Making PUFs Even More Secure


As security has become a must-have in most systems, hardware roots of trust (HRoTs) have started appearing in many chips. Critical to an HRoT is the ability to authenticate and to create keys – ideally from a reliable source that is unviewable and immutable. “We see hardware roots of trust deployed in two use models — providing a foundation to securely start a system, and enabling a se... » read more

Domain-Specific Design Drives EDA Changes


The chip design ecosystem is beginning to pivot toward domain-specific architectures, setting off a scramble among tools vendors to simplify and optimize existing tools and methodologies. The move reflects a sharp slowdown in Moore's Law scaling as the best approach for improving performance and reducing power. In its place, chipmakers — which now includes systems companies — are pushing... » read more

2021 Top Tech Videos


While the world’s chip shortage dominated the 2021 headlines, the semiconductor industry blazed new trails with the increased electrification of cars, focused AI applications, improving power/performance, better utilization of data deluges, dealing with design challenges in advanced nodes and much more focus on chip security. Semiconductor Engineering’s Tech Talks reflected these focus a... » read more

Why It’s So Difficult — And Costly — To Secure Chips


Rising concerns about the security of chips used in everything from cars to data centers are driving up the cost and complexity of electronic systems in a variety of ways, some obvious and others less so. Until very recently, semiconductor security was viewed more as a theoretical threat than a real one. Governments certainly worried about adversaries taking control of secure systems through... » read more

Building A More Secure U.S. Microelectronic Design Infrastructure


The security of the U.S. microelectronic designs and their supply chain is becoming a significantly growing concern for both commercial semiconductor companies and the Department of Defense (DoD). The industry has seen significant impact from both silicon shortages and vulnerabilities that have caused disruption in the assurance of microelectronics that power our autonomous vehicles, 5G, and co... » read more

Week In Review: Auto, Security, Pervasive Computing


3D-ICs Samsung Foundry released 3D-IC EDA flows approvals. 3D-ICs, which are the multi-dies stacked together and integrated into a package, are finding use in automotive, high-performance computing, and artificial intelligence systems. Samsung Foundry qualified Cadence’s 2D-to-3D native 3D partitioning flow for 3D-IC design that automates creating a memory-on-logic 3D stacking configuration,... » read more

Big Changes Ahead For Connected Vehicles


Carmakers are reworking their electronic architectures so they can tap into a growing number of external services and internal options, similar to the way a data center taps into various services over its internal network. In the past, this has been largely confined to internal services such as on-board Internet connectivity, and external traffic routing and music. The current vision is to g... » read more

Developers Turn To Analog For Neural Nets


Machine-learning (ML) solutions are proliferating across a wide variety of industries, but the overwhelming majority of the commercial implementations still rely on digital logic for their solution. With the exception of in-memory computing, analog solutions mostly have been restricted to universities and attempts at neuromorphic computing. However, that’s starting to change. “Everyon... » read more

IC Security Threat Grows As More Devices Are Connected


Designing for security is beginning to gain traction across a wider swath of chips and systems as more of them are connected to the Internet and to each other, sometimes in safety- and mission-critical markets where the impact of a cyber attack can be devastating. But it's also becoming more difficult to design security into these systems. Unlike in the past, connectivity is now considered e... » read more

Security Concerns Rise For Connected Autos


The auto industry is transforming itself toward a future in which the automobile increasingly will be connected using V2X and 5G. Driver assistance will improve, and ultimately cars will be guided by AI and machine learning. But all of this will be closely watched by hackers, looking for an opening and a potentially large and untraceable payout. The replacement of mechanical functionality wi... » read more

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