EDA Topics

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

In the absence of EUV lithography, the primary option for manufacturing on a 10nm process is to extend double patterning. But the options each have issues.

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.

The 10nm generation is the follow-on process to the 14nm/16nm node and will provide a choice of either finFET or planar FD-SOI architectures. But the likely absence of EUV will increase costs.

The 14nm and 16nm processes cover a range of technologies and are designed to succeed the 20nm generation. They bring with them a number of design challenges.

Verification coverage attempts to at least provide a partial answer to the question: "How do you know you are finished verifying?" It involves the combination of a number of techniques.

A number of effects have led to a dramatic increase in interconnect resistance in the sub-32nm process nodes that demands the use of smarter routing.

Increasingly complex design rules in 14nm and 16nm make it harder to connect local routing to the inputs and outputs (pins) of standard cells.

X propagation within RTL simulations can hide fatal bugs. Uncovering and eliminating the effect improves design quality and avoids respins.