The Mightier Microcontroller


Microcontrollers are becoming more complex, more powerful, and significantly more useful, but those improvements come with strings attached. While it's relatively straightforward to develop multi-core microcontroller (MCU) hardware with advanced power management features, it's much more difficult to write software for these chips because memory is limited. CPUs can use on-chip memory such as... » read more

Bulk CMOS Vs. FD-SOI


The leading edge of the chip market increasingly is divided over whether to move to finFETs or whether to stay at 28nm using different materials and potentially even advanced packaging. Decisions about which approach to take frequently boil down to performance, power, form factor, cost, and the maturity of the individual technologies. All of those can vary by market, by vendor and by process... » read more

Formal Verification Applied To The Renesas MCU Design Platform Using OneSpin Tools


An effective measure of verification progress, together with guidance towards design areas remaining untested, requires a precise view of the test coverage achieved. To risk signing off the verification process without understanding the quality of testing raises the specter of post-production device bugs. OneSpin Solution’s patented Quantify technology employs Observation Coverage, which eval... » read more

Are Simulation’s Days Numbered?


In the latest EDAC report, the value of IP surpassed the value of CAE tools for the first time. Verification tools are an important part of establishing confidence in IP blocks and simulation has been the mainstay of that IP verification strategy. But simulation is under increasing pressure, particularly for full-chip and SoC verification, because it has failed to scale. While it still remains ... » read more

The Week In Review: Design/IoT


Tools Rambus' Cryptography Research Division uncorked a new security platform for protecting and sharing 4K UHD and high dynamic range programming. It allows consumers to store, copy and share digital content across multiple devices, while also protecting the content from theft. Included are a secure core, a software player, and trusted key provisioning. Deals Arrow and Cadence announc... » read more

The Week In Review: Manufacturing


For years, China has been trying to get a domestic IC equipment industry off the ground, but it has experienced modest success in the arena. Now, China may take a new strategy—acquire fab tool makers. In what could be a sign of things to come, China’s Beijing E-Town Dragon Semiconductor Industry Investment Center has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire U.S.-based fab tool vendor ... » read more

The Week In Review: Design/IoT


Tools Mentor Graphics rolled out a new version of its tool for transferring PCB designs into data for fabrication, assembly and test. The company also announced that its debug environment will support the UPF Low Power Successive Refinement Methodology. Deals Ansys and Cray are claiming the world's record for simulation by scaling 129,000 cores. That's about 4X the previous record.  Ansys... » read more

The Week In Review: Design/IoT


The EDA Consortium announced EDA industry revenue increased 7.5% for Q1 2015 to $1877 million, compared to $1746.1 million in Q1 2014. The four-quarters moving average, which compares the most recent four quarters to the prior four quarters, increased by 8.0%. Employment also increased, and according to Wally Rhines, "all categories showed revenue increases except CAE. Geographically, the Ameri... » read more

Japan: Finding Leadership In New Technology Areas


By Osamu Nakamura The semiconductor industry is a technology-driven industry — and technology invention and innovation are the engines that drive industry growth. Japan has seen the global landscape for semiconductor manufacturing change, and in turn, Japan’s semiconductor industry has been changing, finding technology leadership opportunities in emerging technology areas that lead to grow... » read more

The Week In Review: Design/IoT


Mergers & Acquisitions Synopsys' list of security acquisitions grew with a definitive agreement to buy certain assets of Quotium, including the interactive application security testing product Seeker and its R&D team. The acquisition builds on static analysis technology from Coverity and Codenomicon's fuzz testing and software vulnerability assessment tools. Terms of the deal have no... » read more

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