As you approach the entrance, you know you’re in the right place. You almost feel it before you hear it. A few more steps and there remains no doubt. The unmistakable thump of some serious bass brings with it the promise of some serious hip-hop.

This club is much like any of a number of similar clubs you can find anywhere in any major metropolis. As with any musical event, the evening starts with the little-known people, the upstarts, those that feel they have something to say and need to prove that what they have … Read More → "Guarding Against Interlopers"

With increasing size and complexity of ICs and limitations in traditional physical failure analysis tools, failure analysis engineers need help determining the root cause of a specific failing die. Yield engineers, on the other hand, need to be able to identify systematic yield limiters that may be disguised as random failures caused by complex interactions between the manufacturing process and specific design patterns. A failure diagnosis tool that provides high accuracy and resolution, as well as meaningful defect classifications, can be of high value to both engineers’ jobs.Today, most complex ICs are tested using built-in scan test … Read More → "Layout-Aware Diagnosis of IC Failures"

A look outside confirms it. The sky ranges from dull white to steely dark gray. An occasional glimpse of blue is quickly corrected to bring it into conformance with the surrounding severity. The sound of the traffic is enhanced by the swish of tire on wet road. And it’s cold. By California standards, anyway… Yup, it’s winter. No, you don’t see this in the travel guides, but as the old year gives way to the new, Silicon Valley receives – hopefully – its annual drink of water from the skies, and would-be … Read More → "And That Makes 1"

“You’re ready for tape-out already??”

“Yup!”

“Um… “ “And it meets all specs? In all corners and modes?”

“It should.”

“What do you mean, it should?”

“Well, we designed it to where it should. Of course, once we get silicon out, we can try it out and see if it all works. If not, well, we’ll make some tweaks and try … Read More → "Starting From Scratch"