Hidden Costs And Tradeoffs In IC Quality


Balancing reliability against cost is becoming more difficult for semiconductor test, as chip complexity increases and devices become more domain-specific. Tests need to be efficient and effective without breaking the bank, while also ensuring chips are of sufficient quality for their specific application. The problem is that every new IC device adds its own set of challenges, from smaller f... » read more

AI-Driven Test Optimization Solves Semiconductor Test Costs And Design Schedules


Artificial Intelligence has become a pervasive technology that is being applied to solve today’s complex problems, especially in the areas involving exponentially large amounts of data, their analysis, and corresponding decision making that are otherwise limited by human abilities. Therefore, complex challenges in semiconductor design, test and manufacturing are a perfect match for AI. The... » read more

Blog Review: Feb. 7


Synopsys' Ian Land, Kenneth Larsen, and Rob Aitken find that a new approach will be required to ensure that higher volume 3D heterogeneous integration (3DHI) designs can function reliably and successfully in aerospace, defense, and government systems. Siemens' John Golding provides a primer on the fundamental concepts related to signal integrity, including key topics such as transmission lin... » read more

Software-Defined Vehicles Ready To Roll


Software-defined vehicles are driving a swell of activity across the automotive ecosystem, including new methodologies and technology approaches that could significantly reduce costs and shorten time to market for advanced features. The SDV approach encompasses more than a single concept. It helps to think of it more as a modeling approach that connects EVs, driver assistance technology, and... » read more

Dealing With Noise In Image Sensors


The expanding use and importance of image sensors in safety-critical applications such as automotive and medical devices has transformed noise from an annoyance into a life-threatening problem that requires a real-time solution. In consumer cameras, noise typically results in grainy images, often associated with poor lighting, the speed at which an image is captured, or a faulty sensor. Typi... » read more

The Proliferation Of Bluetooth In V2X Automotive Applications


V2X, or “Vehicle to Everything,” applies to wireless communication between a vehicle and a specific entity or network. Although vehicle-to-vehicle communication projects can be traced back to the 1970s, more recently the IEEE WLAN V2X specifications released in 2010 and the 3GPP V2X specification published in 2016 have defined specific wireless standards for V2X communications. Most of the ... » read more

Formal Verification’s Usefulness Widens


Formal verification is being deployed more often and in more places in chip designs as the number of possible interactions grows, and as those chips are used in more critical applications. In the past, much of formal verification was focused on whether a chip would function properly. But as designs become more complex and heterogeneous, and as use cases change, formal verification is being u... » read more

Blog Review: Jan. 31


Synopsys' William Ruby argues for a comprehensive energy-efficient design methodology for automotive ICs as today's vehicles demand ever more computing power to support electrification, communication, and processing of massive amounts of data. Cadence's Mellacheruvu Srikanth finds that verifying all the new features and enhancements across several generations of PCIe while maintaining backwa... » read more

Meeting Stringent PA_SaveConfigTime In UFS Solution When M-PHY Needs Higher Reconfigure Time


The JEDEC Universal Flash Storage (UFS) has emerged as the default mobile storage solution for high-end smartphones and battery-operated devices, owing to its superior speed, performance, and power efficiency. These attributes are essential to meet users' demand for rapid transmission and reception of high-resolution media amid myriad operations. Despite these advantages, UFS's use of the MIPI ... » read more

Why There Are Still No Commercial 3D-ICs


Building chips in three dimensions is drawing increased attention and investment, but so far there have been no announcements about commercial 3D-IC chips. There are some fundamental problems that must be overcome and new tools that need to be developed. In contrast, the semiconductor industry is becoming fairly comfortable with 2.5D integration, where individual dies are assembled on some k... » read more

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