Articles – Page 32

Ambiq’s Low-Power AI Cancels Speech Noise Like Magic

October 23, 2023

The nice thing about magic is that you need not know how the magic works to apply it. For example, in Harry Potter’s world, Hogwarts students learned to use spells and incantations that invoked magic without knowing the underlying physics (metaphysics?) of that magic. Too science-fictiony for you? Then grok this. You don’t need to understand immersion or EUV lithography to design with the integrated circuits produced by these magical applications of real-world physics. For 99.99% of us, digital logic abstracts away almost everything happening in the real world and leaves us in the near-pristine … Read More → "Ambiq’s Low-Power AI Cancels Speech Noise Like Magic"

Before Computers Were Logic Diagrams and Machines

by Max Maxfield

October 19, 2023

I often think about ancient civilizations. I’m sure you do too. I cogitate and ruminate on all the people who lived, loved, and died, and I’m saddened by the fact that we no longer remember their names. In many cases, we aren’t even aware that their civilizations existed (I base this on the fact we seem to keep on discovering previously unsuspected cultures and empires).

I learn something new every day. For example, I just discovered that, while all Sumerians were Mesopotamians, not all Mesopotamians were Sumerians. … Read More → "Before Computers Were Logic Diagrams and Machines"

Don’t React, PreAct!

by Max Maxfield

October 17, 2023

Is it just me, or are things becoming even more exciting than they already were? I’m not sure if it’s just because I’m getting older, or if it’s all down to the world spinning faster. How old am I? Well—let’s put it this way—I’m so old that the kids next door believed me when I told them one of my chores when I was their age was to shoo the dinosaurs out of our family cabbage patch (this is obviously a joke because my family never owned a cabbage … Read More → "Don’t React, PreAct!"

Intel Heats Up and Expands its Agilex FPGA family

by Steven Leibson

October 16, 2023

Last month, just before Intel FPGA Technology Day (IFTD) 2023, the company made several announcements regarding its flagship Agilex FPGA families. The announcement reminded me of an old English rhyme about the things a bride needs: something old, something new, something borrowed, and, of course, since we’re talking about Intel here, something blue. … Read More →

It’s Time to Learn More about Timing

by Max Maxfield

October 12, 2023

As I wrote in a recent blog, not knowing all the stuff I don’t know didn’t come easy. I’ve had to read a lot of books to get where I am today. This was in the context of a recently published book by Lawrence M. K. Krauss: The Known Unknowns: A Brief Account of What We Know and What We Don’t Know About the Cosmos. As I said in my blog, I was proud to discover that I already didn’t know pretty much all of Lawrence’s “Known Unknowns.”

< … Read More →

Accelerating and Reducing the Cost of Semiconductor Process Development

by Max Maxfield

October 10, 2023

Before I turned to the dark side to become the world’s greatest technical writer of my generation (at least, according to my mom), I used to be a real engineer. As I’ve mentioned in earlier columns (and to anyone I can persuade to listen), my first job was as a member of a design team creating central processing units (CPUs) for mainframe computers.

“Birds of a feather flock together,” as they say, so it’s no surprise that I’ve ended up talking to other CPU designers about their creations over … Read More → "Accelerating and Reducing the Cost of Semiconductor Process Development"

AMD Unleashes an FPGA-based Kria SoM Specifically for Motor Control

by Steven Leibson

October 9, 2023

The modern world literally runs on electric motors. They’re used in every aspect of manufacturing, logistics, and transportation. Back in the earliest days of electric motors, when motors were still quite big and expensive, a motor’s mechanical output power would likely be distributed to individual workstations within a factory via a system of belts, pulleys, and drive shafts. Many late 18th and early 19th century factories already had these mechanical drive systems in place to distribute steam or … Read More → "AMD Unleashes an FPGA-based Kria SoM Specifically for Motor Control"

Intel plans to spin off FPGA group as an independent company nine years after buying Altera

by Steven Leibson

October 4, 2023

On October 3, CEO Pat Gelsinger announced Intel’s plan to spin out the company’s Programmable Solutions Group (PSG) – the group that was once known as independent FPGA maker Altera – into an independently operated company. Gelsinger’s explanation for why Intel is spinning PSG back out into an independent company is that he’s unlocking shareholder value. He said that PSG had underperformed under Intel’s management and needed more management attention than it was getting from Intel corporate. The spun-out FPGA company will recover the independence it needs to compete in the FPGA arena. If the … Read More → "Intel plans to spin off FPGA group as an independent company nine years after buying Altera"

Edward Keonjian: The High-IQ, Armenian-American Forrest Gump of Microelectronics, Part 5

by Steven Leibson

October 4, 2023

By 1963, Edward Keonjian had earned a PhD in electrical (radio) communications in the USSR, survived World War II and the siege of Leningrad, escaped a Nazi slave labor camp with his family, emigrated to the US, learned English, worked menial jobs until he could re-establish himself as an electrical engineer, pioneered transistor applications and co-authored the first book on that topic at General Electric during the earliest days of the solid-state revolution, and managed the development of a transistorized missile guidance computer for early US ICBMs at American Bosch Arma. While visiting potential component suppliers for … Read More → "Edward Keonjian: The High-IQ, Armenian-American Forrest Gump of Microelectronics, Part 5"

Boosting the Efficiency and Performance of Silicon Chips with a Special Epitaxial Layer

by Max Maxfield

October 3, 2023

Did you ever see the Doctor Who episode “Vincent and the Doctor”? This starts with the Doctor and his companion, Amy, visiting a Vincent van Gogh exhibition at the Musée d’Orsay in Paris. When they spot an alien creature in one of Vincent’s paintings, they travel back in time to find out what’s happening and sort things out.

We now regard Vincent as being an artistic genius, but his paintings were largely unappreciated and rejected by critics and the public while he was alive. In … Read More → "Boosting the Efficiency and Performance of Silicon Chips with a Special Epitaxial Layer"