Balancing Quality, Cost And Locale


By Ann Steffora Mutschler As more features are packed into a single SoC there are simply more time-critical decisions to make. Instead of holding up one chip of a six-chip chipset, a delay or error on one chip can stop the whole parade. That explains why one of the most vibrant parts of the business at big EDA companies these days is standard IP, and why most of the other commercial IP make... » read more

Unified Design Flows Require New Skill Sets


By Pallab Chatterjee With the release of the InRoute product from Mentor, three of the major EDA vendors now offer unified data model design flows that feature logic synthesis, physical synthesis, place and route, timing closure with high accuracy RC tools, and physical verification based on full process tools. These new tools were created to address the need for simultaneous Multi-Corner M... » read more

The Unifying Promise Of 3D


There’s been a lot of talk about 3D stacking lately. Mention it to any EDA vendor and they have plans in place. Mention it to large chipmakers and they’re already experimenting with it. And mention it to those several nodes behind and they’re ready to jump. Critics are quick to point out that all of these groups may not be talking about exactly the same thing. Slapping together two chi... » read more

How Good Is Good Enough?


By Jon McDonald I’ve heard a few comments recently questioning how good is good enough. How good does a device have to be before it’s above questioning its capabilities? When designing some new whiz-bang device how do we know when we can stop? I think most engineers will agree there is always room for improvement. There are additional optimizations, refinements or alternative approaches... » read more

Same Industry, Different Shape


As the design industry plunges into DAC this year, it’s beginning to look like a completely different industry. It’s not the players themselves. There are still the Big Three EDA vendors, IP vendors and lots of startups. And it’s all still geared toward making chips. But the center of gravity has shifted from what was almost exclusively place and route and synthesis out to the edges of... » read more

Road To DAC: The Future Of Design


eSilicon Chairman and CEO Jack Harding sounds off on what's changing in design and how EDA needs to adapt. [youtube vid=IwvUAKKYMVI] » read more

IP’s Ecosystem Race


By Ann Steffora Mutschler As the semiconductor industry moves from older manufacturing nodes to newer ones what users want from IP providers is changing. So is the way IP providers are answering those needs. Mirroring the broader semiconductor industry’s recognition that it’s simply too expensive, too difficult and too time consuming to do everything alone—the very basis of the IP sec... » read more

Timing Bomb


By Ed Sperling Timing closure, a basic operation in chip design and development, is becoming anything but basic at advanced process nodes. Systematic variability that was at least predictable at 90nm has become random at 45nm. Tools that worked fine with two corner cases now have to deal with hundreds. And as more functions make their way onto a single die, often with multiple modes of oper... » read more

End User Report: ON Semiconductor


By Ed Sperling System-Level Design sat down with Daniel McCranie, ON’s chairman, to discuss what drives the company, what it considers as critical to staying profitable, and future competitive threats. What follows are excerpts of that conversation. SLD: Why has ON been making so many acquisitions? Is it a need to get big or to shift direction? McCranie: You’re right that ON is extre... » read more

Who’s Calling The Shots Now?


By Ann Steffora Mutschler Determining who makes the decisions in semiconductor industry is not as easy as it sounds. There is not a straight line of responsibility in today’s market due to changing industry dynamics such as the shift from the IDM business model to the foundry model. “If you go back far enough, everyone had to manufacture their own chips. There was a substantial influenc... » read more

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