Blog Review: Sept. 11


Cadence's Neha Joshi introduces the IEEE 1801 standard, also known as UPF (Unified Power Format), which offers a uniform framework for defining power domains, power states, and power intent to ensure consistency across diverse tools and phases of the design process. Siemens' John McMillan warns that known good die may not behave the same in 3D-ICs as they do standalone and suggests that mult... » read more

Striking A Balance On Efficiency, Performance, And Cost


Experts at the Table: Semiconductor Engineering sat down to discuss power-related issues such as voltage droop, application-specific processing elements, the impact of physical effects in advanced packaging, and the benefits of backside power delivery, with Hans Yeager, senior principal engineer, architecture, at Tenstorrent; Joe Davis, senior director for Calibre interfaces and EM/IR product m... » read more

Standardizing Defect Coverage In Analog/Mixed Signal Test


A newly drafted IEEE standard will bring more consistency to defect metrics in analog/mixed (AMS) designs, a long-overdue step that has become too difficult to ignore in the costly heterogeneous assemblies being deployed inside of data centers and mobile devices. Standardizing analog is no simple feat due to the legacy approach to AMS design, and this is not the first attempt at improving te... » read more

Balancing Programmability And Performance In Cars


The rate of change in the automotive industry is accelerating with the shift toward software-defined vehicles and ongoing advancements in algorithms and chip architectures. The challenge now is to figure out the best way to prevent rapid obsolescence, improve safety, and keep the cost of these changes to a minimum. Today, updatable automotive hardware is typically achieved through FPGAs, but... » read more

Photonics Could Reduce The Cost Of Lidar


Using light to move data over shorter distances is becoming more common, both because there is much more data to move around and because photons are faster and cooler than electrons. Using optical fiber for mission-critical communication is already well established. It has been the preferred PHY for long-haul communications for decades because it doesn’t suffer from the attenuation losses ... » read more

Blog Review: Sept. 4


Synopsys' Jyotika Athavale and Randy Fish sit down with Google's Rama Govindaraju and Microsoft's Robert S. Chappell to discuss silent data corruption and why a solution will require chip designers and manufacturers, software and hardware engineers, vendors, and anyone involved in computer data to collaborate and take the issue seriously. Siemens' Karen Chow and Joel Mercier explain the rela... » read more

Design Optimal ESD Protection With Context-Aware SPICE Simulation


Electrostatic discharge (ESD) is a major reliability concern for modern ICs. Ensuring the robustness of ICs in an ESD event by providing adequate ESD protection is proving to be a major challenge for IC designers due to factors such as shrinking of the design features, reduction in gate oxide thickness, increase in the contact and interconnect resistance and an increase in the overall design co... » read more

AI’s Role In Chip Design Widens, Drawing In New Startups


Using AI in EDA is reinvigorating the whole tools industry, prompting established players to upgrade their tool offerings with AI/ML features, while drawing in startups trying to carve out differentiated approaches to fill unaddressed gaps with new tools and methodologies. Today’s new generation of entrepreneurs is comprised of both young post-grads with innovative ideas and industry veter... » read more

Edge Devices Require New Security Approaches


The diversity of connected devices and chips at the edge — the vaguely defined middle ground between the end point and the cloud — is significantly widening the potential attack surface and creating more opportunities for cyberattacks. The edge build-out has been underway for at least the past half-decade, largely driven by an explosion in data and increasing demands to process that data... » read more

Ready For Curvilinear: New Innovations For Resistance Extraction


The rapid evolution of semiconductor industry, fueled by the propagation of IOT applications, image sensors, photonics and MEMS applications and other emerging technologies dramatically increased the complexity of IC design. Designers often use unconventional structures to achieve the desired functionality and optimal performance. For example, image sensors use wide polygons in the layout and a... » read more

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