When Is Verification Done?


Even with the billions of dollars spent on R&D for EDA tools, and tens of billions more on verification labor, only 30% to 50% of ASIC designs are first time right, according to Wilson Research Group and Siemens EDA. Even then, these designs still have bugs. They’re just not catastrophic enough to cause a re-spin. This means more efficient verification is needed. Until then, verificati... » read more

Big Challenges In Verifying Cyber-Physical Systems


Semiconductor Engineering sat down to discuss cyber-physical systems and how to verify 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 architect specialist at STMicroelectronics. This discussion was... » read more

Surviving The Three Phases Of High Density Advanced Packaging Design


The growth of High Density Advanced Packages (HDAP) such as FOWLP, CoWoS, and WoW is triggering a convergence of the traditional IC design and IC package-design worlds. To handle these various substrate scenarios, process transformation must occur. This paper discusses the three phases of HDAP design and provides tips on how to survive their challenges. To read more, click here. » read more

Blog Review: Feb. 24


Siemens EDA's Harry Foster checks out the efficiency and effectiveness of verification on ASIC and IC designs with a look at how many projects meet the original schedule, the number of required spins, and classification of functional bugs. Cadence's Paul McLellan listens in as Philippe Magarshack of ST Microelectronics on how the company uses massive amounts of data generated by its fabs to ... » read more

Week In Review: Auto, Security, Pervasive Computing


Aerospace The NASA's Mars Perseverance Rover, which landed safely on Mars this week, has some new autonomous systems. The landing craft flew autonomously to find a good landing spot. When on the ground, the rover can drive in an autonomous traverse mode. Also autonomous is the small helicopter, the Ingenuity Mars Helicopter, being tested on Mars. The helicopter can fly up to 90 seconds autonom... » read more

Blog Review: Feb. 17


In a video, Synopsys' Tim Mackey warns that IoT device manufacturers are dealing with a serious challenge when it comes to security and points to the types of software threats that could impact IoT products. Siemens' Paul van Straten finds that the rise in vehicle complexity and intensified global competition means traditional automotive OEMs will need to explore new approaches to vehicle de... » read more

Design For Reliability


Circuit aging is emerging as a mandatory design concern across a swath of end markets, particularly in markets where advanced-node chips are expected to last for more than a few years. Some chipmakers view this as a competitive opportunity, but others are unsure we fully understand how those devices will age. Aging is the latest in a long list of issues being pushed further left in the desig... » read more

Week In Review: Design, Low Power


Renesas Electronics Corporation will acquire Dialog Semiconductor in an all-cash deal worth about US $5.9 billion. Dialog is a supplier of mixed-signal ICs targeting IoT, consumer, automotive, and industrial. The company's primary areas of focus were communications and power control. These products are complementary to existing Renesas embedded compute products. Dialog CEO Dr. Jalal Bagherli... » read more

The Many Flavors Of UPF: Which Is Right For Your Design?


Energy efficient electronic systems require sophisticated power management architectures that present difficult low-power verification challenges. Accellera introduced the Unified Power Format (UPF) standard in 2007 to help engineers deal with these complex issues. To keep pace with the growing complexity of low-power designs, the UPF standard has itself continued to evolve through the relea... » read more

The Problem With Benchmarks


Benchmarks long have been used to compare products, but what makes a good benchmark and who should be trusted with their creation? The answer to those questions is more difficult than it may appear on the surface, and some benchmarks are being used in surprising ways. Everyone loves a simple, clear benchmark, but that is only possible when the selection criteria are equally simple. Unfortuna... » read more

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