Blog Review: Aug. 15


Cadence's Paul McLellan checks out what's driving the growth of China's semiconductor industry plus the state of fab construction, from a CAPSA presentation by SEMI's Lung Chu. Mentor's Joe Hupcey III has some tips for how to handle inconclusive results in formal verification, starting with how to identify where the analysis got stuck. Synopsys' Taylor Armerding listens in on a presentati... » read more

Mixed Outlook For Semi Biz


Both the IC and fab equipment industries have been enjoying a boom cycle for some time, but they could be facing speed bumps and possibly turbulence in the second half of this year and into 2019. In the first half of 2018, the industry was fueled by the momentum carried over from 2017. DRAM prices remained relatively high, which contributed to the revenue growth in the overall IC industry. M... » read more

Everything You Need to Know about FDSOI Technology


Over the past decades, transistor feature size has continuously decreased, leading to an increase in performance and a reduction in power consumption. Consumers have reaped the benefits, with superior electronic devices that have become increasingly useful, valuable, faster and more efficient. In recent years, as transistor feature size has shrunk below 10nm, it has become progressively more di... » read more

Week In Review: Design, Low Power


Aldec expanded the rule-checking capabilities of its ALINT-PRO tool, adding twice as many FSM checks and new graphical representations to aid state exploration. Also included is enhanced setup automation for complex Xilinx Vivado and ISE projects that automatically organizes a workspace to deliver hierarchical and incremental DRC and CDC analysis. Xilinx acquired AI startup DeePhi Technology... » read more

Embedded Flash Scaling Limits


Embedded nonvolatile flash memory has played a key role in chips for years, but the technology is beginning to face some scaling and cost roadblocks and it’s not clear what comes next. Embedded flash is used in several markets, such as automotive, consumer and industrial. But the automotive sector appears to be the most concerned about the future of the technology. Typically, a car incorpo... » read more

22nm Process Technology


Jamie Shaeffer, senior director of product line management at GlobalFoundries, talks about how FD-SOI compares with bulk technologies, where it will be used and why, and future stacking options. https://youtu.be/2i7GJRxcNRs » read more

Moving To ASICs For ADAS


By some estimates, there are now more than 260 startups and established companies around the world scrambling to develop, qualify and bring to market chips and technologies for new ADAS (advanced driver-assistance systems) and autonomous driving applications. Accordingly, venture capitalists, technology companies, carmakers, Tier 1 automotive suppliers and others are sharply ratcheting up ... » read more

5nm Design Progress


Activity surrounding the 5nm manufacturing process node is quickly ramping, creating a better picture of the myriad and increasingly complex design issues that must be overcome. Progress at each new node after 28nm has required an increasingly tight partnership between the foundries, which are developing new processes and rule decks, along with EDA and IP vendors, which are adding tools, met... » read more

Week In Review: Manufacturing, Test


Chipmakers GlobalFoundries said that the company’s 22nm FD-SOI technology has delivered more than $2 billion worth of client design win revenue. With more than 50 total client designs, the technology is designed for automotive, 5G connectivity and the Internet of Things (IoT). Helic has announced that its electromagnetic (EM) modeling engine has been certified for GlobalFoundries’ 22nm ... » read more

Bridges Vs. Interposers


The number of technology options continue to grow for advanced packaging, including new and different ways to incorporate so-called silicon bridges in products. For some time, Intel has offered a silicon bridge technology called Embedded Multi-die Interconnect Bridge (EMIB), which makes use of a tiny piece of silicon with routing layers that connects one chip to another in an IC package. In ... » read more

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