Cost vs. Value


By Ann Steffora Mutschler The increasing amount of mixed-signal content being included in SoCs for automotive, networking and all manner of mobile devices is reinvigorating the mixed-signal industry. While this is great news for companies playing in anything related to mixed-signal technology, it also means increasing complexity for the engineering teams pulling all the pieces together. “... » 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

What’s Missing In Low-Power Verification


By Ed Sperling Ask two engineers what low-power verification is and you’ll likely get the same checklist that includes confidence in the overall design, good coverage, a long list of corner cases, and other items in a checklist. Ask them how to reach that goal you’ll almost certainly get different answers—or maybe no answers at all. Power has emerged as a ubiquitous concern in design,... » read more

Lessons Learned In 4G LTE


By Ann Steffora Mutschler While 4G LTE has moved into the mainstream, there are lessons to be learned about these very complex modems, especially from the perspective of balancing power and performance. The road to mainstream wasn’t exactly smooth sailing. “4G LTE initially got a bad rap for battery life, for power consumption,” said Pete Hardee, low-power design solution marketin... » read more

Shades Of Green


By Ann Steffora Mutschler Ask five people in the electronics industry what ‘green’ means and you are sure to get five different answers. In the datacenter, the definition is a little clearer because big iron draws so many amps. But at the SoC level where does the industry stand? The answer is as multifaceted as an SoC itself, with some answers based more on one-upmanship than real met... » read more

Power-Up Low-Power Verification


By Adam Sherer When facing low-power verification in the SoC world, everyone could use a few power-ups just like Nintendo’s little plumber, Mario. Sure, Mario could run and jump through a lot of terrain, but when he hit some new challenges he could rely on some new tools and techniques to get him through. Completing your first SoC with a single power control module (PCM) and domain is lik... » read more

Roundtable: Is The Chip Ready


Mobile devices demand complex chips—so complex to build that signoff has become something of a balancing act between what the verification teams believe is good enough and time-to market demands. Low-Power/High-Performance Engineering talked about this with Simbal Rafiq, director of engineering at Applied Micro; Robert Hoogenstryd, senior director of marketing for design analysis and signoff ... » read more

Experts At The Table: The Growing Signoff Headache


By Ed Sperling Low-Power/High-Performance Engineering sat down to discuss signoff issues with Rob Aitken, an ARM fellow; Sumbal Rafiq, director of engineering at Applied Micro; Ruben Molina, product marketing director for timing signoff at Cadence; Carey Robertson, director of product marketing for Calibre extraction at Mentor Graphics; and Robert Hoogenstryd, senior director of marketing for ... » read more

A Poison Apple


As I was researching ‘green’ as it relates to the world of semiconductors I recalled the big story from early 2011 about Apple’s alleged poisoning of workers in China manufacturing plants and wondered whether the situation has changed. At the same time, when I hold my iPhone in my hand, I am sadly aware that my desire for technology might have been at the cost of someone’s health. I ... » read more

Experts At The Table: FinFET Questions And Issues


By Ed Sperling Low-Power/High-Performance Engineering sat down to discuss the current state and future promise of finFETs, and the myriad challenges, with Ruggero Castagnetti, an LSI fellow; Barry Pangrle, senior power methodology engineer at Nvidia; Steve Carlson, group director of marketing at Cadence; and Mary Ann White, director of product marketing at Synopsys. What follows are excerpts o... » read more

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