Tag Archives: ASIC

High-level synthesis, C versus assembly code, and Leibson’s Law

Years ago, when I was Editor-in-Chief of EDN Magazine, I coined (but did not name) Leibson’s Law: “It takes 10 years for any disruptive technology to become pervasive in the design community.” I was reminded of that observation while reading … Continue reading

Posted in Design Abstraction, EDA360, SoC, SoC Realization, System Realization, SystemC | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

There are more than 79,997 ways for your low-power design to fail. Want to learn how to avoid a nasty surprise? For free?

There are a range of low-power design approaches for ASIC design including: Clock Gating Multi-Voltage Power Shutoff Dynamic Voltage Body Bias Adaptive Voltage All of the above Used in combination, there are more than 80,000 possible low-power modes that all … Continue reading

Posted in EDA360, Low Power, Silicon Realization, SoC, SoC Realization | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

System EDA tools attack today’s great bugaboo for SoC Realization: The Software Development Overhang

Today at the North American System C Users Group (NASCUG) meeting in San Jose, the Cadence Group Director of Product Marketing for System Development Frank Schirrmeister gave a really great overview and value proposition for extensive use of System Development … Continue reading

Posted in EDA360, FPGA prototyping, SoC, SoC Realization, System Realization, SystemC, TLM, Verification, VIP, Virtual Prototyping | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

The value of IP Subsystems for ASIC and SoC Realization teams—Richard Goering interviews ChipEstimate’s Adam Traidman

Richard Goering recently interviewed the founder of ChipEstimate.com, Adam Traidman, in his Industry Insights blog and covered a range of IP topics. I found Adam’s take on IP Subsystems particularly interesting: “In my mind an IP subsystem is a set … Continue reading

Posted in EDA360, IP, SoC, SoC Realization, System Realization | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

Power-intent methodologies: Can’t we all just get along?

All ASIC and SoC designs are low-power designs at or below the 45nm node. For that reason alone, the industry has seen the rise of power-intent descriptions to help SoC and Silicon Realization teams develop new chip designs. For the … Continue reading

Posted in EDA360, Low Power, Silicon Realization, SoC, SoC Realization | Tagged , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Free Webinar on December 8: Mixed-signal and low-power analysis and verification techniques

As the size and complexity of mixed-signal designs have grown, so has the verification task. Designers face the challenging task of verifying complex power, performance, and functionality specifications as well as validating analog and digital interactions over a broad range … Continue reading

Posted in AMS, EDA360, Silicon Realization, SoC, Verification | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

Who else wants to overcome power-related IR-drop and electromigration challenges in mixed-signal ASIC designs?

How many times have you discovered unanticipated IR drop or electromigration problems in the power grids of your complex analog or mixed-signal ASIC? How easy was it to fix these problems? Virtually all modern IC and SoC designs include mixed … Continue reading

Posted in EDA360, Silicon Realization | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

Triad Semi brews potent analog/digital/ARM-processor mixes with its via-programmable arrays

Real System Realization involves the delicate balancing of many factors including performance, power, and cost. Each of these factors consists of many subcomponents. For example, most performance requirements have mixed-signal aspects and include both digital and analog components. Triad Semiconductor … Continue reading

Posted in EDA360, Silicon Realization, SoC Realization, System Realization | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

Agilent isn’t the only vendor differentiating its scopes with ASICs. Add Tektronix and LeCroy to the list.

Back in February, I wrote about the new Agilent InfiniiVision 2000 and 3000 X-Series of low-end, digital sampling oscilloscopes (DSOs) and mixed-signal oscilloscopes (MSOs). (See “Agilent knocks one out of the park with new, low-cost line of digital scopes—a very … Continue reading

Posted in Apps, EDA360, Silicon Realization, SoC Realization, System Realization | Tagged , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Semico reports that ASICS, ASSPs, SoCs, and core-based ICs comprise the fastest growing category in MOS logic chips

EDA360 Insider followers will not be surprised to hear that Semico’s latest blog entry on Semico Spin claims that “Special Purpose Logic”—consisting of ASICS, ASSPs, SoCs, and core-based ICs—is now the fastest growing category for MOS logic chips and has … Continue reading

Posted in EDA360, IP, SoC Realization | Tagged , , | Leave a comment