RTL Design-for-Power In Mobile SoCs


If you are one of the more than 2 billion smartphone users today, it is hard to imagine life without one! Breaking new frontiers, wearable smart devices and the Internet of things are the latest buzz. Mobile system-on-chips (SoCs) continue to clock faster and pack more functionality, yet are required to consume lower power for battery life and thermal considerations. Power consumption is a k... » read more

RTL Design-for-Power Methodology


This paper presents a design-for-power methodology, beginning early in the design process at the Register Transfer Level (RTL) for maximum impact on power. To download this white paper, click here. » read more

Challenges In IC And Electronic Systems Verification


In the first two parts of this series, we reviewed the challenges design teams face as they grapple with increasing power consumption, tighter schedules and the drive to reduce costs. Both a top-down and a bottom-up analysis framework were proposed to help control these challenges. In part 2 of this series, specific challenges were outlined including power budgeting, power and signal integrity,... » read more

The Week In Review: June 7


By Ed Sperling For all the hesitation about moving the Design Automation Conference to Austin, it turns out that Austin has a lot of hardware engineers. In fact they flooded into the conference, turning it into one of the most successful in recent years and setting new records in multiple areas. Even Texas Gov. Rick Perry showed up to see what all the fuss was about. Mentor Graphics added c... » read more

Power Becomes Bigger Issue In Stacked Die


By Ed Sperling Concern over getting the heat out of stacked die is well defined, even if the current raft of existing and proposed solutions ranges from ineffective to exotic and expensive. What is less well understood is how to plan for and manage power inside of stacked die. While power and heat frequently go hand in hand—where there is heat there is almost always power dissipation—t... » read more

Bringing Electrical Info To Design’s Forefront


By Ann Steffora Mutschler To reflect the impact on transistors of smaller process nodes and the electrical effects that occur as a result, a shift is underway where the electrical analysis and verification that used to be done when the layout was complete is moving earlier in the design process. The analysis includes parasitic extraction of interconnect and device parasitics, electromigrati... » read more

Executive Briefing: Andrew Yang


By Ed Sperling Andrew Yang, president of ANSYS subsidiary Apache Design, sat down with Low-Power/High-Performance Engineering to talk about why power is becoming so important and where the future challenges lie. What follows are excerpts of that conversation. LPHP: What’s the most important issue these days for chipmakers? Yang: According to the feedback we’ve gotten from our customer... » read more

Technologies For Power, Signal, Thermal, And EMI Sign-Off


This paper discusses the challenges associated with designing smaller, faster, and lower cost products. It provides an overview of Apache's power and noise solutions and how these products enable comprehensive chip-package-system convergence flow across multiple design disciplines. To download this white paper, click here. » read more

Challenges In IC And Electronic Systems Verification


Power efficiency, unrealistic schedules, and cost-down considerations are increasingly the top challenges design teams must meet to deliver next generation electronic systems, whether it is for the mobile, server, or automotive market. In addition, a successful chip tapeout does not guarantee the eventual end-product’s success—there are many variables to take into account. In the first p... » read more

Dangerous Electricity


Electricity to the modern age is as indispensible as air, but too much can be a bad thing for automotive and aerospace applications—especially when it is in the form of electrostatic discharge (ESD). As chips advance to 28nm, 20nm and 16nm, the design window for electrostatic discharge is shrinking for a number of reasons, explained Norman Chang is vice president and senior product strategis... » read more

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