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Are Power Planes Necessary for High Speed Signaling?

The performance of a system depends heavily on the communication speed between integrated circuits, which is constrained by the power delivery networks (PDNs). The disruption between the power and ground planes based on the low target impedance concept induces return path discontinuities during data transitions, which create displacement  current  sources

Beyond RTL part 2: Domain-Specific Languages

This is the second part of my “Beyond RTL” series, where I examine alternatives to Register Transfer Level (RTL). The first part talks mostly about High-Level Synthesis, its genesis, and the state of the art of free and commercial tools that transform C/C++/SystemC to RTL. I highlighted the fundamental limitations that these

Beyond RTL part 1: High-Level Synthesis

Let’s say for a minute that you believe that it is finally time to drop RTL (maybe it was my previous post that convinced you). What can I say? I’m glad! You now have to pick among several competing technologies, each with its pros and cons, each of course claiming to be the best,

2014 top MEMS Players ranking: Rising of the first MEMS titan

With an impressive 20% growth in MEMS revenue compared to 2013, and sales revenues of more than $1.2B, Robert Bosch GmbH is the clear #1. From Yole Développement’s yearly analysis of “TOP 100 MEMS Players”, analysts have released the “2014 TOP 20 MEMS Players Ranking”. This ranking shows the clear

The 6 Must-Do’s for Semiconductor Fabless Start-ups

Getting funding for a semiconductor startup is not getting easier. According to CBIngishts, there have been fewer than 20 Angel/Seed and Series A deals in the USA in each year since 2009.
 
So where is all the funding channeled to? In 2013, close to a quarter of all VC

Corner-based Timing Signoff and What Is Next?

The corner-based timing signoff approach is a historical and traditional method that has justified a development and enhancements of conventional STA tools and signoff flows. The number of signoff corners exponentially grows along with an increase of variation sources, their magnitude, and timing margins. It becomes a bottleneck in

Wireless Transceivers RF CMOS Front Ends

During the last decades, important advances in microelectronic techniques and technologies had been fueling the introduction of new wireless enabled products accessible to a large number of people around the world. Without the competitive price offered by CMOS, the widespread use of wireless enabled engineering complex devices, e.g. smartphones, tablets, etc. would certainly have been delayed.

Physics, Not Economics, will end Moore’s Law

Bob Colwell, Director of the Microsystems Technology Office (MTO) at the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), recently made a compelling statement about the end of Moore’s Law: “When Moore’s Law ends, it will be economics that stops it, not physics. Follow the money.”
 
If we move beyond Moore’s

Design-for-Variability and Signoff – Tips

The corner-based timing signoff approach is a historical and traditional method that has justified a development and enhancements of conventional STA tools and signoff flows. The number of signoff corners exponentially grows along with an increase of variation sources, their magnitude, and timing margins. It becomes a bottleneck in the