Dealing With Performance Bottlenecks In SoCs


A surge in the amount of data that SoCs need to process is bogging down performance, and while the processors themselves can handle that influx, memory and communication bandwidth are straining. The question now is what can be done about it. The gap between memory and CPU bandwidth — the so-called memory wall — is well documented and definitely not a new problem. But it has not gone away... » read more

Beyond Human Reach: Meeting Design Targets Faster With AI-Driven Optimization


The implementation flow for semiconductor devices is all about optimizing for power, performance, area (PPA), or some combination of these attributes. The history of this flow in electronic design automation (EDA) tools is all about adding more automation, tightening iterative loops, and reducing the number of iterations. The goal is converging to the PPA targets faster while using fewer resour... » read more

Blog Review: Feb. 22


Siemens EDA's Harry Foster observes that the FPGA market continues to go through a similar complexity curve that the IC/ASIC market experienced in the early and mid-2000 timeframe. Synopsys' Mitch Heins explores the benefits of heterogeneous integration of lasers and active gain elements in a silicon-based photonic IC, including reduced system costs, size, weight, and power along with improv... » read more

Best Practices For Cybersecurity-Aware SoC Development With ISO 21434


The growth of electronics in cars is exposing a new vector for cyberattacks on owners and automotive companies’ reputations. The potential human cost of an attack on the car’s electronics is driving urgency in the adoption of cybersecurity-aware practices, from OEMs and Tier 1s to every component supplier in the automotive industry. The standard “ISO/SAE 21434:2021 Road vehicles — Cyber... » read more

Week In Review: Design, Low Power


It’s earnings season. Arm, Cadence, Synopsys, Siemens (consolidated), Rambus, and Renesas reported quarterly results over the past couple weeks. All posted year-over-year revenue growth, despite an overall challenging macroeconomic climate. A roundup of all the chip industry earnings reports from the past several weeks can be found here. The edge computing market is projected to jump to al... » read more

Managing Thermal-Induced Stress In Chips


At advanced nodes and in the most advanced packages, physics is no one's friend. Escalating density, smaller features, and thinner dies make it more difficult to dissipate heat, and they increase mechanical stress. On the flip side, thinner dielectrics and tighter spaces make it more difficult to insulate and protect against that heat, and in conjunction with those smaller features and higher d... » read more

Blog Review: Feb. 15


Siemens EDA's Harry Foster examines the relationship between verification maturity and non-trivial bug escapes into production, as well as whether safety critical development processes yield higher quality in terms of preventing bugs and achieving silicon success. Synopsys' Shankar Krishnamoorthy finds that the rapid progress of machine learning models is driving demand for more domain-speci... » read more

Simplifying Integration And Security In Home Networks


An explosion of devices connected to the internet is driving vendors to implement standards that simplify the initial setup and improve security and integration with other devices, regardless of brand, network protocols, or country of origin. Farthest along in this multi-ecosystem merge is the Connectivity Standards Alliance (CSA), which today is supported by more than 500 companies, includi... » read more

Week In Review: Auto, Security, Pervasive Computing


General Motors (GM) made a deal with GlobalFoundries (GF) to have chips made at the U.S.-based foundry in upstate New York for GM’s key suppliers. GF will expand its production capabilities exclusively for GM’s supply chain, while GM promises to bring economies of scale through its strategy to reduce the unique types of chips needed in products. J.D. Power released its 2023 U.S. Vehicle ... » read more

Is RISC-V Ready For Supercomputing?


RISC-V processors, which until several years ago were considered auxiliary processors for specific functions, appear to be garnering support for an entirely different type of role — high-performance computing. This is still at the discussion stage. Questions remain about the software ecosystem, or whether the chips, boards, and systems are reliable enough. And there are both business and t... » read more

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