Here we go again, that wonderful time of year. No, not Christmas, DAC! Now is the time of year when all the EDA vendors are scurrying about finishing whatever it is they plan on doing at DAC. Since the business climate seems to be improving, it would be nice to see an increase in attendance. I like San Diego, I think it’s a great place to have DAC. Some think DAC is going the way of the Dodo, … Read More
Hello all,
Just a friendly reminder, the Mentor Graphics User Group Meeting is just around the corner. It is scheduled for April 26th in Santa Clara, CA at the Santa Clara Marriott. If you are a Calibre user, this is your chance to get free access to information on Calibre’s and our roadmap as well as attend sessions on Mentor Graphics solutions in P&R, PCB, Custom IC design, and Test & … Read More
Designers are discovering a new class of design errors that is difficult to check using more traditional methods, and can potentially affect a wide range of IC designs, especially where high reliability is a must. There errors require electrical rule checking to complement the tradition layout checks.
Electrical rules are relatively complex, non-standard, and growing in number and type, creating a … Read More
Tags: Low Power, PERC, ERC, thin oxide, Verification
Almost 10 years ago, as the industry was starting to adopt model-based OPC and other resolution enhancing techniques on a large scale, the ITRS got out its looking glass and saw an “explosion” in the size of the files used to describe chip layouts. As a result, a group of industry companies collaborated to create a SEMI spec for the OASIS format for layout data. The format was officially … Read More
Tags: diffusion of innovation, GDSII, Adoption, RET, tape-out, OASIS, OPC
Density and the Analog Cell
Analog design is a very sensitive business. Unlike the digital world, where circuits are on or off, and have built in hysteresis to prevent inadvertent toggling, analog circuitry is intentionally designed to respond to minor fluctuations in the signal. As a result, analog layout is riskier than digital. To prevent race conditions, or minor (yet potentially catastrophic) … Read More
For those of you who were wondering if I had fallen off the face of the planet, the answer is no. My mind was stuck in a limbo when I got hurt in an extraction (not the parasitic kind) mission. Confused? Read on… I finally got to watch the critically acclaimed sci-fi movie Inception last weekend and life has never been the same again. Without giving away too much detail for the benefit of those who … Read More
Tags: Donut Domains, Multi-Voltage Flow, always-on, UPF
For customers who were unable to attend DAC this year, we are hosting Mentor @ DAC Extended. The registration is at: http://www.mentor.com/events/mentor-dac-extended/
What is Mentor @ DAC Extended?
Mentor @ DAC Extended is an online presentation of 22 of our DAC 2010 suite sessions. Each 50 minute presentation includes:
• presentation by technology area experts
• live Q&A
• an archive of the session … Read More
Just back from DAC in Anaheim. The last true Denali party was a smash. We’ll see if the tradition continues under new management. Nothing amazing to report about the show. Attendance seemed OK, though not stellar.
Here’s an observation some may find interesting. I worked booth duty at both the TSMC OIP pavilion and the Global Foundries Global Solutions pavilion. At TSMC, the attendees needed to get … Read More
Mentor Graphics is excited to announce the launch of their new fast field solver for IC design, Calibre xACT 3D http://www.mentor.com/calibre-xact. This new tool is based Mentor Graphics’ acquisition of Pextra Corporation last year. This deterministic field solver has break-through performance, and excellent scalability, which enables the efficient use of multiple CPUs to achieve the fast turn-around-time. … Read More
Tags: field solver, Calibre xACT 3D
In my last few posts, I began discussing on what it takes to enable software quality and support. This particular post will focus on the latter, support.
Of course the goal of any descent software provider is to deliver software that is bug free, intuitive to use, and performs a valuable service. While we strive for perfection, in reality these goals can never be fully achieved. In the EDA world, … Read More
Tags: Mentor Graphics, Physical Verification, Calibre, Quality, Support
