Week In Review: Auto, Security, Pervasive Computing


Automotive/Mobility With the chip supply so tight it is shutting down automotive production lines, U.S. chip company CEOs signed a Semiconductor Industry Association (SIA) letter asking the U.S. president to include funding incentives for the chip manufacturing in U.S. economic recovery plans. The letter references the CHIPS for America Act and asks the president to work with Congress to suppo... » read more

DRAM, 3D NAND Face New Challenges


It’s been a topsy-turvy period for the memory market, and it's not over. So far in 2020, demand has been slightly better than expected for the two main memory types — 3D NAND and DRAM. But now there is some uncertainty in the market amid a slowdown, inventory issues and an ongoing trade war. In addition, the 3D NAND market is moving toward a new technology generation, but some are enc... » read more

Components For Open-Source Verification


Defining an open-source verification methodology is a lot more difficult than just developing an open-source simulator. This is the reality facing open-source hardware such as RISC-V. Some people may be asking for the corresponding open-source verification, but that is a much tougher problem — and it is not going to be solved in the short term. Part one examined the reasons why open-source... » read more

Open-Source Hardware Momentum Builds


Open-source hardware continues to gain ground, spearheaded by RISC-V — despite the fact that this processor technology is neither free nor simple to use. Nevertheless, the open-source hardware movement has established a solid foothold after multiple prior forays that yielded only limited success, even for processors. With demand for more customized hardware, and a growing field of startups... » read more

Blog Review: June 24


Cadence's Paul McLellan provides an overview of the new IEEE 1838 standard for manufacturing test of 3D stacked ICs and how it aims to enable testing of multi-die chiplet-based designs. In a video, Mentor's Colin Walls investigates the scope and lifetime of pointers in embedded applications. A Synopsys writer checks out the latest mobile memory standard, JESD209-5A, and the enhancements i... » read more

Week In Review: Design, Low Power


Tools & IP Codasip unveiled its Codasip SweRV Core EH1 Support Package, which provides support for Western Digital's open source RISC-V-based core. The support package provides a comprehensive set of tools and components needed to design, implement, test, and write software for a SweRV Core-based SoC with support for leading EDA open and commercial flows. A free basic version is available ... » read more

Week In Review: Manufacturing, Test


Fab tools, materials and packaging Intel has recognized 37 companies for its annual suppliers’ awards. The list includes equipment, materials, packaging houses and other segments. These suppliers have collaborated with Intel to implement process improvements with good products and services. See who made the list here. ---------------------------------------- Lam Research has introduced... » read more

Blog Review: Feb. 19


Arm's Urmish Thakker takes a look at TinyML, some of the challenges in developing efficient architectures for resource constrained devices, and an explanation of Kronecker product compression. Mentor's Colin Walls considers whether it's better to use single or multiple returns for a function when writing understandable, readable code. Cadence's Paul McLellan shares highlights from a prese... » read more

Week In Review: Manufacturing, Test


Chipmakers A fire broke out this week at a joint NAND flash fab between Western Digital (WD) and Kioxia. Kioxia is the former Toshiba NAND flash unit that was recently spun out by the Japanese company. “On Monday, January 6, (morning, January 7 local time) a small fire occurred at one of our joint venture facilities in Yokkaichi, Japan. Local firefighters quickly extinguished the fire, and w... » read more

Open Source Hardware Risks


Open-source hardware is gaining attention on a variety of fronts, from chiplets and the underlying infrastructure to the ecosystems required to support open-source and hybrid open-source and proprietary designs. Open-source development is hardly a new topic. It has proven to be a successful strategy in the Linux world, but far less so on the hardware side. That is beginning to change, fueled... » read more

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