Single Kernel Electro-Thermal IC Simulator


This paper investigates a new, highly-accurate and high-performing electro-thermal effects simulation method and tools. It describes the extension of an analog electrical simulator to handle the electrical network and the thermal network simultaneously. These innovations remove the constraint on the time constants and allow accurate validation of the electro-thermal behavior for even the most a... » read more

Blog Review: Oct. 8


Mentor's Robin Bornoff examines the thickness of leg hair and just how much of a drag it causes for bicyclists. More hair equals more drag, and thicker hair is worse. Ansys' Justin Nescott routes out the top five engineering articles of the week. Of particular note: The world's most precise clock, which loses one second every 13.8 billion years. Cadence's Richard Goering puts some conte... » read more

High-Level Gaps Emerge


Semiconductor Engineering sat down to discuss the attributes of a high-level, front-end design flow, and why it is needed at present with Leah Clark, associate technical director for digital video technology at [getentity id="22649" e_name="Broadcom"]; Jon McDonald, technical marketing engineer at [getentity id="22017" e_name="Mentor Graphics"]; Phil Bishop, vice president of the System Level D... » read more

Something Is Cooking


I’m sure you are all eager to hear a report from the DAC Executive Committee meeting last week in Portland. The important things first: The weather was great and the team cooking event – it’s hard to imagine a better team-building exercise – was a ton of fun. Nobody threw food at me and we had no accidents in the kitchen…well, except for the fact that Ramesh Karri, our security chair,... » read more

The Future Of Medical Device Certification: Greater Scrutiny And More Validation


Given the critical nature of the functions performed by today’s medical devices, greater scrutiny along with the need for more certifiable software is on this rise. There is more interest today in government standards such as FDA 510K and IEC 62304 for medical device software. Enhanced scrutiny from government agencies can introduce unexpected delays – or even jeopardize the commercial rele... » read more

More Than Moore


Semiconductor Engineering sat down to discuss the value of feature shrinks and what comes next with Steve Eplett, design technology and automation manager at [getentity id="22664" e_name="Open-Silicon"]; Patrick Soheili, vice president and general manager of IP Solutions at [getentity id="22242" e_name="eSilicon"]; Brandon Wang, engineering group director at [getentity id="22032" e_name="Cadenc... » read more

Blog Review: Oct. 1


Cadence's Richard Goering writes about a pair of IEEE working groups that are focused on standardizing ways to lower power of software and firmware. The importance of this effort is huge. Mentor's J. VanDomelen looks at the use of 3D printers in outer space. This is a new chapter in manufacturing custom parts in extreme environments. Synopsys' Mick Posner gets an unexpected answer to a ro... » read more

The Real Numbers: Redefining NRE


Developing ICs at the most advanced nodes is getting more expensive, but exactly how much more expensive is the subject of debate across the semiconductor industry. There are a number of reasons for this discrepancy. Among them: As design flows shift from serial to parallel, it's hard to determine which groups within companies should be saddled with different portions of the bill. The re... » read more

The Week In Review: Design


Tools Synopsys rolled out a hybrid verification platform, which it said can shave months off design time. The platform acts like a bridge between emulation, FPGA prototyping, simulation, static and formal verification and debug. Mentor Graphics uncorked a new version of its embedded hypervisor, which includes better system configuration, debugging and hardware support. The hypervisor is aim... » read more

How To Cut Verification Costs For IoT


Cost is one of the main factors limiting proliferation of the [getkc id="76" comment="Internet of Things"] (IoT), and when looking at the design and [getkc id="10" kc_name="Verification"] methodologies in place today, verification is a prime candidate for closer inspection. For today’s complex [getkc id="81" kc_name="SoCs"], the cost of verification has been rising faster than design and it h... » read more

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