Globally Asynchronous, Locally Synchronous Clocks


Typical IC clocking schemes are under stress in complex chip/chiplet designs, where multiple compute elements may not be operating at the same frequency consistently. Some cores may be powered down to save energy, or they may age at different rates, which in turn reduces performance. Lee Vick, vice president of strategic marketing at Movellus, explains why locally asynchronous clocking schemes ... » read more

Working With Chiplets


The usual method of migrating to the next process node to cram more features onto a piece of silicon no longer works. It's too expensive, and too limited for most applications. The path forward is now heterogeneous chiplets targeted at specific markets, and while logic will continue to scale, other features are being separated out into chiplets developed using different process technologies. Th... » read more

Data Routing In Heterogeneous Chip Designs


Ensuring data gets to where it's supposed to go at exactly the right time is a growing challenge for design engineers and architects developing heterogeneous systems. There is more data moving around these chips with dozens of targets, which makes routing signals much more complicated. Ronen Perets, senior product marketing manager at Cadence Design Systems, talks about some of the new problems... » read more

Emerging Technologies Driving Heterogeneous Integration


As chips are disaggregated into chiplets, more features are being added into these devices that chipmakers were unable to include in the past due to reticle size limits and the high cost of scaling everything to the latest process node. This has opened the door to new architectures, new materials such as glass substrates, and a variety of new challenges. Dick Otte, president and CEO of Promex I... » read more

Real-Time Safety Monitoring


Various types of semiconductor test will determine whether a chip is free of defects and meets the specification, but understanding how it's behaving in the field under real workloads and harsh ambient conditions may be very different in automotive applications, where vibration, heat, cold can disrupt the normal functioning of a chip over time and reduce its lifespan. Alex Burlak, vice presiden... » read more

Why Connectivity Is Changing Microcontrollers


More devices are being connected to the internet and to each other, transforming what used to be a simple microprocessor with fixed memory and limited connectivity into a much more complex and versatile device. These new MCUs need more compute power, more memory both on and off-chip, and on-the-fly encryption/decryption. Sivaram Trikutam, vice president of the Wi-Fi product line at Infineon, ta... » read more

Next-Gen High-Speed Communication In Data Centers


Data centers are being flooded with data. While more of it needs to be processed locally, much of it also needs to be moved around within a system and between systems. This has put a spotlight on a variety of new optical technologies and methodologies. Yang Zhang, senior product marketing manager at Cadence, talks about the rapid increase in different types of optics and optical scenarios being... » read more

Real-World Applications Of Computational Fluid Dynamics


More powerful chips are enabling chips to process more data faster, but they're also having a revolutionary impact on how that data can be used. Simulations that used to take days or weeks now can be completed in a matter of hours, and multi-physics simulations that were implausible to even consider are now very much in the realm of what is possible. Parviz Moin, professor of mechanical enginee... » read more

Making Electronics More Efficient


Projections about the amount of energy required for AI in data centers and other electronic devices are putting a spotlight on more efficient electronics. But making chips and systems more efficient is an enormous challenge. It used to be as simple as turning down the voltage or moving to the next process node, but those approaches are no longer yielding the same kinds of benefits as in the pas... » read more

Toward Software-Defined Vehicles


Speed is everything when it comes to designing automotive electronics, but not in the usual way. In the past, product cycles often lasted five to seven years, from initial design to implementation inside of vehicles. That no longer works as vehicles adopt more electronic features to replace mechanical ones, and as competition heats up over the latest features and nearly instantaneous over-the-a... » read more

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