Supply Chain Catch-Up


There always will be a few big companies marching to the latest process node available to them. The problem these days isn’t their commitment to pushing forward. It’s the baggage train following them. It’s getting longer, more diverse, and in some cases, it’s falling out of sync. The foundries are out in front with 14nm finFETs, and they’re already working on 10nm transistors—pos... » read more

Uncertainty Ahead


If finFETs work as planned, it’s likely they will show up in every complex SoC for decades to come. Adding another dimension to transistors has enormous potential at advanced nodes, and maybe even at older nodes. 3D transistors also could be part of stacked die, and they can be combined with fully depleted SOI—two other options for reducing power. Moreover, it’s likely that whatever G... » read more

x86 Processor Road Map No Longer Just About Speed


By Ed Sperling The decades-old approach of powerful processors with ever-faster clock speeds is changing. Performance matters in some settings, but the real concern is adding more functionality within power budgets. The most pressing tradeoff is now performance vs. power, which has forced processor architects at AMD, Intel and IBM to take into account everything from application software to... » read more

The Evolving Interconnect


By Ann Steffora Mutschler Chip interconnect protocol requirements are evolving as designs move to 20nm and below process geometries, and not always in predictable ways. At least part of this is being driven by what an SoC is used for. The continued push to shrink features opens up real estate at each new process node. For the past decade, that real estate has been used to add more featu... » read more

Observation Post


By Pranav Ashar After attending the 2013 Design and Verification Conference (DVCon) in San Jose, Calif., I have compiled notes as both an observer and a panel participant. Here are my observations: Wally Rhines, CEO of Mentor Graphics, gave the keynote presentation: Accelerating EDA Innovation Through SoC Design Methodology Convergence. Logically and effectively he made the case that SoC in... » read more

A Balancing Act


By Ann Steffora Mutschler If you stay current on data center trends, you are well-versed on the fact that Intel reported last June energy proportionality has effectively doubled server efficiency and workload scaling beyond what Moore’s Law predicted. What does this have to do with power management of SoCs? Cary Chin, director of marketing for low-power solutions at Synopsys, said tha... » read more

Development Tools Enabling The Internet of Things


I'm at the Embedded World conference in Nuremberg this week. Yes, between Mobile World Congress in Barcelona and DVCon in San Jose, Calif., I chose Embedded World. Unfettered by unseasonally late snow and bad weather, it turns out this was the right decision. I have not attended this show for a couple of years and am pleased to find that the show has developed quite a bit. There are more than 8... » read more

The Week In Review: Feb. 25


By Mark LaPedus Is China set to bail out a U.S. government technology darling? Two Chinese automotive companies, Geely and Dongfeng Motor, are reported to have bid between $200 million and $350 million for a majority stake in Fisker, the maker of plug-in hybrid cars. If that happens Fisker—which has $192 million in U.S. federal government loan guarantees—could be headed to China, according... » read more

Foundry Arms Race Under Way


By Mark LaPedus A year ago, chipmakers were reeling from a severe shortage of 28nm foundry capacity, prompting foundries to ramp up their fabs at a staggering pace. At the time, foundries were unable to keep up with huge and unforeseen demand for mobile chips. The shortfall was also caused by low yields and the overall lack of installed 28nm capacity. Today, the 28nm crunch is largely ov... » read more

Optical Lithography, Take Two


By Mark LaPedus It’s the worst-kept secret in the industry. Extreme ultraviolet (EUV) lithography has missed the initial stages of the 10nm logic and 1xnm NAND flash nodes. Chipmakers hope to insert EUV by the latter stages of 10nm or by 7nm, but vendors are not counting on EUV in the near term and are preparing their back-up plans. Barring a breakthrough with EUV or other technology, IC ... » read more

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