Articles – Page 151

December 13, 2016

Building a custom chip on the latest 16nm FinFET processes is a mind-bogglingly challenging, risky, and expensive proposition. Non-recurring engineering costs have skyrocketed in recent years, and the complexity of doing a design on the latest process nodes is sobering for even the most experienced design teams. Schedules have stretched, and fear of the dreaded respin has ramped up to abject terror as the stakes have continued to rise.

But what if you could hedge your bets? What if you could bring the power and flexibility of programmable logic fabric to the critical … Read More → "Future Proofing Your FinFET Design"

LTE for the IoT

Unscrambling the Signal

by Bryon Moyer

December 12, 2016

Last year we took a look at the raft of new low-power wide-area (LPWA) protocols being deployed to handle Internet-of-Things (IoT) data traffic. Why not the cellular system that already exists? Because IoT data characteristics, consisting mostly of short upload data bursts, are dramatically different from the data-heavy content that has historically been targeted to run over the cellular infrastructure.

Cellular data capabilities were originally built to solve the heavy data problem and, as such, have not been well optimized – or … Read More → "LTE for the IoT"

Untangling Wireless Charging

An Attempt to Clarify Terms and Standards

by Bryon Moyer

December 8, 2016

So I saw an announcement or two about wireless power and thought it might be time to do an update. But as I looked around and spoke with various people, I have to say… I found myself increasingly unsure and confused. A lot has happened since we last dealt with this part of the industry, and things that seemed clear once upon a time no longer seem so.

So rather than doing an update, I think we need a clarifier. In the world of wireless power, there are multiple “standards,” multiple standards bodies, several approaches available, and … Read More → "Untangling Wireless Charging"

Every PMIC You Ever Wanted

AnDAPT Launches Programmable Power Chips

by Kevin Morris

December 7, 2016

Ever notice how every catalog for power-management devices has about a gazillion items? There are buck, boost, buck-boost, multi-phase regulators, load switches, LDOs, battery chargers, multi-phase controllers, sequencers, supervisors – and every one of those is available in about fifty different sizes, shapes, voltages, currents, tolerances, and packages. Of course, then, when you try to find exactly the right one for your design – they don’t have what you need. You end up settling for a little too much of this and a little too little of that for more BOM cost than you originally intended to spend. </ … Read More → "Every PMIC You Ever Wanted"

Quality!

Judging What’s Good and What’s Bad is Harder Than it Sounds

by Jim Turley

December 6, 2016

“Quality is not an act, it is a habit.” – Aristotle

There’s an old Doonesbury comic strip in which the main character tags along behind a famous real-estate developer as the latter shows off his newest high-rise hotel. “Gold faucets!” the developer shouts. “Quality!”

The point of the strip is that the two characters have very different ideas about what constitutes quality. For one, it’s flash and dazzle. High cost equals high quality. Exclusivity is good for its own sake. For the other, it’s something more basic, like reliable … Read More → "Quality!"

Layer by Atomic Layer

Collecting ALD (and Its Opposite) News

by Bryon Moyer

December 5, 2016

Some months ago, Applied Materials (AMAT) announced an atomic-layer product. Then Lam had a couple of announcements. And finally, more recently, ALD NanoSolutions had something to say. It’s like, just when you’re ready to write something up, there’s yet something new.

So… on the assumption that we’ve got all the atomic-layer news spread out on the desk and that there are no other news stories lurking, how ‘bout we go through these to find out what’s happening at … Read More → "Layer by Atomic Layer"

The Changing World of Semiconductors Encapsulated at Electronica

Manufacturers and Distributors Merging and Evolving

by Dick Selwood

December 1, 2016

At electronica, at the beginning of November, I was talking to an exhibitor about a module controlling a power supply: “The main part of the module is a chip from Freescale – sorry, NXP – sorry again – suppose I should say ‘The company soon to be part of Qualcomm.'” And also in the module was an AVR processor from Atmel – “Sorry – Microchip.”

Right at the front of one of the halls was a huge open space with a banner saying, “Fairchild is now a part of ON Semiconductor. Please visit us at Hall A5 Stand 225.”

That’s So Cool!

It’s Good to be an Engineer, the Creators of Coolness in our World

by Jim Turley

November 30, 2016

“All that we need to make us happy is something to be enthusiastic about.” – Albert Einstein

At this festive time of year, it is more than usually desirable that we should make some slight provision for our fellow engineers. Be grateful that we didn’t take up careers in metallurgy, or agriculture, or as stonemasons. How much do you think those professions have changed in the past hundred years? Compare that to the rapid pace of change in electronics, programming, real-time systems, networking, semiconductor fabrication, wireless technology… everything! We get to work in an area … Read More → "That’s So Cool!"

Microsemi Tackles RISC-V

Open Architecture FPGA Processor Core

by Kevin Morris

November 29, 2016

In many applications today, the combination of FPGA programmable logic fabric with a microcontroller is the magic sauce that brings the whole system together and makes it “smart.” The flexibility in interface, communication, and peripherals provided by the FPGA part, along with the software-programmability of a microcontroller, truly delivers on the promise of the system-on-chip “SoC” moniker for a number of smaller-scale systems.

Back when Microsemi’s FPGA group was called “Actel,” the company was among the first to offer a RISC core as IP on an FPGA. For the past decade or … Read More → "Microsemi Tackles RISC-V"

Audio and Sensor Integration

Extracting Themes from the MEMS Executive Congress

by Bryon Moyer

November 28, 2016

If it’s November, that means it’s time for the C-level folks in the MEMS and sensor industries to assemble and assess the state of the industry at the MEMS Executive Congress. Because of the higher average title of these attendees, it has a very different feel from other conferences. And it mostly happens in lockstep (without five different tracks and an exhibit floor as distractions). Which makes it a bit easier to get a read on things.

It wasn’t so long ago when the theme of the year would typically focus on individual new … Read More → "Audio and Sensor Integration"