From smartphones to laptops, we use a variety of devices every day that rely on integrated circuits (ICs), or chips, to function. These chips are made up of thousands of transistors and interconnects, ...

Designers can employ a new technology to sign off on the structural integrity of the power grid early on, before proceeding with any power-consumption, voltage-drop, or electromigration simulations.

Nobody wants chips to fail in the field, but at 65 nanometers and below, sudden failure becomes a real threat. Among the most likely causes is electromigration, a problem that's affected ICs since the ...