First Time Success And Cost Control

By Brian Bailey - 26 Feb, 2015 - Comments: 0

First time success has been the ultimate goal for semiconductor companies due to escalating mask costs, as well as a guiding objective for the development of EDA tools, especially in the systems and verification space. These pressures are magnified for the [getkc id="76" comment="Internet of Things"] (IoT), especially the edge devices. Have system-level tools been able to contribute to first ti... » read more

One-On-One: Walid Abu-Hadba

By Ed Sperling - 11 Feb, 2015 - Comments: 0

Walid Abu-Hadba, chief product officer at [getentity id="22021" e_name="Ansys"] (and a former top executive at Microsoft), sat down with Semiconductor Engineering to talk about systems engineering and why the starting point is no longer the SoC. What follows are excerpts of that conversation. SE: How do you define system? Abu-Hadba: It's everything. It's the entire product and where the p... » read more

Are Models Holding Back New Methodologies?

By Brian Bailey - 30 Oct, 2014 - Comments: 1

Semiconductor Engineering sat down to discuss the state of the industry for [getkc id="101" kc_name="modeling"] at abstractions above [getkc id="49" kc_name="RTL"], a factor which has delayed adoption of [getkc id="104" kn_name="virtual prototypes"] and the proliferation of system-level design and hardware/software codesign. Taking part in the discussion were Frank Schirrmeister, group director... » read more

Are Models Holding Back New Methodologies

By Brian Bailey - 23 Oct, 2014 - Comments: 0

Not Invented Here Syndrome

By Jon McDonald - 21 Aug, 2014 - Comments: 0

Recently I have made some choices on IP I needed to re-use and some I decided not to re-use. This got me thinking about the general topic of reuse in system-level design. Most will agree with a non-specific statement that reuse is a good thing, but the details tend to be a bit more ambiguous. Clouding the reuse question are occasional infections of NIH Syndrome (Not Invented Here), even if s... » read more

Confessions Of An ESL-Aholic

By Frank Schirrmeister - 22 May, 2014 - Comments: 0

At DAC 1997 – 17 years ago – Gary Smith coined the term “Electronic System-Level” (ESL) design. Around the same time I entered EDA when becoming part of Cadence and became very involved in ESL. Things have changed over the last 17 years quite a bit. While some of the predictions did not come true, others definitely did. Over the last couple of years the tools to be counted as part of sy... » read more

Commoditizing Our Kids

By Jon McDonald - 27 Mar, 2014 - Comments: 0

My son is graduating from high school this year. He’ll be starting on an engineering degree in the fall. Thinking about the outlook he will face reminds me of questions and comments I have received from customers and colleagues at various points. In my mind these thoughts reduce to a simple question: Is engineering skill becoming a commodity? From Wikipedia: “The exact definition of th... » read more

The Great Shift To The Left

By Frank Schirrmeister - 27 Mar, 2014 - Comments: 1

Writing this while I am at DATE in Dresden, Germany, I am also preparing for two panels on system-level trends later today and one on software-driven verification tomorrow. I am also visiting partners and customers to discuss our current and planned technologies. A while ago I had augmented “Leibson’s Law” stating that it takes 10 years for any disruptive technology to be adopted by desig... » read more

A Different Kind Of Sales Job

By Ed Sperling - 30 Jan, 2014 - Comments: 0

For years EDA companies have been pitching the benefits of ESL tools and high-level modeling, and for just as many years chipmakers have been throwing that idea back at tools vendors saying it’s too expensive to retool. Talks between the two have waffled between polite bickering and contentious negotiations. Chipmakers have approached these “talks” from the stronger bargaining position... » read more

Plans Vs. Planning

By Jon McDonald - 20 Dec, 2013 - Comments: 0

The end of the year is a good time to look back at what’s happened over the past year, and look ahead to what might happen in the coming one. Two quotes that help my thought process when thinking about the might be coming, “Change is the law of life.” from Kennedy, and “Plans are nothing, but planning is indispensable” from Eisenhower. From my perspective, 2013 has been a good year... » read more

← Older posts Newer posts →

Knowledge Centers
Entities, people and technologies explored

Shift Left Is The Tip Of The Iceberg

A transformative change is underway for semiconductor design and EDA. New languages, models, and abstractions will need to be created.

by Brian Bailey

Partitioning In The Chiplet Era

Understanding how chiplets interact under different workloads is critical to ensuring signal integrity and optimal performance in heterogeneous designs.

by Ann Mutschler

3.5D: The Great Compromise

Pros and cons of a middle-ground chiplet assembly that combines 2.5D and 3D-IC.

by Ed Sperling

AI’s Role In Chip Design Widens, Drawing In New Startups

Focus is on letting engineers do much more with the same or fewer resources — and less drudgery.

by Karen Heyman

Key Technologies To Extend EUV To 14 Angstroms

Alongside high-NA EUV will be better-performing photoresists, reduced roughness using passivation and etch, and lateral etching to reduce tip-to-tip dimensions.

by Laura Peters

What Comes After HBM For Chiplets

The standard for high-bandwidth memory limits design freedom at many levels, but that is required for interoperability. What freedoms can be taken from other functions to make chiplets possible?

by Brian Bailey

Memory Fundamentals For Engineers

eBook: Nearly everything you need to know about memory, including detailed explanations of the different types of memory; how and where these are used today; what's changing, which memories are successful and which ones might be in the future; and the limitations of each memory type.

by The SE Staff

Why Small Fab And Assembly Houses Are Thriving

Megafabs churning out the most advanced processors are not the only game in town.

by Bryon Moyer

tag: system-level design