Earlier Is Better In Latch-Up Detection


Physical verification is an essential step in integrated circuit (IC) design verification. Foundries provide design rule manuals that specify the precise physical requirements needed to ensure the design can be correctly manufactured, and the verification team runs the layout through checks based on those rules to ensure compliance. However, ensuring that a design can be manufactured does not g... » read more

Interconnect Inductance Extraction For Analog And RF IC Designs


Increasing operating frequencies for analog/RF designs mean interconnect inductance parasitic extraction is now required to ensure accurate circuit performance and high reliability. Automated field solver-based inductance extraction of both self and mutual parasitics enables IC companies to deliver analog/RF chips that provide the intended level of performance and reliability. To read more, ... » read more

Analog Simulation At 7/5/3nm


Hany Elhak, group director of product management at Cadence, talks with Semiconductor Engineering about analog circuit simulation at advanced nodes, why process variation is an increasing problem, the impact of parasitics and finFET stacking, and what happens when gate-all-around FETs are added into the chip. » read more

How FinFET Device Performance Is Affected By Epitaxial Process Variations


By Shih-Hao (Jacky) Huang and Yu De Chen As the need to scale transistors to ever-smaller sizes continues to press on technology designers, the impact of parasitic resistance and capacitance can approach or even outpace other aspects of transistor performance, such as fringing capacitance or source drain resistance. The total resistance in a device is comprised of two components: internal re... » read more

DC Bus Switching Performance as Determined by Commutation Loop Parasitics and Switching Dynamics


In this article a 250 kW all-SiC inverter evaluation kit designed around low-inductance, high-speed power modules is used to demonstrate the DC bus switching performance resulting from the interaction among commutation loop parasitics and the switching dynamics. The interplay among the DC bus structure parasitics and near-RF switching dynamics can be quantified in both the time and frequency do... » read more

Using Less Power At The Same Node


Going to the next node has been the most effective way to reduce power, but that is no longer true or desirable for a growing percentage of the semiconductor industry. So the big question now is how to reduce power while maintaining the same node size. After understanding how the power is used, both chip designers and fabs have techniques available to reduce power consumption. Fabs are makin... » read more

Electromagnetic Analysis and Signoff: Cost Savings


By Nikolas Provatas and Magdy Abadir We are often asked by SoC design teams about the benefits of an electromagnetic analysis and signoff methodology. Here is an overview of some of the big “cost savings”. Time to Market Savings Utilizing an EM crosstalk analysis and signoff methodology provides designers with an “insurance policy” against the risk of EM coupling in their SOC des... » read more

Managing Parasitics For Transistor Performance


The basic equations describing transistor behavior rely on parameters like channel doping, the capacitance of the gate oxide, and the resistance between the source and drain and the channel. And for most of the IC industry's history, these have been sufficient. “Parasitic” or “external” resistances and capacitances from structures outside the transistor have been small enough to discoun... » read more

Reflecting Back On 2016


Anyone can make a prediction, and sometimes the more outlandish they are the more they get noticed. But at the end of the year some people hit the mark while others may have been way off. Many people simply make projections based on the current trajectory of trends, while others look for the potential discontinuities that may lie ahead. Semiconductor Engineering examines the projections made... » read more

Have Margins Outlived Their Usefulness?


To automate the process of solving complex design problems, the traditional approach has been to partition them into smaller, manageable tasks. For each task, we have built the best possible solution which we continuously refine over time. Additionally, we have managed the interdependencies between tasks by defining boundaries or margins; these often have been best- and worst-case values used t... » read more

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