HDMI 2.0 Design And Verification Challenges


High-Definition Multimedia Interface (HDMI) is an audio/video (A/V) trans- mission protocol, which is omnipresent in consumer electronics, personal computing, and mobile products. Modern-day requirements of big screen resolutions, 3D, and multi-channel/multi-stream audio have pushed display devices to use a completely digital, high-speed transmission media, requiring a multi-layered protocol li... » read more

IP Market Booms At Advanced Nodes


As [getkc id="81" kc_name="SoC"] design and manufacturing costs rise, system OEMs are wringing as much of that increase as they can from ASIC vendors. The result is that engineering teams on the design and test side are being constrained by budgets at a time when complexity is rising and time-to-market pressures are increasing. At least one segment is benefiting from directly this. Budgetary... » read more

Reliability Definition Is Changing


Since the invention of the integrated circuit, reliability has been defined by how long a chip continues to work. It either turned on and did what it was designed to do, or it didn't. But that definition is no longer so black-and-white. Parts of an SoC, or even an IP or memory block, can continue to function while other parts do not. Some may work intermittently, or at lower speeds. Others may ... » read more

FD-SOI Meets The IoT


Silicon-on-insulator manufacturing technology has been discussed for many years. IBM has used the partially depleted variation of SOI in its server products, but the fully depleted version has yet to find widespread adoption outside of mil/aero and automotive markets. That may change soon as applications in the Internet of Things ramp, given the requirements for ultra low power and low cost.... » read more

The Week In Review: Design/IoT


Mergers/Acquisitions Lattice Semiconductor agreed to pay $600 million for Silicon Image, which makes connectivity solutions for high-definition content for mobile and consumer electronics. Lattice already makes programmable connectivity solutions, so the combined IP portfolio is expected to strengthen its position in wired and wireless markets. Tools Cadence expanded the tool portfolio it ... » read more

Week 34: January 23, A Perfect Friday


Designer and IP track submissions are up 27% compared to 2014. This is an amazing success and we have to thank all the designer track and IP track subcommittee members for getting the word out and motivating their industry peers to submit in such numbers. Tallying it up, it appears we received the most submissions since we started the designer track back in 2010 (we called it the user track bac... » read more

IP MarketPlace – Act I


We did our first webinar for IP MarketPlace last week. Because there is such a vibrant roadmap for this rich IP exploration environment, I felt like this was merely the first act of a multi-part production. We kept our event to 30 minutes, which has been a hallmark of all our webinars. We began with a review of what IP MarketPlace is, how it works, and why it’s useful. We then proceeded to a ... » read more

Week 33: Changes To The DAC Show Floor


At this point in my blogging/vlogging career I’m assuming I have an audience of thousands who hang on my every word. But the few of you left (okay, so this is tongue in cheek… I have in fact seen the number of YouTube views!) who have not seen my DAC TV interview with Brian Fuller (below) need to know that we are changing DAC exhibit hours and moving the evening receptions on Monday and Tue... » read more

Redefining Progress


After lots of wrangling over the whether Moore's Law is alive, dead, or languishing at somewhere in between, that discussion now seems about as relevant as the look and feel of Apple's early Macintosh operating system—an issue that back in the 1980s spawned a very public war with Microsoft. Today that argument is about as relevant as whether Betamax was better than VHS. Whether it's Moor... » read more

Signal Integrity Issues


Semiconductor Engineering sat down to discuss signal integrity with Rob Aitken, research fellow at [getentity id="22186" comment="ARM"]; PV Srinivas, senior director of engineering for the Place & Route Division of [getentity id="22017" e_name="Mentor Graphics"]; and Bernard Murphy, chief technology officer at [getentity id="22026" e_name="Atrenta"]. What follows are excerpts of that conver... » read more

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