Formally Verifying SystemC/C++ Designs


We’re seeing an increase in the number of designs employing SystemC/C++. This isn’t surprising given the fact that specific use models have emerged to drive common design flows across engineering teams leading to the adoption of high-level synthesis (HLS) at many large semiconductor and electronic systems companies. These HLS tools are a popular method to rapidly generate design components ... » read more

A Methodology To Verify Functionality, Security, And Trust for RISC-V Cores


Modern processor designs present some of the toughest hardware verification challenges. These challenges are especially acute for RISC-V processor core designs, with a wide range of variations and implementations available from a plethora of sources. This paper describes a verification methodology available to both RISC-V core providers and system-on-chip (SoC) teams integrating these cores. It... » read more

Safe And Robust Machine Learning


Deploying machine learning in the real world is a lot different than developing and testing it in a lab. Quenton Hall, AI systems architect at Xilinx, examines security implications on both the inferencing and training side, the potential for disruptions to accuracy, and how accessible these models and algorithms will be when they are used at the edge and in the cloud. This involves everything ... » read more

ASIC/IC Verification Trends With A Focus On Factors Of Silicon Success


At long last we come to the final installment of our four-part series presenting the findings of the Wilson Research Group Functional Verification 2020 study. In this article we discuss verification trends in IC/ASIC language and library adoption, low power management, and verification effectiveness. We then take a deeper dive into two somewhat surprising phenomena revealed in the data: the ... » read more

Achieving CDC Signoff On Multi Billion Gate Designs With Hierarchical CDC Flow


For the last few decades, the System-on-Chip (SoC) design size has dramatically increased and more complexity has been introduced to deliver the desired functionality. A typical SoC can have many complex IPs operating at different clock frequencies, which can stress the verification cycle. Generally, design and verification teams are spending an increasing amount of time to ensure that the SoC ... » read more

New Design Approaches For Automotive


The push toward increasing autonomy in automotive is driving new approaches in electronics development. Instead of designing individual components, the focus now is on modeling in context. The ultimate goal is to create an executable specification based on industry-accepted standards, with enough flexibility to be able to customize that spec for different customers. This is a difficult engin... » read more

CEO Outlook: More Data, More Integration, Same Deadlines


Experts at the Table: Semiconductor Engineering sat down to discuss the future of chip design and EDA tools with Lip-Bu Tan, CEO of Cadence; Simon Segars, CEO of Arm; Joseph Sawicki, executive vice president of Siemens IC EDA; John Kibarian, CEO of PDF Solutions; Prakash Narain, president and CEO of Real Intent; Dean Drako, president and CEO of IC Manage; and Babak Taheri, CEO of Silvaco. What ... » read more

Staying A Step Ahead Of Hackers With Continuous Verification


We’re all familiar with the apps on our phones and how often they get updated. Most of the time, these updates are done over the air quickly and easily. Other times, a completely new download of the software is required. But let’s take a look at the hardware platforms that the software runs on. What happens when the hardware needs to be upgraded? Today’s hardware platforms are expensive t... » read more

Beyond The Water Cooler: 2020 Report On IC/ASIC Design And Verification Trends


Verification and design engineers like to talk shop and discuss their experiences and visions. But even though engineers sharing stories around the water cooler (whatever form that takes—conferences, blogs, etc.) does provide all kinds of valuable insights, it doesn’t provide the full picture into the very large and complicated and extremely dynamic global semiconductor industry. To better ... » read more

EDA In The Cloud


Hagai Arbel, CEO of Vtool, talks with Semiconductor Engineering about the benefits of moving EDA tools to the cloud, why it has been slow to take off, and what will drive this trend in the future. » read more

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