Verification Methodologies Evolve, But Slowly


Semiconductor Engineering sat down to discuss digital twins and what is required to develop and verify new chips across a variety of industries, such as automotive and aerospace, with Larry Lapides, vice president of sales for Imperas Software; Mike Thompson, director of engineering for the verification task group at OpenHW; Paul Graykowski, technical marketing manager for Arteris IP; Shantanu ... » read more

Can ML Help Verification? Maybe


Functional verification produces an enormous amount of data that could be used to train a machine learning system, but it's not always clear which data is useful or whether it can help. The challenge with ML is understanding when and where to use it, and how to integrate it with other tools and approaches. With a big enough hammer, it is tempting to call everything a nail, and just throwing ... » read more

Recipe To Catch Bugs Faster Using Machine Learning


We all agree that verification and debug take up a significant amount of time and are arguably the most challenging parts of chip development. Simulator performance has consistently topped the charts and is a critical component in the verification process. Still, the need of the hour is to stretch beyond simulator speed to achieve maximum verification throughput and efficiency. Artificial in... » read more

Better, Faster, And More Efficient Verification With The Power Of AI


Verification is often the most challenging part of the chip development process. Verification engineers have to balance quality of results (QOR) with time to results (TTR) and cost of results (COR). AI and ML technologies can play a significant part in increasing QOR, speeding up TTR, and reducing COR. This white paper outlines some of the major challenges for verification, describes how AI pro... » read more

The Power Of Big Data: Or How To Make Perfect 30-Minute Brownies In Only 30 Minutes


You're scrolling online, and the picture stops you in your tracks, grabs you, captivates you. Glistening chocolate pieces are, determinedly yet slowly, oozing down a moist brownie with a crisped-to-perfection, powdered topping. It sits there, confident, flaking lazily onto a bone-white china plate. It looks delicious—mouthwatering—and, apparently, you can make it with just a 30-minute inves... » read more

Enhance IC Reliability Design Verification With Coordinate-Based P2P And CD Checking


Coordinate-based P2P and CD checks with the Calibre PERC reliability platform enable quick early-stage design verification of ESD protection and other IC reliability issues. Using coordinate-based checking minimizes the amount of rule deck coding required, enabling design teams to start Calibre PERC P2P/CD verification very quickly, and understand and debug the results easily. Because P2P/CD ch... » read more

AI-Powered Verification


With functional verification consuming more time and effort than design, the chip industry is looking at every possible way to make the verification process more effective and more efficient. Artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) are being tested to see how big an impact they can have. While there is progress, it still appears to be just touching the periphery of the problem... » read more

Measuring The Complexity Of Processor Bugs To Improve Testbench Quality


I am often asked the question “When is the processor verification done?” or in other words “how do I measure the efficiency of my testbench and how can I be confident in the quality of the verification?” There is no easy answer. There are several common indicators used in the industry such as coverage and bug curve. While they are absolutely necessary, these are not enough to reach the ... » read more

Improve Your Verification Methodology: Hunt Bugs Flying In Squadrons


After analyzing bugs on several generations of CPUs, I came to the conclusion that “bugs fly in squadrons.” In other words, when a bug is found in a given area of the design, the probability that there are other bugs with similar conditions, in the same area of the design, is quite high. Processor bugs don’t fly alone Finding a CPU bug is always satisfying, however it should not be an e... » read more

Shifting The Design Paradigm To Improve Verification Efficiency


We are in the midst of a verification crisis manifested by a growing gap between verification efficiency and effectiveness. This crisis cannot be solved through improvements in verification methodologies and techniques alone. Indeed, it requires a philosophical change in the way we approach design, with an emphasis on bug prevention. We refer to this fundamental change as design using intent-fo... » read more

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