Productivity And The IoT


The market for devices that connect almost everything to the [getkc id="76" comment="Internet of Things"] is projected to explode, creating opportunities for companies that haven’t been traditional chip developers to decide to start developing devices. Semiconductor Engineering sat down to discuss this topic with Jack Guedj, corporate VP of Tensilica products at [getentity id="22032" e_name="... » read more

Time To Market Concerns Worsen


Time to market has always been an issue for chipmakers in highly competitive sectors, but as complexity of chips continues to grow at advanced nodes, and as markets shift increasingly toward consumer electronics, it has jumped to the No. 1 concern. Interviews with engineers at multiple levels inside of some of the largest and midsize chipmakers, conducted by Semiconductor Engineering over th... » read more

Is IC Design Methodology At The Breaking Point?


Evidence is mounting that traditional “waterfall” methods used to develop complex ICs are reaching the breaking point. Consider that today: Some IC designs contain more than 100 [getkc id="43" comment="IP"] blocks that must be integrated from multiple sources Design requirements are constantly in flux Demands for low power and security are increasing as device connectivity grows S... » read more

Limiters To The Internet Of Things


“Specialization is for insects.” Robert A. Heinlein, Time Enough for Love In many respects, the [getkc id="76" kc_name="Internet of Things"] (IoT) is already here. But because most of it is not directed at the consumer space, it seamlessly blends into the environment, unnoticed by everyone except for those who are reaping the benefits of it. When we talk about the IoT, most people concentr... » read more

Following Real Money On The IoT


We probably need to change the wording, but the next killer apps for the Internet of Things likely will be ones that save lives. A common approach by vendors looking to capitalize on the IoT is simply to mash together different vertical segments and technologies that never went together in the past. A crowd-based real-time GPS/traffic system like Waze would never have existed a decade ago (... » read more

Looking For The Next Big Thing


With [getkc id="74" comment="Moore's Law"] slowing down or coming to an end, finding the next big thing may be very different than it was in the past. We cannot assume that more of the same will be a winner. The semiconductor industry has been blessed with two new product categories that have catapulted it through what should have been a very difficult period with barely a scratch. Those techno... » read more

IP Subsystems: What Works, What Doesn’t


The [getkc id="81" kc_name="SoC"] landscape has changed substantially over the past decade and so have some of the definitions for aspects of the system—particularly the [getkc id="43" kc_name="IP"] subsystem. “We’ve been at the point for some time for large SoCs that what we thought about as a building block 10 years ago is now too small,” said [getperson id="11489" p_name="Drew Win... » read more

Different Approaches Emerge For Stacking Die


The concept of stacking die to shorten wires, improve performance, and reduce the amount of energy required to drive signals has been in research for at least the past dozen years at both IBM and Intel. And depending upon whom you ask, it could be another 2 to 10 years before it becomes a mainstream packaging approach—if it happens at all. At least part of the confusion stems from how you ... » read more

When Will 2.5D Cut Costs?


There is a constant drive to reduce costs within the semiconductor industry and, up until now, [getkc id="74" comment="Moore's Law"] provided an easy path to enable this. By adopting each smaller node, transistors were cheaper, but that is no longer the case, as explained in a recent article. The industry will need to find new technologies to make this happen and some people are looking towards... » read more

Designing For Security


Some level of security is required in SoC today, whether it is in hardware, software or — most commonly — both. Of course, there is a price to pay from a power and performance perspective, but thankfully just a small one in most cases. The explosion of consumer devices has driven the need for increased security features in smart cards, smart phones, personal computers, home networks, and... » read more

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