different workloads is critical to ensuring signal integrity and optimal performance in heterogeneous designs.

by Ann Mutschler

3.5D: The Great Compromise

Pros and cons of a middle-ground chiplet assembly that combines 2.5D and 3D-IC.

by Ed Sperling

AI’s Role In Chip Design Widens, Drawing In New Startups

Focus is on letting engineers do much more with the same or fewer resources — and less drudgery.

by Karen Heyman

What Comes After HBM For Chiplets

The standard for high-bandwidth memory limits design freedom at many levels, but that is required for interoperability. What freedoms can be taken from other functions to make chiplets possible?

by Brian Bailey

Memory Fundamentals For Engineers

eBook: Nearly everything you need to know about memory, including detailed explanations of the different types of memory; how and where these are used today; what's changing, which memories are successful and which ones might be in the future; and the limitations of each memory type.

by The SE Staff

Why Small Fab And Assembly Houses Are Thriving

Megafabs churning out the most advanced processors are not the only game in town.

by Bryon Moyer

New AI Processors Architectures Balance Speed With Efficiency

Hot Chips 24: Large language models ratchet up pressure for sustainable computing and heterogeneous integration; data management becomes key differentiator.