Bridging Hardware And Software


The barriers between hardware and software design and verification are breaking down with more intricately integrated systems, bringing together different disciplines and tools. But there are lingering questions about exactly what this shift means design methodologies, team interactions, and what kind of training will be required in the future. Playing heavily into this is the fact that toda... » read more

The Making Of A System Architect


I mentor young people from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, where I got my MSEE. When I talk to them, they tell me they’re applying for chip architecture jobs. But when they graduate with their computer science degrees they all get channeled into verification jobs. Why verification jobs rather than architecture jobs? Because they don’t have a feel for the full architecture. T... » read more

Design Rules Explode At New Nodes


Semiconductor Engineering sat down changing design rules with Sergey Shumarayev, senior director of custom IP design at Altera; Luigi Capodieci, R&D fellow at [getentity id="22819" comment="GlobalFoundries"]; Michael White, director of product marketing for Calibre Physical Verification at [getentity id="22017" e_name="Mentor Graphics"], and Coby Zelnik, CEO of [getentity id="22478" e_name=... » read more

Ivy League Colleges Crumbling


Last week I attended a talk from David Pearce Snyder. Snyder is a data-based forecaster, or what some people call a futurist. He has consulted for many Fortune 500 companies and the government. This is part of a lecture series put on by the Institute for Science, Engineering and Public Policy and I got to attend because [getentity id="22017" e_name="Mentor Graphics"] is a sponsor of these talk... » read more

Commoditizing Our Kids


My son is graduating from high school this year. He’ll be starting on an engineering degree in the fall. Thinking about the outlook he will face reminds me of questions and comments I have received from customers and colleagues at various points. In my mind these thoughts reduce to a simple question: Is engineering skill becoming a commodity? From Wikipedia: “The exact definition of th... » read more

Diverging Viewpoints


By Ed Sperling The raw materials of semiconductor design include smart, well-trained people and money to fund good ideas from those people, whose backgrounds typically come from engineering, math, physics, computer science, materials science and sometimes even chemistry. While many experts, executives, and industry groups have been sounding the alarm in recent years about everything from la... » read more

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