IP Integration Challenges Rising


It’s not just [getkc id="80" comment="lithography"] that is putting a crimp in sub-28nm designs. As more functions, features, transistors and software are added onto chips, the pressure to get chips out the door has forced chipmakers to lean more heavily on third-party IP providers. Results, as you might expect, have been mixed. The number of blocks has mushroomed, creating its own web of ... » read more

Software Design Moves Virtual Prototyping Into The Mainstream


With the high level of integration of CPUs, GPUs, and DSPs in today’s System-on-Chip (SoC) and ASIC devices, software is becoming a primary driver of system innovation. This, along with the increasing pressure to reduce system development time, makes it critical to get a working hardware prototype into the hands of the various software teams as quickly as possible. Traditional prototyping met... » read more

Next Bonanza: Security Holes


Security threats—both real and potential—are beginning to reshape the semiconductor business. These threats are drawing venture capitalists back into the industry as they race for the next big opportunity. They are blurring the lines between software and hardware, as threats grow in complexity at every level of a device and its myriad and sometimes perpetual connections to the outside wo... » read more

Everyone Is A Programmer


There was a time when so many people didn’t know how to program their VCRs that OEMs stopped adding clocks because it was embarrassing to have them constantly blinking “12:00.” We’ve come a long way since VCRs. And that means all of us. While engineers have always enjoyed tinkering with technology, what’s changed is that everyone tinkers with technology now. Everyone programs phone... » read more

Linux And The Big Bad Wolf


With great interest, I am following any news around the progress of Linaro and the Linux kernel community with regard to addressing all the requirements for an ARMv8 64-bit server software stack. Well-established standards, such as the Unified Extensible Firmware Interface (UEFI) and Advanced Configuration and Power Interface (ACPI), are impacting the development direction of the community b... » read more

What’s Wrong With Power Signoff


Reducing power has emerged as the most pressing issue in the history of technology. On one hand, it’s the biggest opportunity the electronics industry has ever seen. On the other, the abuse of cheap power has been linked to global warming, human catastrophe, and geopolitical strife. In all cases, the semiconductor increasingly finds itself at the vortex of all of this, and making chips more e... » read more

Executive Insight: Aart de Geus


SE: What worries you most? De Geus: Everything I do is with high intensity, and what is of super high intensity right now—and there are challenges and opportunities in it—is that we have the confluence of some very big changes right now happening at the same time. On the technology side, there are multiple intersections. One is the intersection of another 10 years of Moore’s Law—finF... » read more

Executive Insight: Charles Janac


SE: What’s your biggest concern? Janac: Staying current. One of the things that is really important is to understand shifts in the marketplace. In the past, we looked at whether to target our interconnect solution at digital TV or mobility. This was actually a very interesting question in 2005. The DTV market looked better, but we were not getting enough evaluations. We were doing better i... » read more

New Uses For Emulation


Semiconductor Engineering sat down to discuss the changing emulation landscape with Jim Kenney, director of marketing for emulation at Mentor Graphics; Tom Borgstrom, director of the verification group at Synopsys; Frank Schirrmeister, group director of product marketing for the System Development Suite at Cadence; Gary Smith, chief analyst at Gary Smith EDA; and Lauro Rizzatti, a verification ... » read more

Using Virtual Prototypes To Address The Growing Software Complexity In Automotive


The software content is growing steadily across multiple applications and the automotive market is no exception to this. In fact the amount of electronics and software in cars is transforming the way we perceive the value of a car. With this steady increase in software also comes the need to handle the amount and the complexity of all these different software stacks. And unlike other applicatio... » read more

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