IC Implementation

Dynamic voltage and frequency scaling is effective for low-power VLSI design. Body or back bias can provide additional control over leakage and performance.

A change in the way the core compact models are developed has accelerated their development and, for the first time, allowed the models to be used not just for circuit simulation but to help guide process evolution as chipmakers play not only with materials but the shape of finFETs.

How to use PCIe in low-power SoCs by swapping the standard PCIe PHY for M-PCIe, defined by MIPI for mobile use

Monolithic 3DIC integration may provide a viable alternative to conventional 2D scaling for SoCs if manufacturing problems can be overcome.

A panel session at DAC 2014 focused on the problems of high-speed, board-level interconnect and the roles of codesign and power integrity in solving them.

'Design for yield' is a familiar term, but the challenges in today's increasingly large projects make a refresher on what it offers particularly timely.

By taking the circuit supply voltage close to that of the threshold voltage or even below, it is possible to optimize low-power VLSI design. But there are pitfalls.

Design for security is an emerging topic in hardware engineering demanding a more holistic approach that traditional cryptographic implementation.

IC designers are becoming increasingly worried about the possibility of third parties inserting malicious 'trojan' circuitry into their ICs.

The increased use of IP and a rise in process variability is driving a move to look at alternatives to traditional low-skew clock distribution strategies.