I can hardly believe it. I’ve been in the EDA business since 1980 when I joined TI’s Design Automation Department after graduating from Cal Poly with my BSEE. Since 1995, much of my attention has been focused on EDA standards. I reached a moment of truth this year when I admitted, albeit reluctantly, that I could be called a standards-lifer. So, I decided it’s time to share my perspectives on what’s going on in the standards arena. Welcome to my blog - I can’t wait to hear from you! Standards needed for 3D?
Posted by Karen B on March 24th, 2011
There is more and more talk about the need for standards and interoperability in 3D. We mean 3D ICs – stacking chips in a single package – not to be confused with 3D entertainment which also is looking at creating standards such as those for 3D glasses.
And there is more and more action being taken. Several standards organizations have formed groups to study and/or develop standards for 3D ICs. These include: JEDEC, SEMI, SEMATECH, SIA, SRC, IEEE-SA, IEEE-ISTO, GSA, and Si2. It’s not surprising for a new technology to receive a lot of attention from the standards arena. There are technological and business challenges to overcome that can be helped by the introduction of appropriate standards. As the working groups sort out what’s needed, who will do what, where competition and cooperation should exist, and which standards will be adopted over others, there could be (OK, there likely will be) the usual turbulence that accompanies all standardization journeys.
The topic of 3D IC standards will be one of the discussions that will happen at the 18th Electronic Design Process Symposium (EDPS). The April 7-8, 2011 symposium will be sponsored by three of IEEE’s subgroups: Computer Society of Silicon Valley, Council on Electronic Design Automation, and Design Automation Technical Committee.
I’ve attended EDPS in the past and found it to be especially interesting because of its small, intimate nature. Presenters and attendees are there because they are passionate about their topics. If you’re interested in 3D ICs, you might find value in spending a day in Monterey CA discussing your views and asking questions of other participants.
Other topics at EDPS will include:
- Parallel EDA
- High-Level Design – including Requirements-Driven Design Flows
- Cloud computing – including Software as a Service
- Low-Power Design – with Solution Mapping to 2009 ITRS Roadmap
To see the program schedule and more information: www.eda.org/edps
To register directly: http://edps2011.eventbrite.com
The topic of 3D IC standards is likely to step to the forefront of the standards game in the coming year or two. Fasten your seatbelt.
RSS
Karen – Thanks much for your above item about EDA standards work on 3D ICs. And especially thank you for including the very nice mention of our long-running yearly EDPS Symposium/Workshop. I will tie it into our EDP2011 webpage as part of the news about the upcoming workshop.
I also continue watch you and others at SNPS (Dennis Brophy, Dwight Hill, Rich, etc. etc.) and much enjoy your steady forward progress with Synopsys and its contributions to electronics designers and manufacturers.
I’m semiretired since 2001, but continue helping with EDPS and also eda.org (could use some more work if I could help you folks anything – I don’t think EDA guys ever stop working on design technology problems!
Best regards and thanks much again for the above piece.
–Steve Grout
Steve,
It’s great to hear from you! If you’d like a copy of my book, “The Ten Commandments for Effective Standards”, send me your mailing address (don’t post it here!).
You’re right, we never stop – even semiretired. It’s an amazing – if not crazy – industry we’ve chosen.
I wish you the very best,
Karen
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