Implementing ESD Protection In Today’s SoCs


As the semiconductor industry transitions to FinFETs, reliability challenges are increasing. ESD designers are challenged with new issues that would require significant rethinking and redesign of their existing ESD protection strategy. With significant complexity embedded in the silicon, failure analysis and silicon debug is challenging and time consuming even to the ESD experts. Technology ... » read more

Integration IP Helps IP Integration


You might not know much about the MIPI Alliance if you aren't designing mobile phones, but you will soon. Other application areas are taking interest in what this group has accomplished. The alliance was founded in 2003 to create standards for hardware and software interfaces in mobile devices. Successful examples include a camera serial interface (CSI) and a display serial interface (DSI), ... » read more

Joint R&D Has Its Ups And Downs


As corporate spending on research and development dwindles, enterprises are reaching out to colleges and universities to supplement their R&D. And they often are finding eager partners in those endeavors, as professors and their graduate students look for help, financial and technical, in addressing long-term research projects. “Pure research is just a luxury no one can afford anymore,... » read more

The Future Of Memory


Semiconductor Engineering sat down to discuss future memory with Frank Ferro, senior director of product management for memory and interface IP at Rambus; Marc Greenberg, director of product marketing at Synopsys; and Lisa Minwell, eSilicon's senior director of IP marketing. What follows are excerpts of that conversation. To view part 1, click here. Part 2 is here. SE: What’s the next big ... » read more

The Week In Review: IoT


Deals Rambus completed its $32 million acquisition of the Snowbush IP assets from Semtech. Through the end of 2022, Rambus may make additional payments on the transaction, depending upon new product sales. The Snowbush IP assets became part of the Memory and Interfaces Division at Rambus, complementing the company’s offerings in IP and serializer/deserializer blocks. Samsung Electronics A... » read more

Making Verification Easier


SoC design teams increasingly are confronting complexity in the quest to target application segments, but at the same time they are struggling to more quickly reduce risk in their designs while also speed up testing to make sure everything works. Those often-conflicting goals have transformed [getkc id="10" kc_name="verification"] IP from an interesting concept to a must-have tool for advanc... » read more

Getting The Jump On Analog/RF IP


When Magma Design was sold to Synopsys in 2012, then-president and COO Roy Jewell sat down with VC Lucio Lanza to figure out what to do next. As Jewell tells it, Lanza convinced him not to take another job. While it’s too early to tell if that was sage advice, it did trigger a search for a new business and a way of funding it. Jewell said that when Magma went looking for money, it raised $... » read more

Can Verification Meet In The Middle?


Semiconductor Engineering sat down to discuss these issues with; Stan Sokorac, senior principal design engineer for [getentity id="22186" comment="ARM"]; Frank Schirrmeister, senior group director for product marketing for the system development suite of [getentity id="22032" e_name="Cadence"]; Harry Foster, chief verification scientist at [getentity id="22017" e_name="Mentor Graphics"], Bernie... » read more

Softbank To Buy ARM For $32.34B


By Ed Sperling & Ann Steffora Mutschler Japan's Softbank will acquire ARM for $32.34 billion, according to an agreement made public this morning. The deal has the backing of ARM's board of directors, which unanimously will recommend ARM shareholders approve it, according to a company statement. Under the terms of the deal, Softbank will at least double employee headcount in the United... » read more

How Cache Coherency Impacts Power, Performance


Managing how the processors in an SoC talk to one another is no small feat, because these chips often contain multiple processing units and caches. Bringing order to these communications is critical for improving performance and [getkc id="106" kc_name="reducing power"]. But it also requires a detailed understanding of how data moves, the interaction between hardware and software, and what c... » read more

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