Articles – Page 135

November 7, 2017

In the decades-long battle between Altera (now part of Intel) and Xilinx, no title has been more hotly contested than “Ours is Biggest.” Way back in the days when real LUTs had 4 inputs, FPGA companies resorted to measuring their density with “system gates” in order to obscure the pathetically small (at the time) amount of logic that could actually be implemented in the programmable fabric of their chips. We got press releases like “Our Devices Pack Up To 4.5 Million System Gates of Logic” (meaning that you could probably build at least one highly inefficient 16×16 … Read More → "The Biggest SoC/FPGAs"

GlobalFoundries Puts Their Cards on the Table

Numerous Releases and a Roadmap

by Bryon Moyer

November 6, 2017

Just over a month ago, GlobalFoundries (GF among friends) had their technology conference, and it would appear that they stored up all kinds of news to release at the same time. Some announcements were more significant than others; we’ll review what’s new here, with a focus on the bigger issues and a passing nod to the others.

I Could Use a Shrink

Some of you out there may remember a quaint notion from the ancient semiconductor past: the shrink. In fact, you may have … Read More → "GlobalFoundries Puts Their Cards on the Table"

NXP’s New i.MX RT1050 Gets Edgy

Cortex-M Processor Challenges Cortex-A Dominance

by Jim Turley

November 1, 2017

“Nothing is a mistake. There is no win and no fail. There is only make.” – Immaculate Heart Art College, rule #6

In business, there’s the concept of creative destruction. Prof. Clayton Christensen argues about “the innovator’s dilemma” and disruption from below. In more prosaic terms, product companies must “watch their rearview mirrors” or else a competitor might come “roaring up their tailpipe.”

Getting your lunch eaten by a small and harmless-looking competitor is a time-honored tradition in this industry. We likeRead More → "NXP’s New i.MX RT1050 Gets Edgy"

EE Journal’s Live Coverage of the MEMS and Sensors Executive Congress

by Larra Morris

October 31, 2017

Our EE Journal Team went to the 2017 MEMS and Sensors Executive Congress in San Jose. We listened as MEMS and sensor industry experts broke down the challenges and opportunities of the industry. Presentations focused on system level solutions incorporating MEMS and sensor devices and components, unique applications and innovative technological and market solutions. And we live tweeted the whole thing! All those tweets are collected here so you can catch up and find out what happened at MEMS Congress this year.

… Read More →

Nightmare at Seven Nanometers

Fabs, FinFETs, and Fear

by Kevin Morris

October 31, 2017

The wild wind whistles strange
through the bright gloom of eternal daylight
in the tightly-sealed semiconductor fab.
In the power-assured place where progress never pauses,
where cryptically-coded wafers plod persistently
through mysterious machines in the acrid vacuum
of the multi-billion-dollar bay-and-chase clean room.
Where white-suited phantoms pass silicon slices
through evil rays and deadly potions and spinning saws.
Something is amiss.

In the nooks and crannies of nanometer features
In the spaces between the spaces
In the places where design rule checkers never checked
Where … Read More → "Nightmare at Seven Nanometers"

Yet One More Neural Net Accelerator

Imagination’s PowerVR 2NX is for More than CNNs

by Bryon Moyer

October 30, 2017

Another day, another neural network solution. Seems to be the flavor of the year, not surprisingly, given that machine learning is on the ascendant. Earlier this year, we wrote about Cadence’s solution. Then we wrote about Synopsys’s solution. Well, today we look at yet Read More → "Yet One More Neural Net Accelerator"

It is Difficult to Make Predictions, Especially About the Future*

Two Weeks of Forecasting

by Dick Selwood

October 26, 2017

In the last few weeks, I have been exposed to a firehose of information about the future of electronics, firstly at the Arm Research Summit and then at the Future Horizons’ Mid-Year Industry Forecast Briefing.

The first drink from the firehouse was from Future Horizons. And the good news is – the news is good. Malcolm Penn, the Chair and CEO of Future Horizons, always starts his forecasting with the global economy as, “For the last ten years the economy has been the driving factor for the [semiconductor] industry. The industry … Read More → "It is Difficult to Make Predictions, Especially About the Future*"

What Is Silicone, Anyway?

Hint: It’s Not that Stuff Inside Computer Chips

by Jim Turley

October 25, 2017

“Who do you think made the first stone spears? The Asperger guy.” — Temple Grandin

We’ve all been there. You go to visit your great-uncle Cletus in East Fishbait, Oklahoma, and he asks you about living and working in Silicone Valley. You laugh and say your job is really in Santa Clara. “Silicone Valley is in Hollywood, ha-ha.”

The joke falls flat because, like most of your relatives, he confuses silicon with silicone. It’s just … Read More → "What Is Silicone, Anyway?"

The People’s Processor

Microsemi Rolls Out “Mi-V” RISC-V Ecosystem

by Kevin Morris

October 24, 2017

The capitalist computing bourgeoisie want to enslave us all with proprietary processing architectures, but the proletariat eventually produces its own processor alternative – an ISA for and by the people, where instruction sets aren’t subject to the whim of the royalty-driven class, and where licensing fees don’t oppress the workers’ BOMs. RISC-V is that ISA – the people’s processor, the unmoving, unwavering instruction set whose implementation carries no fees or encumbrances, whose workings are left to the needs of the engineer, and whose performance isn’t controlled by or limited by the ruling class.

The RISC-V … Read More → "The People’s Processor"

Photonics EDA

How Does It Compare to Electronics EDA?

by Bryon Moyer

October 23, 2017

Today we wander back into the field of silicon photonics. A few years ago, I did a quick summary of how light can be manipulated in silicon, and, shortly thereafter, I did a review of some of the conceptual issues surrounding design tools and automation.

This year at DAC, however, I talked … Read More → "Photonics EDA"