Will Steering Wheels Ever Disappear?


Autonomous vehicles are touted as the way of the future, and the general assumption is ultimately everything will be autonomous. But there are broad segments of the market where autonomy is unlikely to happen. There is no question that autonomy is possible. In fact, within certain bounds it's already here. Robo-taxis are available in some cities. Mercedes, Tesla, and Lexus are all touting so... » read more

Blog Review: Jan. 19


Synopsys' Anand Thiruvengadam examines the memory chip design challenges of optimizing PPA, speeding turnaround time, and improving reliability and how a shift-left approach can help. Cadence's Paul McLellan checks out some of TSMC's recent updates in 3D packaging and the importance of thermal analysis and finding the right balance between IR-drop and TSV usage in multi-chip physical verific... » read more

Week In Review: Auto, Security, Pervasive Computing


Security Kyocera is using Rambus’ RT-130 Root of Trust and AES-IP-38 AES Accelerator IP for data security on Kyocera Evolution Series MFPs (multi-function printers). Connected printers are notorious targets for malicious actors to gain access a network or data. The Evolution Series MFPs’ data security mets Federal Information Processing Standards (FIPS) 140-2 Cryptographic Module Validatio... » read more

The Ethernet Standard: To IP And Beyond


Ethernet is ubiquitous—it is the core technology that defines the Internet and serves to connect the world in ways that people could not imagine even one generation ago. HPC clusters are working on solving the most challenging problems facing humanity—and cloud computing is the service hosting many of the application workloads struggling with these questions. While alternative network infra... » read more

SOT-MRAM To Challenge SRAM


In an era of new non-volatile memory (NVM) technologies, yet another variation is poised to join the competition — a new version of MRAM called spin-orbit torque, or SOT-MRAM. What makes this one particularly interesting is the possibility that someday it could supplant SRAM arrays in systems-on-chip (SoCs) and other integrated circuits. The key advantages of SOT-MRAM technology are the pr... » read more

Is Programmable Overhead Worth The Cost?


Programmability has fueled the growth of most semiconductor products, but how much does it actually cost? And is that cost worth it? The answer is more complicated than a simple efficiency formula. It can vary by application, by maturity of technology in a particular market, and in the context of much larger systems. What's considered important for one design may be very different for anothe... » read more

Accelerating Software Development With Fast Virtual Prototypes


Most of today's largest semiconductor devices are highly complex system on chip (SoC) designs, which means that they include one or more embedded processors. This indicates that software provides some of the key functionality of the chip. The system cannot be fully verified or validated without both hardware and software. However, software development generally takes more time and resources to ... » read more

Setting Ground Rules For 3D-IC Designs


Experts at the Table: Semiconductor Engineering sat down to discuss the changes in design tools and methodologies needed for 3D-ICs, with Sooyong Kim, director and product specialist for 3D-IC at Ansys; Kenneth Larsen, product marketing director at Synopsys; Tony Mastroianni, advanced packaging solutions director at Siemens EDA; and Vinay Patwardhan, product management group director at Cadence... » read more

Blog Review: Jan. 12


Synopsys' Twan Korthorst introduces the history of photonics, why it is important for the semiconductor industry, key market applications, and the future of photonic integrated circuits. Cadence's Paul McLellan takes a look at TSMC's recent announcements around its N3 and N3 HPC notes and the push for performance gains through design technology co-optimization Siemens' Sebastian Flock che... » read more

The Gargantuan 5G Chip Challenge


Blazing fast upload and download speeds for cellular data are coming, but making the technology function as expected throughout its expected lifetime is an enormous challenge that will require substantial changes across the entire chip ecosystem. While sub-6GHz is an evolutionary step from 4G LTE, the real promise of 5G kicks in with millimeter-wave (mmWave) technology. But these higher-freq... » read more

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