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Ann Mutschler

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Ann Mutschler is senior executive editor at Semiconductor Engineering.

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Power/Performance Bits: Jan. 28
By Ann Mutschler - 28 Jan, 2014 - Comments: 0

E-whiskers From the world of nanotechnology, researchers with Berkeley Lab and UC Berkeley are on the verge of electronic whiskers -- tactile sensors from composite films of carbon nanotubes and silver nanoparticles similar to the highly sensitive whiskers of cats and rats. These new e-whiskers respond to pressure as slight as a single Pascal, which is about the amount of pressure exerted o... » read more

System Bits: Jan. 21
By Ann Mutschler - 21 Jan, 2014 - Comments: 0

Metamaterial modeling Metamaterials -- artificial materials engineered to have properties that are not normally found in nature and being explored in a number of technologies such as perfect lenses, antennas and terahertz devices – are becoming more important to model. Modeling them is a difficult task considering their unconventional nature and delicate properties but researchers from Ecole... » read more

Power/Performance Bits: Jan. 21
By Ann Mutschler - 21 Jan, 2014 - Comments: 0

Spinning towards superconduction With spintronics widely believed to be the basis of a future revolution in computing, researchers at the University of Cambridge are reporting what they said is the first evidence that superconductors could be used as an energy-efficient source for so-called “spin-based” devices, which are already starting to appear in electronic devices. Spintronic devi... » read more

Mostly Accurate Computing
By Ann Mutschler - 16 Jan, 2014 - Comments: 0

“Approximate computing” is a new concept in computers, allowing them to perform calculations for certain tasks that don’t require perfect accuracy with the goal of improving efficiency and reducing energy consumption. But do the concepts apply when it comes to managing power? And is there a philosophical approach when it comes to thinking about power management? To a large extent, that... » read more

Power’s Impact On Hierarchy Modification
By Ann Mutschler - 16 Jan, 2014 - Comments: 2

RTL restructuring in which the logical hierarchy of a design is modified is usually done to manage complex designs. When power management is added to this task, new challenges crop up. Consider switchable power or voltage domains, which are a common way to manage power is to use switchable power or voltage domains. When implementing this technique, all the logic in such a domain must hang of... » read more

Simple Does Not Mean Easy
By Ann Mutschler - 16 Jan, 2014 - Comments: 0

When it comes to chip design we speak constantly about managing complexity - how best to architect for it, how to manage it, what design techniques to use, what the impact on the system will be etc. - but we don't speak too much about making the design more simple. Instead, we heap on more complexity to manage the complexity. As with everything else in life it seems just because something is... » read more

Power/Performance Bits: Jan. 14
By Ann Mutschler - 14 Jan, 2014 - Comments: 0

Disorderly conduct With a significant ability to store power per a given weight, lithium batteries have been a major focus of research to enable use in everything from portable electronics to electric cars and now researchers at MIT and Brookhaven National Laboratory have found the use of disordered materials – generally considered unsuitable for batteries – can be used in a new avenue for... » read more

System Bits: Jan. 14
By Ann Mutschler - 14 Jan, 2014 - Comments: 0

Fastest organic transistor Research teams from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln and Stanford University have worked together to produce what they believe are the world’s fastest thin-film organic transistors, proving that this experimental technology has the potential to achieve the performance needed for high-resolution television screens and similar electronic devices. The researchers sa... » read more

System Bits: Jan. 7
By Ann Mutschler - 07 Jan, 2014 - Comments: 0

Vanadium’s wonders Already prized for its extraordinary ability to change size, shape and physical identity, vanadium dioxide can now add muscle power to its attributes, researchers with Berkeley Lab reported. They have demonstrated a micro-sized robotic torsional muscle/motor made from vanadium dioxide that for its size is a thousand times more powerful than a human muscle, able to catapult... » read more

Power/Performance Bits: Jan. 7
By Ann Mutschler - 07 Jan, 2014 - Comments: 0

Harvesting electricity In order to produce small amounts of electricity for portable devices and sensors, Georgia Tech researchers are developing a family of power generators that take advantage of the triboelectric effect. The researchers are using what’s technically known as the triboelectric effect to create surprising amounts of electric power by rubbing or touching two different mate... » read more

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