Week In Review: Design, Low Power

By Jesse Allen - 06 Jul, 2018 - Comments: 0

CAST debuted an IP subsystem implementing the latest IEEE standards for Time Sensitive Networking (TSN) over Ethernet. The TSN_CTRL Subsystem combines three IP cores, a time synchronizer, traffic shaper, and Ethernet MAC. It implements a hardware subsystem that operates without software assistance once programmed. The IP communicates timing information to the system, and allows the system to de... » read more

Data, Privacy And The IoT

By Brian Bailey - 31 Jul, 2017 - Comments: 0

The keynotes at this year's Design Automation Conference concentrated on the [getkc id="76" comment="Internet of Things"] (IoT). All of the speakers came from a hardware background, and thus all saw the benefits of being close to the system that is generating the data, providing the analytics, and producing some kind of action that provides the economic benefit. The alternative view comes f... » read more

What Autonomy Level Is Your Car?

By Ed Sperling - 04 May, 2017 - Comments: 0

Over the past couple of months, you've probably heard semiconductor industry executives dropping numbers about the levels of autonomy for vehicles. And despite Tesla's highly touted autonomous capabilities, current models are just a Level 2. Or maybe it's a Level 3. If these numbered levels were meant to lessen the confusion, it's not clear the plan is working. Until last September, there we... » read more

Era Of 3D Printing Begins

By Ed Sperling - 05 Jan, 2017 - Comments: 0

3D printing has always been an interesting side technology. It's now about to become a mainstream technology. Until recently, the majority of applications for this technology have been limited for several reasons. First, there simply isn't enough history to bet the bank on commercial manufacturing using 3D printers. The initial patent for fused deposition modeling was issued in 1986, but ... » read more

IP Liability Changes Ahead?

By Ed Sperling - 08 Dec, 2016 - Comments: 0

Patent lawyers are keeping close tabs on a biotech patent infringement case that went before the Supreme Court this week because it could have a significant impact on IP content in other markets, including semiconductors. On Tuesday, attorneys for Life Technologies Corp. and Promega Corp., presented arguments before the U.S. Supreme Court involving an enzyme for amplifying DNA analysis. For ... » read more

Lawyers, Insurance And Self-Driving Cars

By Ann Mutschler - 02 Jun, 2016 - Comments: 1

Self-driving cars are drawing semiconductor companies into legal and regulatory issues for the first time, adding a new level of scrutiny on cutting-edge chip technology. It also opens up a whole new field for legal interpretation, case law, and regulation. While most liability cases in the past never crossed below the system vendor/supplier level, that could change with autonomous vehic... » read more

Unintended Patent Consequences

By Brian Bailey - 02 May, 2016 - Comments: 0

Section 101 of the U.S. patent law limits the types of things for which patent protection can be sought. It says: "Whoever invents or discovers any new and useful process, machine, manufacture, or composition of matter, or any new and useful improvement thereof, may obtain a patent therefor, subject to the conditions and requirements of this title." In 2012, the Supreme Court made what they t... » read more

When Cryptographers Disagree

By Ed Sperling - 03 Mar, 2016 - Comments: 0

Six of the world's leading cryptography experts sat down this week to explore the most pressing issues in security. They took up topics ranging from whether Apple should facilitate the FBI's access to a known terrorist's iPhone, to what will become the next important cryptography algorithm. Among them: Ronald Rivest, an Institute Professor at MIT; Adi Shamir, co-inventor of the RSA algorithm... » read more

New IP Risks

By Ernest Worthman - 09 Dec, 2015 - Comments: 0

The world is being flooded with Internet-enabled devices, from smart toothbrushes to smart appliances to smart aircraft, and everything in between. Some of this is expected to be connected to the Internet, and some has been for quite some time. But devices such as smart toothbrushes and smart socks pose a whole new challenge. The issue is that even low-end chips need some sort of IP, but if ... » read more

Laws Don’t Apply Anymore

By Ed Sperling - 03 Dec, 2015 - Comments: 0

One of the nifty things about technology is that it's always new and always being refreshed. That creates problems, though. The speed with which technology is overhauled or changed out is so much faster than the social and legal infrastructure built to support and protect the people buying it, that the two worlds are now years, if not decades, out of sync. The first whiff of this came in 198... » read more

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Knowledge Centers
Entities, people and technologies explored

Shift Left Is The Tip Of The Iceberg

A transformative change is underway for semiconductor design and EDA. New languages, models, and abstractions will need to be created.

by Brian Bailey

Partitioning In The Chiplet Era

Understanding how chiplets interact under different workloads is critical to ensuring signal integrity and optimal performance in heterogeneous designs.

by Ann Mutschler

3.5D: The Great Compromise

Pros and cons of a middle-ground chiplet assembly that combines 2.5D and 3D-IC.

by Ed Sperling

AI’s Role In Chip Design Widens, Drawing In New Startups

Focus is on letting engineers do much more with the same or fewer resources — and less drudgery.

by Karen Heyman

Key Technologies To Extend EUV To 14 Angstroms

Alongside high-NA EUV will be better-performing photoresists, reduced roughness using passivation and etch, and lateral etching to reduce tip-to-tip dimensions.

by Laura Peters

What Comes After HBM For Chiplets

The standard for high-bandwidth memory limits design freedom at many levels, but that is required for interoperability. What freedoms can be taken from other functions to make chiplets possible?

by Brian Bailey

Memory Fundamentals For Engineers

eBook: Nearly everything you need to know about memory, including detailed explanations of the different types of memory; how and where these are used today; what's changing, which memories are successful and which ones might be in the future; and the limitations of each memory type.

by The SE Staff

Why Small Fab And Assembly Houses Are Thriving

Megafabs churning out the most advanced processors are not the only game in town.

by Bryon Moyer

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