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Relationships are async clock interfaces

  A relation between any two individuals is an asynchronous clock domain interface with two different clocks on either side. Very rarely the interface is synchronous. The power domains, voltages, signoff corners can be different. Each following a different protocol. To make it work still, a suitable synchroniser logic needs to be built as a bridge with sufficient depth. One may be running at high voltage at some point but Level shifters need to be added to get along. One may be down, power gated sometimes and isolation cells may be needed with appropriate controls. Retention helps to maintain the relationship. The interfacing logic still need to be placed closer with max delay constraints and skew and latency requirements so they listen to each other still. The setup has a cushion but hold with a lot of patience need to be closed at cross corners covering the extremes. Temperatures may rise and cold wars may arise but hold needs to be closed to maintain the functionality. It should...
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the voltage vocal cords...

 Everyone has a buffer in their vocal cord…if you use a high drive strength and shout, it may drive the signal farther and deeper but it adds lot of xtalk, noise violations, power wastage, needs lot of shielding and can sometimes violate hold which we cannot take back with an apology buffers…always use optimal drive buffers, set high drive buffers as don’t use…for a longer reliability in relationships.. some people have an entire 8 bit octave control bus with DVFS and power gating installed and when they sing, the signals switch simultaneously and melodiously.. normally one should use inverter pairs so the duty cycle distortion is balanced...the inverter pair indicates whenever the voltage rises, we better fall it back to reduce the distortion of the meaning what we want to convey... if one has an odd number of inverters, obviously the lec fails and to make lec pass, more inverters are added which makes it difficult to debug and fix the lec eventually... very low drive buffers do n...
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RetirEMigration Limits

 Many people build strong careers and reach very high positions and roles like VP, SVP, Sr Dir and all. They would have started from deep nwell and substrates and built a strong foundation with their talent, skills, capabilities like active, non linear devices. They would have built strong drive strengths that can handle large capacitances, transitions. Over a period of time, they move up the metals, layer by layer, through the competitive congestion, networking on the way with useful xtalk, collaboration with others. They reach to the top layers with strong via pillars. At the top, they draw the required power and current from the bumps and distribute to their orgs and teams. The resistance at the top is lesser and congestion is lesser. They normally then are used to talking more, giving instructions and not much of listening. The top layer widths are more and they can handle more current and the people at top handle lot more pressure. so far so good but the issue comes up when th...
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Ugadi Rasi Phala for VLSI folks

  🪐 Silicon Rasi Phalalu 2026 🪐 (Purely fictional… just like our schedules 😄) 🛠️   PD Engineers (Saturn - Adhidevatha) Saturn in own house (Kumbha) 🪐 Lot of work, lot of pressure Results ∝ Hard work Savings good (no time to spend 😅) Income always less than expected Work-life balance: 😂😂 Role: lol | Responsibilities: many Insults: high | Recognition: delayed but good Mercury strong → jugaad solutions, tapeouts will happen 💡 Venus strong → you’ll still somehow enjoy the grind 👉 Remedy: Do some actual runs along with daily runs 🏃‍♂️ 💻   RTL Engineers (Jupiter - Adhidevatha) Jupiter moving to Mesha 🔥 New designs (not just incremental updates) Learn new protocols → great roles 🚀 Jupiter + Rahu till Nov → miss things now, fix later 😬 Income ↑ Expenses ↑ Respect & recognition high Work-life balance: lol 👉 Remedy: Be nice to PD folks… give clean RTL 🙏 🧪   Verification Engineers (Mars - Adhidevatha) ...
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Who Am I?

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  There are high chances that you may have forgotten that tomorrow is the day…tomorrow is Monday..:the Monday which ends your long leave and vacation…after returning back to home..:sleeping all day except for lunch and waking up in the evening, if you feel like coming out of coma and don’t know where u r…then it means you have office tomorrow…your leave ends tomorrow…check the calendar and send a test mail to yourself and check the auto message… In case your office mail is not setup on your phone and your laptop password is forgotten and you even forgot which company you work for…check your sms on who sent you the salary the latest…check your personal mail for the latest offer letter that and joining letter…search for your id card…most probably it would have been swallowed by the sofa…check for your company’s address on gmap and keep it ready…check your LinkedIn profile to confirm the company and what ur role is…and what ur skill sets are. Most probably the LinkedIn profile may not...
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Murphee ka bhai...

The traffic signal turns red just before u The movie ticket counter says sold out just when u keep your hand in the counter Forget change in the bus and only cash is accepted Spelling mistakes in the important certificates Passport guys ask for more documents only to u Neither get bowling or batting when play cricket  Go back to checkin counter after security is done  Out of 30 vehicles, you will be stopped by the traffic police how many of you faced things like these…may be many of us in a few of these…but there is one person who has the max of these and many more we cannot even imagine... When Vamsi the DFT says 99.99% coverage, there is still that 0.01% that is left out…When even very close to the tapeout PD fellas leave 1-2Weeks as a buffer… even when running 100s of pvt corners in sta, we still leave some uncertainty…even when we quantify what all components constitue the uncertainty, there is still some real uncertainty we add to the uncertainty…there is always one block...
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Ear-End Musings for PD fellas

  Dear PD fellas, a) in PD, 1here will be lots of pressure. We handle it normally but dont take stress. keep a sensor out there and the moment it is crossing a stress threshold, reduce the voltage and take it easy.  b) Always enjoy your work. Most of the work will be routine and needed but I am sure all of u like PD and enjoy it. Take a break when it gets overwhelmed. there will be incessant things that keep coming from all the PVT corners. just inform that u will get back or u need time or just take time to respond is all fine. Hold it..hold time is ur best weapon..  c) manage your breaks, off times, as per your timelines and way of work. If any meetings r not convenient, inform ahead.  Health  is priority. Make sure there is an architectural clock gating for all work with enable directly coming from the health. d) always keep a secondary owner for things that you drive. so, help each other out and cover for each other. Like the Gladiators team up in the arena....
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