EDA & Development
included mainframe computing (1960s), mini-computers (1970s), PCs (1980s- 1990s), and desktop Internet (2000s). Each wave has replaced a previous technology but has created a new and much larger market. And each wave has brought a 10x increase in the number of devices. What most people don’t realize is that each of these technology waves was driven by the new semiconductors that enabled the wave. And that will be no less true for the mobile Internet. The iPhone would not have been successful without energy- efficient ARM processor cores or the GPRS/EDGE cellular baseband chips for high-speed communications.
controllers and processors are increasingly located on SoCs, and they include analog circuitry, thus requiring new capabilities for mixed-signal SoC integration and verification.
The demand for mobility is increasing as consumers demand connectivity anywhere, anytime. They want lightweight, portable devices with long battery lives. And they want their experiences with handheld devices to be seamless, requiring a high level of integration among device, software, and network. Small form factor, GHz-level performance, and low power are all important features for mobile devices. As such, manufacturers of mobile devices will be among the first to adopt the 20nm process node, which makes it possible to integrate billions of transistors on a single die. However, complexity and lithography challenges at 20nm pose new requirements for EDA tools and design teams. 20nm SoCs will be so complex that
perhaps 80% of the content will be reused IP - and this in turn will require more EDA support for IP integration and verification. High-quality silicon IP must be available, especially for memories and complex interfaces. Alternatively, some mobile devices will
use three-dimensional integrated circuits (3D-ICs) to package multiple silicon dies stacked on top of each other. This arrangement can provide high bandwidth, low power, and integration of heterogeneous technologies such as analogue, digital, and memory. But it requires an integrated methodology for analog and digital IC design, IC packaging, and printed circuit board (PCB) design. With its use of large server farms, cloud computing may seem like the opposite of mobile computing, but in reality it’s interwoven with mobility, social media, and the “Internet of things.” Network servers and backbone equipment deliver much of the content and value to mobile
devices. Some studies claim that the cloud needs to add a new server for every 600 or so smartphones that are added to the system.
Large server farms consume huge amounts of energy. Thus, low-power design is as important for cloud computing as it is for mobile devices. And that brings us to the fifth driver mentioned above: “green tech.” As energy grows more expensive and environmental concerns increase, the pressure for low-power design is growing. There’s also the very practical concern for battery life - no one wants to recharge their smartphone several times daily. Low-power design requires new circuit design techniques and power- aware EDA tools.
The mobile internet A new technology wave that’s behind each of the five drivers is the emergence of the mobile Internet, which was spawned by the Apple iPhone in 2007. Previous waves
A new EDA era The growth of the mobile Internet is great news for chip and systems makers, because new requirements drive design innovation. But it will place many additional demands on EDA suppliers, including support for hardware/software integration, mixed-signal design, low- power design, IP integration and verification, high bandwidth, 20nm processes, and 3D-IC packaging. Isolated “point tools” are giving way to integrated, end-to-end design and verification systems that provide a unified capability across analogue, digital, packaging, and PCB domains. The EDA industry must change and adapt to enable the new technology that will shape the world of our future.
Cadence |
www.cadence.com
Lip-Bu Tan is CEO of Cadence Design Systems
www.cieonline.co.uk
Components in Electronics
September 2012 15
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