• Hey Mike… Come here a sec… We need your help.
• Sure. What is it?
• Need you to find someone.
• OK… who and where?
• Name’s Waldo. Here’s his background. He’s in New York City.
• New York City?? I’m supposed to find him there? Just like that?
• Yup. Oh, come on, don’t look at me like that. You did a … Read More → "Finding Waldo"

The speed of light is a bitch. In America we like to think there are no limits. That’s what allowed the pioneers to conquer the West. That’s what allowed those with foggy bottoms to split the atom. That’s what allowed financial whiz kids to take the 3rd derivative of the anticipated interest rate trajectories of the 12 least-popular indices, integrate them over those periods during maturation when transaction density was expected to be heaviest, insure them based on the peak harmonic components of the betting fluctuation spectra for the next three superbowls, muddle for … Read More → "Quantum of Solids"

Designing wireless infrastructure chips at 65 nm and below introduced subtle failure mechanisms previously unobserved at larger process nodes. These new failure mechanisms, along with the requirements for better self-test in the field and limitations on available IC pins to interface with automated testing equipment, have resulted in tougher test requirements at STMicroelectronics.

STMicroelectronics’ advanced designs must be of the highest quality for demanding end-product applications. We use in-system test to ensure the device is … Read More → "Reducing Test Time and Cost for an Advanced Wireless Device"

Power is seductive. It has attracted the attention of universities, designers, tool vendors, journalists, and anyone who wants to be anyone in the silicon and systems worlds. Of course, unlike the situation in so many hallowed halls around the world, the aim here is to reduce power, not increase it (or gather it for oneself). Out of the limelight, however, is the stability of the power infrastructure: how robust is a chip’s power grid in the face of potentially wild gyrations of power draw as a chip is put through its paces? This is the realm of … Read More → "Using Power and Integrity in the Same Sentence"

A lot has been written about the increasing difficulty of optimizing a design as process dimensions have become increasingly minute. Not only is it harder to balance performance against area, but power must be considered as well. Managing yield is a constant struggle since it’s no longer a question of where to cut off a distribution tail: it’s a question of how to fix the distribution so that you don’t over- or under-design your product. Too sloppy and you lose a lot of yield; too rigid and you will chew up too much … Read More → "Showing Your True Corners"