Design Tool Think Tank Required


When I was in the EDA industry as a technologist, there were three main parts to my role. The first was to tell customers about new technologies being developed and tool extensions that would be appearing in the next release. These were features they might find beneficial both in the projects they were undertaking today, and even more so, would apply to future projects. Second, I would try and ... » read more

2.5D Integration: Big Chip Or Small PCB?


Defining whether a 2.5D device is a printed circuit board shrunk down to fit into a package, or is a chip that extends beyond the limits of a single die, may seem like hair-splitting semantics, but it can have significant consequences for the overall success of a design. Planar chips always have been limited by size of the reticle, which is about 858mm2. Beyond that, yield issues make the si... » read more

Commercial Chiplet Ecosystem May Be A Decade Away


Experts at the Table: Semiconductor Engineering sat down to talk about the challenges of establishing a commercial chiplet ecosystem with Frank Schirrmeister, vice president solutions and business development at Arteris; Mayank Bhatnagar, product marketing director in the Silicon Solutions Group at Cadence; Paul Karazuba, vice president of marketing at Expedera; Stephen Slater, EDA product mana... » read more

Brain-Inspired, Silicon Optimized


The 2024 International Solid State Circuits Conference was held this week in San Francisco. Submissions were up 40% and contributed to the quality of the papers accepted and the presentations given at the conference. The mood about the future of semiconductor technology was decidedly upbeat with predictions of a $1 trillion industry by 2030 and many expecting that the soaring demand for AI e... » read more

Accellera Preps New Standard For Clock-Domain Crossing


Part of the hierarchical development flow is about to get a lot simpler, thanks to a new standard being created by Accellera. What is less clear is how long will it take before users see any benefit. At the register transfer level (RTL), when a data signal passes between two flip flops, it initially is assumed that clocks are perfect. After clock-tree synthesis and place-and-route are perfor... » read more

What’s Next For Power Electronics? Beyond Silicon


For more than half a century, silicon has been the bedrock of power electronics. Yet as silicon meets its physical limitations in higher-power, higher-temperature applications, the industry’s relentless pursuit of more efficient power systems has ushered in the wide bandgap (WBG) semiconductors era. The global WBG semiconductors market reached $1.6 billion in 2022, with an estimated CAGR of ... » read more

NoC Development – Make Or Buy?


In the selection and qualification process for semiconductor IP, design teams often consider the cost of in-house development. Network-on-Chip (NoC) IP is no different. In “When Does My SoC Design Need A NoC?” Michael Frank and I argued that most of today’s designs – even less complex ones – can benefit from NoCs. In the blog “Balancing Memory And Coherence: Navigating Modern Chip A... » read more

Navigating IoT Security


By Dana Neustadter (Synopsys), Ruud Derwig (Synopsys), and Martin Rösner (G+D) IoT expansion requires secure and efficient connectivity between machines. Integrated SIM technology and remote SIM provisioning can make this possible. Subscriber Identity Module (SIM) cards have been around for a long time, with Giesecke+Devrient (G+D) developing and delivering the first commercial SIM car... » read more

Weak Verification Plans Lead To Project Disarray


The purpose of the verification plan, or vplan as we call it, is to capture all the verification goals needed to prove that the device works as specified. It’s a big responsibility! Getting it right means having a good blueprint for verification closure. However, getting it wrong could result in bug escapes, wasting of resources, and possibly lead to a device failing altogether. With the foc... » read more

Maximizing Efficiency And Productivity: The Benefits Of Shift Left Verification For IP Designers


Intellectual property (IP) designers play a crucial role by creating reusable components that form the building blocks of larger integrated circuit (IC) designs. These components, whether developed in-house or acquired from specialized IP design companies, are essential for providing core functionality such as memory and standard libraries. However, designing and verifying IP is a complex and d... » read more

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