The Encyclopedia Britannica, first published in 1768 in Scotland, has stood as a monumental testament to the pursuit of knowledge for over two centuries. By its fourth edition in 1810, the encyclopedia had grown impressively to 40 volumes, each carefully curated and periodically updated by a large, dedicated team of editors. This vast collection served as a cornerstone of reliable information for centuries.
However, as human knowledge expanded at an exponential rate, traditional methods of knowledge management proved unsustainable due to the sheer volume of content and the rapid technological innovations.
This article explores the evolution of knowledge management practices from the era of Encyclopedia Britannica to the present challenges faced in semiconductor intellectual property (IP) management. It also delves into strategies to ensure IP management remains both scalable and efficient for increasingly heterogeneous IC (Integrated Circuit) design projects.
Modernizing knowledge management
One reasonable solution to create and maintain this vast repository of knowledge and information is to leverage the collective expertise of people around the world. Thanks to worldwide collaboration enabled by the Internet, Wikipedia was launched as a groundbreaking platform for knowledge sharing in 2001.
With the goal of empowering every single person with “free access to the sum of all human knowledge,” Wikipedia has about 7 million articles by April 2024. Over two million volunteers write content, monitor publications, and review changes globally.
The significance of Wikipedia
Such a model of open collaboration has not only facilitated the constant update of content but has also ensured surprising accuracy, making Wikipedia a frequent top result in search engine queries. By democratizing the process of content creation and revision, Wikipedia enables anyone with an internet connection to contribute, significantly expanding its repository of knowledge. The integrity of the information is upheld through standards and review processes managed by a global network of volunteers.
This paradigm of leveraging collective expertise is highly effective and can be adapted by organizations across various industries. In medium to large enterprises, which may employ thousands of individuals with diverse skills across multiple locations, the potential for enhancing productivity and organizational intelligence through a similar collaborative knowledge platform is substantial.
Knowledge management for semiconductor companies
In the semiconductor industry, companies have realized that the same or similar parts are being designed and redesigned by different teams. To improve enterprise productivity, many have adopted strategies that minimize the need to reinvent the wheel but have a system to help new wheel-enthusiasts find the original wheel design. Therefore, reuse of silicon IP — key reusable design blocks — has long been hailed as the next big driver of productivity.
To facilitate this, enterprises have attempted to create what could be likened to an “Encyclopedia Britannica” of IP.
Design blocks, packaged as IPs (intellectual properties), are cataloged and documented by IP librarians. This catalog is now available to design teams in the enterprise to browse, search and reuse. Whether the IPs are authored by the librarians or donated to the library by other design groups, it still requires librarians to manage and publish the IPs. As the catalog grows bigger, maintaining and updating the IPs becomes too onerous even for a sizeable team of IP librarians.
Democratizing IP knowledge
To address the limits of traditional IP catalogs, semiconductor organizations are increasingly looking to democratize the contribution process.
Like the knowledge management models like Wikipedia, these firms are empowering designers to publish their own silicon Intellectual Properties (IPs) onto a centralized knowledge platform. This system incorporates rigorous quality controls, including automated checks that ensure each IP adheres to established naming conventions and documentation requirements. In some cases, the publication of an IP might also require approval from technical experts. In addition, designers can easily implement adding IPs and updating them for performance improvements or bug fixes.
With a broad base of contributors and a distributed review system, the IP catalog can expand more rapidly. This not only keeps the catalog current but also harnesses the diverse expertise within the organization, significantly enhancing IP reuse and design productivity.
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Three key considerations for enhancing IP reuse
The true value of an IP (Intellectual Property) catalog lies in its ability to facilitate the effective reuse of IPs.
Comprehensive IP data and metadata
Designers need to swiftly locate IPs that align with specific functional requirements, timing, and process technologies. Thus, an IP catalog must include not only the core data but also detailed metadata and supplementary documentation that aid designers in precisely matching their unique needs.
Collective dashboard to evaluate IP quality
Before committing to reuse an IP created by another team, assessing its quality is essential. Some common questions include:
- Which team authored the IP?
- Have others reused the IP and what has their experience been?
- What issues have been reported?
- Is it being actively maintained?
- If I need help integrating the IP into my design, is there a community of IP authors and previous consumers that I can lean on?
Therefore, an effective IP catalog should offer a dashboard for each IP, providing comprehensive details about its provenance, tracing its usage hierarchically, and enabling links to the issue tracking system to identify open and fixed issues.
Figure 1. IP knowledge sharing through Keysight IP Management (HUB)
User forum
Integrating a forum within the IP catalog creates a vibrant community support system, significantly benefiting all users. A forum associated with an IP gives new users more opportunities to ask the IP authors and previous users questions directly. Such interactions not only foster a supportive community but also boost confidence among new users as they navigate complex IP integrations. Additionally, the forum acts as a dynamic knowledge base, continually enriched by the Q&A exchanges. This repository enables future users to rapidly locate solutions to common issues, thereby accelerating IP reuse.
Conclusion
By creating an IP catalog that fosters the entire community of designers to contribute and collaborate, organizations will be able to create and maintain a large catalog of IPs, without resource bottlenecks.
This will increase reuse and make significant improvements to design productivity. Upper management will initially need to lead, encourage, and even incentivize design teams to contribute. However, once it reaches critical mass it will become a self-sustaining eco-system where expertise is shared and appreciated with huge dividends to the entire design community in the organization.