Preventing Chips From Burning Up During Test


It’s become increasingly difficult to manage the heat generated during IC test. Absent the proper mitigations, it’s easy to generate so much heat that probe cards and chips literally can burn up. As a result, implementing temperature-management techniques is becoming a critical part of IC testing. “We talk about systems, saying the system is good,” said Arun Krishnamoorthy, senior... » read more

Cloud Vs. On-Premise Analytics


The immense and growing volume of data generated in chip manufacturing is forcing chipmakers to rethink where to process and store that data. For fabs and OSATs, this decision is not one to be taken lightly. The proprietary nature of yield, performance, and other data, and corporate policies to retain tight control of that data, have so far limited outsourcing to the cloud. But as the amount... » read more

Design Issues For Chips Over Longer Lifetimes


Semiconductor Engineering sat down to discuss the myriad challenges associated with chips used in complex systems over longer periods of time them with Jean-Marie Brunet, senior director for the Emulation Division at Siemens EDA; Frank Schirrmeister, senior group director for solution marketing at Cadence; Maurizio Griva, R&D Manager at Reply; and Laurent Maillet-Contoz, system and architec... » read more

Over-the-Air Automotive Updates


Modern vehicles are increasingly-connected devices with growing volumes of electronic systems. This systemic complexity means that even an average vehicle design will include over 150 ECUs, which control not just infotainment and communications, but powertrain, safety, and driving systems (figure 1). We see not just a surge in the volume and complexity of electronic hardware, but also software.... » read more

Auto OEMs Face New Competitive Threats


Automotive design and manufacturing are undergoing a fundamental shift to the left as cars increasingly are electrified and chips take over more functions formerly done by mechanical parts, setting the stage for massive disruption across a supply chain that has been in place for decades. The success of Tesla — a company that had never actually built a chip or a car — was both a surprise ... » read more

Blog Review: March 3


Siemens EDA's Ray Salemi considers incrementalism in engineering, the transition from drawing circuits to writing RTL, and the next big leap of using proxy-driven testbenches written in Python. Cadence's Shyam Sharma looks at key changes from LPDDR5 in the LPDDR5X SDRAM standard, which extends clock frequencies to include 937MHz and 1066MHz resulting in max data rates of 7500MT/s and 8533 MT... » read more

Chiplets For The Masses


Chiplets are a compelling technology, but so far they are available only to a select few players in the industry. That's changing, and the industry has taken little steps to get there, but timing for when you will be able to buy a chiplet to integrate into your system remains uncertain. While new fabrication nodes continue to be developed, scaling is coming to an end, be it for physical or e... » read more

4 Horsemen Of Wire Harness Manufacturing


Growing demands for automotive electrical and electronic (E/E) features drive increased complexity in the wiring harnesses that carry power and data signals to components around the vehicle. As a result, the wire harness manufacturing industry is expected to see significant growth, expanding into a 91 billion dollar industry in 2025. However, wire harness manufacturers often operate on small pr... » read more

Firmware Skills Shortage


Good hardware without good software is a waste of silicon, but with so many new processors and accelerator architectures being created, and so many new skills required, companies are finding it hard to hire enough engineers with low-level software expertise to satisfy the demand. Writing compilers, mappers and optimization software does not have the same level of pizazz as developing new AI ... » read more

Advancing IC And Systems Design With The Digital Twin


As many of you may have seen, we’ve passed a major milestone since Siemens announced its intent to acquire Mentor Graphics four years ago. As of January 1, 2021, “Mentor, a Siemens business” has become “Siemens EDA” and remains a segment of the larger Siemens Digital Industries Software organization. Siemens is bringing together one of the world’s most comprehensive EDA portfolios w... » read more

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