Articles – Page 27

AMFitzgerald and MEMS Infinity to Rule the PZT MEMS World

February 22, 2024

Generally speaking, I tend not to be interested in business-related announcements like strategic partnerships. I can’t tell you how many over-excited emails I’ve received informing me of something vague, fluffy, and wishy-washy along the lines of two companies planning to sign a memorandum of understanding that they may or may not collaborate to investigate the possibility that… by which time my eyes have glazed over and I’m drooling and gibbering (two actions that aren’t as easy to perform simultaneously as you might think).

Of course, there’ … Read More → "AMFitzgerald and MEMS Infinity to Rule the PZT MEMS World"

First Text-to-Speech, Then Text-to-Image, Now Text-to-3D-Animation

by Max Maxfield

February 20, 2024

After seeing what I’ve just seen, you can consider (what I laughingly call) my mind to be well and truly blown. My poor old noggin is now full of ideas, each one triggering a cascade of considerations. Some of these meandering musings may even be germane to what I’m about to reveal. As usual, of course, we will all have to weed through my rambling waffling and make our own decisions as to what is relevant… or not… as the case might be.

When I was a kid, the height of … Read More → "First Text-to-Speech, Then Text-to-Image, Now Text-to-3D-Animation"

Will 2024 Really Be Intel’s Year to Retake the Lead in Semiconductor Process Technology?

by Steven Leibson

February 19, 2024

Way, way back in my high school senior English class, I learned about the six critical components of a news story: who, what, when, where, why, and extent (5WE). Today’s story focuses on Intel’s expansive plans to retake the lead in the never-ending semiconductor race and primarily covers four of these critical story components: what, when, who, and why. Intel has announced that it plans to catch and then overtake the acknowledged current semiconductor process leader, TSMC, either in 2024 or 2025. This is definitely a reach goal, because Intel slipped its planned schedule when introducing both … Read More → "Will 2024 Really Be Intel’s Year to Retake the Lead in Semiconductor Process Technology?"

Can Isotopically Pure Silicon Chips Switch 1,000X Faster?

by Max Maxfield

February 15, 2024

I was just introduced to a company that has developed an affordable, clean, efficient way to separate out the isotopes of elements, including silicon and uranium. It was the potential for an isotopically pure form of silicon for use in both regular silicon chips and quantum computers that made my eyes open wide.

I’m constantly amazed by all the things I don’t know. Hmmm. On reflection that’s incorrect, because I don’t know what I don’t know (see also Read More → "Can Isotopically Pure Silicon Chips Switch 1,000X Faster?"

Seagate’s 30Tbyte Exos Hard Drive Writes Large

by Steven Leibson

February 14, 2024

Thirty Terabytes. These two words don’t ordinarily go together to describe the capacity of a hard drive, but Seagate has just introduced a 3½-inch hard drive family – called the Exos Mozaic 3+ – with a maximum capacity of 30 Tbytes. These drives store more than 3 Tbytes per platter. Contrast this 30Tbyte drive with my first hard drive, a Seagate ST-225, which I bought in 1985 for a home-built IBM PC clone. The ST-225 was a half-height, 5¼-inch, 20Mbyte hard drive with an MFM interface. It required an external hard-drive controller board. At 30Tbytes, the largest Exos Mozaic 3+ drive has more … Read More → "Seagate’s 30Tbyte Exos Hard Drive Writes Large"

Altera: The Once and Future FPGA Supplier, Part 2

by Steven Leibson

February 12, 2024

The FPGA supplier known as Intel PSG (the Programmable Systems Group, formerly named Altera) will be announcing its new name and mission on February 29 – the leap day of a leap month of a leap year – because it’s being billed as a leap forward for the company. Get it? Consequently, I thought this would be a good time to document the early history of Altera from its beginnings, because no one seems to have written it down and because there seem to be a lot of inaccurate histories floating around on the Web. Before you read this … Read More → "Altera: The Once and Future FPGA Supplier, Part 2"

From Architecture to PCB Schematic in 60 Seconds!

by Max Maxfield

February 8, 2024

Are you ready to meet the world’s first deterministic AI that helps electronic teams go from architecture to schematic in 60 seconds? We’re talking about algorithmic component selection and schematic generation technology that optimizes billions of component combinations, thereby allowing you to avoid datasheet doom-scrolling, reduce schematic errors, and design for supply chain resilience in minutes. What’s not to love?

Before we plunge into the fray with gusto and abandon (and aplomb, of course), I’m extremely excited to tell you that what I’m about to tell … Read More → "From Architecture to PCB Schematic in 60 Seconds!"

Altera: The Once and Future FPGA Supplier, Part 1

by Steven Leibson

February 7, 2024

Well, you made it to February. Congratulations! This is the leap month of a leap year. If you’re following the news, Kathy Ireland calendars from 1996 are hot eBay items because the dates and days of the week are the same as for 2024, so you can use ‘em again this year. Meanwhile, in more prosaic news, the FPGA supplier formerly known as Intel PSG will be announcing its new name and mission on February 29 – the leap day of a leap month of a leap year – because, you know, it’s a leap forward for the company previously … Read More → "Altera: The Once and Future FPGA Supplier, Part 1"

AI Boldly Goes Behind the Beyond

by Max Maxfield

February 6, 2024

I used to love the title sequence at the beginning of each episode of Star Trek: The Original Series starring William Shatner as Captain James Tiberius Kirk. I’m thinking of the part where the announcer waffled on about the Enterprise’s five-year mission “to boldly go behind the beyond, behind which no man has boldly gone behind, beyond, before” (or words to that effect). Well, it seems to be artificial intelligence’s turn to boldly go behind the beyond.

As an aside, writing the previous paragraph reminded me of Read More → "AI Boldly Goes Behind the Beyond"

AMD discontinues CoolRunner and XC9500 CPLDs and Spartan-II and -3 FPGAs. Buy ‘em while you can!

by Steven Leibson

February 5, 2024

AMD issued an End of Life (EOL) notice for several older CPLDs and FPGAs on January 1. The notice states that AMD will accept final orders for these devices through June 29, 2024. The affected devices include the XC9500XL, CoolRunner, and CoolRunner II CPLDs, and the Spartan-II and Spartan-3 FPGA families. These products are nearly a quarter of a century old and older. AMD added them to its product portfolio when it acquired Xilinx in 2022. It now appears that the company is cleaning house and discontinuing the older PLDs from the Xilinx acquisition.