Monday At DAC


The 54th DAC got started today in a very steamy Austin. While we may be a maturing industry, there is certainly no indications that the people within the industry have given up or intend to take it easy. The event really got started late Sunday when Laurie Balch, chief analyst for Gary Smith EDA, delivered her message. She said that the focus is becoming the verticals. "This change in focus is ... » read more

Modeling On-Chip Variation At 10/7nm


Simulation, a workhorse tool for semiconductor design, is running out of steam at 10/7nm. It is falling behind on chips with huge gate counts and an enormous number of possible interactions between all the different functions that are being crammed onto a die. At simulation's root is some form of SPICE, which has served as its underpinnings ever since SPICE was first published 44 years ago. ... » read more

In Search Of Life On The Exoplanets


Space exploration is a constant driver of scientists around the world, searching for life on planets outside our solar system (exoplanets). The news is often filled by wondrous discoveries and promising leads that point to potential life outside of Earth. This search often depends on a key piece of technology – the analog-to-digital converter (ADC) that accurately maps analog imaging to a dig... » read more

Automotive’s Unsung Technology


Sound systems are becoming a critical design element in vehicles, and not just for music. Thanks to evolving technology, automotive audio has reached a point where it is taking on a much broader role for applications both within and outside the vehicle. Most people associate automotive audio with the car radio, which has been a fixture in cars for decades. But in the future, these systems al... » read more

Analog’s Unfair Disadvantage


We live in an analog world, and yet digital has become the technology of choice. Mixed-signal solutions that used to contain significant amounts of analog, with just a small amount of digital signal processing, have migrated into systems where the analog to digital conversion happens at the very first opportunity. There are several reasons for this, and some of them build upon themselves. [g... » read more

Wirebond Technology Rolls On


Several years ago, many predicted the demise of an older interconnect packaging technology called wire bonding, prompting the need for more advanced packaging types. Those predictions were wrong. The semiconductor industry today uses several advanced packaging types, but wire bonding has been reinvented over the years and remains the workhorse in packaging. For example, Advanced Semiconducto... » read more

Verification And The IoT


Semiconductor Engineering sat down to discuss what impact the IoT will have on the design cycle, with Christopher Lawless, director of external customer acceleration in [getentity id="22846" e_name="Intel"]'s Software Services Group; David Lacey, design and verification technologist at Hewlett Packard Enterprise; Jim Hogan, managing partner at Vista Ventures; Frank Schirrmeister, senior group d... » read more

In Search of Life On The Exoplanets


Space exploration is a constant driver of scientists around the world, searching for life on planets outside our solar system (exoplanets). The news is often filled by wondrous discoveries and promising leads that point to potential life outside of Earth. This search often depends on a key piece of technology – the analog-to-digital converter (ADC) that accurately maps analog imaging to a dig... » read more

Visual Design Diff


A document, whether it is stored as a simple text file or as a word processor formatted file, is often a living entity that is constantly evolving. A user may create a first draft, revise it multiple times, have other team members review it and make alterations, and refine it over time to keep up with new information and requirements. What has changed since the last revision becomes very import... » read more

Custom Chip Verification Issues Grow


With the transition to finFETs, design conditions have grown more intense. They now include a wider PVT range and less headroom. As a result, electronic systems for applications such as mobile, consumer, and automotive increasingly are becoming more difficult to design due to the exacting performance requirements of these applications. This is particularly evident in custom design, including... » read more

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