Too Many Standards, But Still Not Enough


By Ed Sperling The semiconductor industry has been one of the most prolific sectors in history when it comes to generating standards. Talk to any design engineer facing time-to-market pressures, new packaging approaches, and a mindboggling number of merchant IP, subsystems and interface requirements, and you’ll hear a compelling pitch for new standards. Talk to his or her boss and you’ll p... » read more

Model-Driven Design: Making Progress


By Ann Steffora Mutschler Model-driven design is coming into its own, in part because the old way of using models at advanced nodes doesn’t always produce usable chips and in part because of the need for making tradeoffs at the earliest stages of the design process. The concept of developing models for IC design is hardly a new one, and it is being done today on a number of levels rangin... » read more

What To Expect In 2012


By Ann Steffora Mutschler Looking at the biggest challenges for system-level design in 2012, model availability, IP integration and hardware/software co-design top everyone’s list. The integration of IP and enabling that from a system-level perspective is a significant challenge for the industry. Moreover, it will become even more significant as the market moves further down the Moore’s... » read more

AT vs. LT


By Jon McDonald A subject came up today that has come up on numerous occasions: “How often will the transaction-level model with timing, AT, be used versus the functional model, LT?” This is a common question; the answer is often very specific to the user. The kinds of questions and the analysis required will drive the level of accuracy required in the models. It’s probably easiest... » read more

After The Ball Drops


Growing up in New York City leaves lasting memories. The coming holiday season evokes some strong ones. The Christmas tree in Rockefeller Center is an example. Christmas always seemed to radiate in all directions from that huge tree perched above the ice skating rink behind Radio City Music Hall. And then there was the ball dropping on New Year’s Eve in Times Square. For the most part, New Yo... » read more

To Cut or Not To Cut? That is the Double Patterning Question


By David Abercrombie The challenges of double pattering (DP)-based design are looming large to those customers starting to move to the 20 nm technology node. Of course, much of the fear and trepidation is simply due to it being something new to learn, and the sense of risk that a move into the unknown can instill. Regardless of emotions involved, DP does place new restrictions on physical la... » read more

Experts At The Table: Stacked Die And The Supply Chain


By Ed Sperling Semiconductor Manufacturing & Design sat down to discuss the effects of stacking die on the supply chain with Stephen Pateras, production marketing director for silicon test at Mentor Graphics; Javier DeLaCruz, director of manufacturing technology at eSilicon; Colin Baldwin, director of marketing at Open-Silicon; Charles Woychik, director of marketing and technical analysis ... » read more

Experts At The Table: Stacked Die And The Supply Chain


By Ed Sperling Semiconductor Manufacturing & Design sat down to discuss the effects of stacking die on the supply chain with Stephen Pateras, production marketing director for silicon test at Mentor Graphics; Javier DeLaCruz, director of manufacturing technology at eSilicon; Colin Baldwin, director of marketing at Open-Silicon; Charles Woychik, director of marketing and technical analysis ... » read more

Energy Vs. Power: Energy, Power Optimization Is A System-Level Challenge


By Ann Steffora Mutschler Power issues today, whether they are related to low power in a smart phone or highly efficient power for data center applications, are so pervasive that they touch the entire design team—and must be carefully prioritized at the system or architectural level. As discussed in Part 1 of this series, energy and power are different entities and must be understood dist... » read more

Speed Demons


By Barry Pangrle For extreme world record performance levels, the required power levels are also typically extreme. It’s that age-old battle against diminishing returns to squeeze out every last drop of performance versus practical limits and wallets. For example, a top fuel dragster can consume about six gallons of fuel for a quarter-mile run down the strip. As has previously been shown ... » read more

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