MUSIC provides an open forum for users to gain expertise using Magma's chip design software, and to exchange ideas about and solutions for the challenges of analog and integrated circuit and system-on-chip (SoC) designs.

Over the years MUSIC has become a leading venue for Magma users to gather, share and learn best practices and solutions. This year's program covers a range of Magma software capabilities including synthesis, placement and routing, floorplanning, library characterization, verification, circuit simulation and analog design. Users will share useful tips on how to leverage Magma software to improve results, reduce power, minimize costs and increase productivity.

The annual CEO forecast included the gang of the big three -- Aart de Geus of Synopsys, Lip-Bu Tan of Cadence, and Wally Rhines of Mentor Graphics -- plus John Kibarian of PDF Solutions as the CEOs and Jay Vleeschhouwer from Ticonderoga Securities as the dominating moderator.

D2S announced its new design for e-beam (DFEB) mask technology for the production of advanced optical photomasks with circular and curvilinear shapes. Used in conjunction with currently available e-beam mask writing equipment, D2S DFEB mask technology reduces the write times for masks containing complex or curvilinear features to enable the extension of 193-nm immersion lithography to the 22-nm node and beyond with practical turnaround time, the company claims.

Dialog Semiconductor plc announced that the company is working closely with foundry partner Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TWSE: 2330, NYSE: TSM) on a bipolar-CMOS-DMOS (BCD) technology specifically tailored to high-performance power management ICs for portable devices.

The 0.25-micron high-voltage process node enables higher voltage functionality to be integrated efficiently into single chip power management ICs, increasing cost efficiencies and expanding the addressable market for Dialog solutions.