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Ann Mutschler

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Ann Mutschler is senior executive editor at Semiconductor Engineering.

Author's Latest Posts

Power/Performance Bits: July 1
By Ann Mutschler - 01 Jul, 2014 - Comments: 0

Cheap, rechargeable, organic Intended for use in power plants and intend to make the energy grid more resilient and efficient, USC researchers have developed a water-based organic battery that is long lasting and built from cheap, eco-friendly components. The new battery, which uses no metals or toxic materials, is intended for use in power plants, where it can make the energy grid more resili... » read more

Asynchronous Is Mostly Academic
By Ann Mutschler - 26 Jun, 2014 - Comments: 4

There are a number of interesting technologies to keep an eye on in term of how and when they could be adopted for use in SoC design today, some of which include gallium arsenide, GPGPUs, 3D ICs and asynchronous logic. Asynchronous logic promises a number of benefits in some specific application areas, and one that buoys to the surface for potential near-term use is in the area of security a... » read more

Where Do We Stand With CDC?
By Ann Mutschler - 26 Jun, 2014 - Comments: 1

Semiconductor Engineering sat down to discuss where the industry stands on clock domain crossing with Charlie Janac, CEO of Arteris; Shaker Sarwary, VP of Formal Verification Products at Atrenta; Pranav Ashar, CTO at Real Intent; and Namit Gupta, CAE, Verification Group at Synopsys. What follows are excerpts of that conversation. SE: While not a new aspect of design, clock domain crossing is... » read more

System Bits: June 24
By Ann Mutschler - 24 Jun, 2014 - Comments: 0

Experimental 36-core chip The more cores — or processing units — a computer chip has, the bigger the problem of communication between cores becomes. For years, Li-Shiuan Peh, the Singapore Research Professor of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science at MIT, has argued that the massively multicore chips of the future will need to resemble little Internets, where each core has an associ... » read more

Power/Performance Bits: June 24
By Ann Mutschler - 24 Jun, 2014 - Comments: 0

Solar-cell efficiency in one step Rice University scientists have created a single-step process for producing highly efficient materials that let the maximum amount of sunlight reach a solar cell. The Rice lab of chemist Andrew Barron found a simple way to etch nanoscale spikes into silicon that allows more than 99 percent of sunlight to reach the cells’ active elements, where it can be t... » read more

Power/Performance Bits: June 17
By Ann Mutschler - 17 Jun, 2014 - Comments: 0

Nanotubes boost terahertz detectors Researchers at Rice University, Sandia National Laboratories and the Tokyo Institute of Technology have developed novel terahertz detectors based on carbon nanotubes that could improve medical imaging, airport passenger screening, food inspection and other applications. Unlike current terahertz detectors, the devices are flexible, sensitive to polarizatio... » read more

System Bits: June 17
By Ann Mutschler - 17 Jun, 2014 - Comments: 0

Smartphone for good: Adapted to reduce falls Purdue University researchers have shown how to modify a smartphone so that it can be used to measure a person's walking gait to prevent falls in people with compromised balance, such as the elderly or those with Parkinson's disease. The technology is being commercialized as SmartGait, and was designed as a tool to aid health care officials in as... » read more

Do SoCs Need Earthquake Insurance?
By Ann Mutschler - 13 Jun, 2014 - Comments: 1

RTL sign-off is not a new term, but with SoCs that can be comprised of up to 90% IP blocks combined with the complexities that advanced manufacturing process nodes bring, RTL sign-off activities become a process that demands a more comprehensive approach. “There is a fundamental shift going on in chip design in general in that there is a bigger focus on so-called system on chip (SoC) desig... » read more

S-L Power Modeling Gains Steam
By Ann Mutschler - 12 Jun, 2014 - Comments: 1

Power analysis, architectural exploration and optimization of an SoC is a hot topic of discussion today. It is well accepted this must be addressed at a higher level of abstraction because not just the hardware must be taken into account with power intent and power management structures. It has to be viewed from a system point of view, as well, where the hardware resides along with the opera... » read more

Power IS Top Priority, Isn’t It?
By Ann Mutschler - 12 Jun, 2014 - Comments: 0

While I don’t mean to start a battle – or maybe I do! – I heard something last week during DAC that gave me pause. The person I was speaking with – who told me they ‘got in a little bit of trouble’ for saying this – reminded me of an interesting subject we had talked about previously, namely, that they did not believe power is the number one concern of engineering teams today. Ye... » read more

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