One-on-One: Steven Woo


Semiconductor Engineering sat down with Steven Woo, vice president and distinguished inventor at [getentity id="22671" e_name="Rambus"], to talk about the IoT and where the real problems are showing up. SE: What are the big challenges as we move toward an [getkc id="76" comment="Internet of Things"]-connected world? Woo: The challenges we see, moving forward aren’t particularly related... » read more

Blog Review: March 4


Is gate-level simulation still necessary? Mentor's Gordon Allan asserts it is, and gives a list of reasons why the pain is worth the peace of mind. Synopsys' Aron Pratt concludes his series on parameterization strategies with a process that allows the testbench to make use of parameterized interfaces without imposing limits on VIP access. Should you use EUV or quadruple patterning for 7nm... » read more

Blog Review: Feb. 25


Synopsys' Aron Pratt continues his series on SystemVerilog interfaces and strategies for dealing with parameterization. There are workarounds to the problems it introduces, but they come with a price. Mentor's John Day digs into Volvo's plans for autonomous autos. There are a lot of speedbumps ahead, and while it's easy to build a self-driving concept vehicle, actually getting on the road is... » read more

Blog Review: Feb. 18


Ansys' Justin Nescott digs up the top five engineering articles of the week. A thermal mapping microwave may make finding cold centers in nuked food a thing of the past. Plus, in hospitals your next meal might be delivered by a robot. Worried about your car being hacked? Maybe you should be. Mentor's John Day pulls out important points from the recent security report on wireless-enabled vehi... » read more

The Week In Review: Design/IoT


Mergers/Acquisitions ARM acquired Offspark, a Dutch company specializing in IoT communications security. Use of Offspark's PolarSSL embedded Transport Layer Security (TLS) solution is widespread in the IoT industry. PolarSSL will be rebranded mbed TLS and integrated into ARM's mbed OS. Tools Mentor Graphics is bringing together a suite of technologies that enable a multi-platform appro... » read more

Reliability Definition Is Changing


Since the invention of the integrated circuit, reliability has been defined by how long a chip continues to work. It either turned on and did what it was designed to do, or it didn't. But that definition is no longer so black-and-white. Parts of an SoC, or even an IP or memory block, can continue to function while other parts do not. Some may work intermittently, or at lower speeds. Others may ... » read more

Blog Review: Feb. 11


Ansys' Bill Vandermark flags the top five engineering articles of the week. Check out the one about the latest attempt at cold fusion, which left researchers hiding behind a blast shield. The solar-powered car named Stella drove away with the prestigious "Best Technology Achievement" award at the 8th annual Crunchies Awards this week. NXP's Maurice Geraets sounds like a proud parent – with... » read more

The Week In Review: Design/IoT


Mergers & Acquistions Silicon Labs acquired Bluegiga Technologies Oy, providers of short-range wireless connectivity solutions and software for the IoT based in Espoo, Finland. Intel signed a definitive agreement to acquire Lantiq, a supplier of broadband access and home networking technologies based in Munich, Germany. Tools Mentor Graphics announced the addition of Automotive ... » read more

Challenges For IC Security


Keeping chips secure is really a foot race between the good guys and the bad guys. Going forward, expect heavily funded, grouped efforts to place tremendous pressure on security envelopes. This includes everything from simple home devices, such as routers, to the most critical infrastructures, such as power, telecom, transportation, and soon, the IoT. Fig. 1: Courtesy of Blade Genexis I... » read more

IoT Will Force New Memory Paradigm


There are two things in life that have always been true: One is that you can never be too rich, and second—at least since the dawn of the technological age—you can never have too much memory. But the memory truism is changing with the onset of the [getkc id="76" comment="Internet of Things"]. The next generation of memory for the IoT must meet a different set of metrics – smaller, smar... » read more

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