The Week In Review: Design


Mergers & Acquisitions Synopsys made a couple of announcements this week related to its TCAD business. First, they acquired Gold Standard Simulations, which clearly became a major factor in the release of a pre-wafer simulation solution to help semiconductor manufacturers reduce process node development time. The new solution aims to provide a comprehensive process, transistor and circui... » read more

Synopsys Buys Gold Standard Simulations


[getentity id="22035" e_name="Synopsys"] has made another quiet acquisition, this time in the TCAD space. [getentity id="22272" comment="Gold Standard Simulations (GSS)"] offers a suite of solutions for design technology co-optimization (DTCO), PDK development and exploration and screening of future technology options. Their tool chain integrates predictive Monte Carlo and statistical TCAD s... » read more

Scaling The Lowly SRAM


By Mark LaPedus Chipmakers face a multitude of challenges at the 20nm logic node and beyond, including the task of cramming more functions on the same chip without compromising on power and performance. There is one major challenge that is often overlooked in the equation—scaling the lowly static RAM (SRAM). In one key application, SRAM is the component used to make on-chip cache memories... » read more

Multicore Madness


By Mark LaPedus Smartphones and tablets are migrating towards new and faster application processors, basebands, graphics chips and memories. In the cell-phone chipset area alone, there are a multitude of options and design considerations. Some devices combine the application processor and modem on the same chip. Some are separate devices. In addition, the architectures range from single- to... » read more