Category Archives: semiconductor

3D chips: design tools

One of the open areas for 3D chip design is what the design methodology needs to be and what design tools will be required. A more fundamental issue is going to be the business model to pay for tool development. … Continue reading

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3D chips: IBM server

The opening keynote of the 3D conference that I went to was by Subramanian Iyer of IBM. He described work they were doing on fully 3D chips for servers. The approaches I’ve already talked about don’t really work for the … Continue reading

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2½D: interposers

There are two classes of true 3D chips which are being developed today. The first is known as 2½D where a so-called silicon interposer is created. The interposer does not contain any active transistors, only interconnect (and perhaps decoupling capacitors), … Continue reading

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Going up: 3D ICs and TSVs

This is the first of several posts about 3D ICs. I attended the 3D architectures for semiconductor integration and packaging conference just before Christmas. I learned a lot but I should preface any remarks with the disclaimer that I’m not … Continue reading

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Variation-aware Design

Solido has run an interesting survey on variation-aware design. The data is generic and not specific to Solido’s products although you won’t be surprised to know that they have tools in this area. What is variation-aware design? Semiconductor manufacturing is … Continue reading

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Windows on ARM?

In a blog post last March I concluded: My gut feel is that a mobile-internet-device will be more like a souped up smartphone than a dumbed down PC, and so Atom will lose to ARM. In fact I think the … Continue reading

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30th Anniversary of Funding of VLSI Technology

Doug Fairbairn reminds me that today is the 30th anniversary of the funding of VLSI Techology. VLSI was really the first company to embrace the idea that integrated circuits could be designed by people outside the priesthood of the semiconductor … Continue reading

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eSilicon

eSilicon is a company with a unique business model. A few weeks ago I sat down with Kalar Rajendiran to find out how they’ve been doing. As you probably know, eSilicon is a fabless ASIC company. They operate like an … Continue reading

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Global foundries’ plan for world domination

Last week I attended the Global Technology Conference, which sounds like something that the United Nations might sponsor but is, in fact, organized by Global Foundries. Just in case you don’t remember who Global Foundries are, they are the old … Continue reading

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Linaro: the latest in the ARM and Atom battle

Usually when two companies initiate a joint venture or work together, it is often casually referred to as the two companies getting in bed together. Last week, a veritable orgy was announced. ARM, Freescale, IBM, Samsung, ST-Ericsson and Texas Instruments … Continue reading

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