tag: Mentor Graphics

Self-Aligned Double Patterning—Part Deux
By David Abercrombie - 14 Aug, 2014 - Comments: 0

In my last article, I introduced you to the basic Self-Aligned Double-Patterning (SADP) process that is one of the potential candidate techniques for processing metal layers at 10nm and below, but let’s have a quick recap. SADP uses a deposition and etch step process to create spacers surrounding a patterned shape (Figure 1). As you can see, there are two masking steps—the first mask is cal... » read more

Pattern Matching: Blueprints For Further Success
By Mentor, a Siemens Business - 14 Aug, 2014 - Comments: 0

Design patterns have a wide variety of applications in the design, verification and test flows of IC development. From significantly reducing rule deck complexity to simplifying the task of avoiding known yield detractors to enhancing workflows such as design rule waiver recognition, pattern matching has become a useful tool throughout design, verification, and test process. Learn how Calibre P... » read more

Blog Review: Aug. 13
By Ed Sperling - 13 Aug, 2014 - Comments: 0

Cadence’s Richard Goering interviews Kathryn Kranen about the acquisition of her company, along with the business of formal verification. Interesting tidbit: The combined company has more than 50% market share in formal. Mentor’s John Day looks at Volkswagen’s upcoming all-electric Golf that will go on sale later this year in the United States. The new twist: VW has struck a deal with ... » read more

Week 9: Look Out The Window
By Anne Cirkel - 08 Aug, 2014 - Comments: 1

When I grew up I was considered a rather difficult child. I couldn’t focus on a single task for long and sitting in the classroom, especially in elementary school, was sheer agony. I vividly remember one morning in third grade when, in the middle of a math test, I looked out the window and noticed a helicopter flying by. This was a notably more interesting fact than the numbers and equations ... » read more

When Will 2.5D Cut Costs?
By Brian Bailey - 07 Aug, 2014 - Comments: 2

There is a constant drive to reduce costs within the semiconductor industry and, up until now, [getkc id="74" comment="Moore's Law"] provided an easy path to enable this. By adopting each smaller node, transistors were cheaper, but that is no longer the case, as explained in a recent article. The industry will need to find new technologies to make this happen and some people are looking towards... » read more

Making Software Better
By Ed Sperling - 07 Aug, 2014 - Comments: 0

Gauging the energy efficiency of software is a difficult task. There are many types of software, from embedded code all the way up to software that controls various modes of operation to downloaded applications. Some software interacts with other software, while other software works independently. And some works better on one SoC configuration than another, or on one iteration of an operating s... » read more

Partitioning The Problem
By Ann Mutschler - 07 Aug, 2014 - Comments: 0

Whether it is solving a very tricky equation, cleaning out your hard drive or creating a power-aware test plan for your SoC, it helps to break the problem down into smaller pieces. There is so much involved with writing a test plan these days, let alone one that is power aware that I wasn’t all that surprised to hear from Erich Marschner, verification architect at Mentor Graphics that in t... » read more

Established Nodes Getting New Attention
By Ed Sperling - 07 Aug, 2014 - Comments: 0

As the price of shrinking features increases below 28nm, there has been a corresponding push to create new designs at established nodes using everything from near-threshold computing to back biasing and mostly accurate analog sensors. The goals of power, performance and cost haven’t changed, but there is a growing realization among many chipmakers that the formula can be improved upon with... » read more

Test Becomes Power-Aware
By Ann Mutschler - 07 Aug, 2014 - Comments: 0

Power-aware test plans are changing, becoming far more extensive than the minimalist plans that were common just a few years ago. In the past would determine if they could power their design up, power it down, then they’d declare it done. “Sometimes they would find they could power it up and power it down once, but they couldn’t power it up a second time because they’d forgotten to ... » read more

The Revolution Will Not Be Televised: It Will Be On Your Phone
By Rizwan Farooq - 07 Aug, 2014 - Comments: 1

The advent of smart devices has ushered in a revolution all over the world. The most widely used smart device is the mobile phone, which has radically changed the way we communicate. There are many other types of devices running 24/7 in our homes, hospitals, businesses, etc. No matter what kind of functionality smart devices have, they have one thing in common: they all consume energy. They ... » read more

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