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Ann Mutschler

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Ann Mutschler is senior executive editor at Semiconductor Engineering.

Author's Latest Posts

Improving Yield, Reliability With Data
By Ann Mutschler - 11 Oct, 2017 - Comments: 0

Big data techniques for sorting through massive amounts of data to identify aberrations are beginning to find a home in semiconductor manufacturing, fueled by new requirements in safety-critical markets such as automotive as well as the rising price of packaged chips in smartphones. Outlier detection—the process of finding data points outside the normal distribution—isn't a new idea. It ... » read more

System Bits: Oct. 10
By Ann Mutschler - 10 Oct, 2017 - Comments: 0

Fast-moving magnetic particles for data storage According to MIT researchers, an exotic kind of magnetic behavior discovered just a few years ago holds great promise as a way of storing data — one that could overcome fundamental limits that might otherwise be signaling the end of Moore’s Law. Rather than reading and writing data one bit at a time by changing the orientation of magnetize... » read more

Testing Autonomous Vehicles
By Ann Mutschler - 05 Oct, 2017 - Comments: 0

After I wrote last month about my concerns about the pending legislation that appears to relax safety regulations for autonomous vehicles being tested on public roads, it seems I am not alone and some safety groups have also expressed concern. Of course, the promise of autonomous driving is exciting and will absolutely save lives — when the technology and infrastructure are ready — there... » read more

System Bits: Oct. 3
By Ann Mutschler - 03 Oct, 2017 - Comments: 0

Polariton graphs In a development that a team of researchers from the UK and Russia say could eventually surpass the capabilities of even the most powerful supercomputers, a type of ‘magic dust’ — which combines light and matter — can be used to solve complex problems. Hailing from the University of Cambridge, University of Southampton and Cardiff University in the UK and the Skolk... » read more

Verification’s Breaking Points
By Ann Mutschler - 28 Sep, 2017 - Comments: 2

Verification efficiency and speed can vary significantly from one design to the next, and that variability is rising alongside growing design complexity. The result is a new level of unpredictability about how much it will cost to complete the verification process, whether it will meet narrow market windows, and whether quality will be traded off to get a chip out on time in the hopes that it c... » read more

Plugging Gaps In Advanced Packaging
By Ann Mutschler - 27 Sep, 2017 - Comments: 0

The growing difficulty of cramming more features into an SoC is driving the entire chip industry to consider new packaging options, whether that is a more complex, integrated SoC or some type of advanced packaging that includes multiple chips. Most of the work done in this area so far has been highly customized. But as advanced packaging heads into the mainstream, gaps are beginning to appea... » read more

System Bits: Sept. 26
By Ann Mutschler - 26 Sep, 2017 - Comments: 0

Spectroscopic science camera While the latest versions of most smartphones contain at least two and sometimes three built-in cameras, researchers at the University of Illinois would like to convince mobile device manufactures to add yet another image sensor as a built-in capability for health diagnostics, environmental monitoring, and general-purpose color sensing applications.   This comes... » read more

Managing Peak Power
By Ann Mutschler - 20 Sep, 2017 - Comments: 0

Peak power is becoming a serious design constraint across chips and entire electronic systems as more functionality is added into end devices and the compute and switching infrastructure needed to support them. The issues are a direct result of growing complexity in designs, fixed or shrinking power budgets, and the need to process more data more quickly. In mobile devices, the addition of m... » read more

System Bits: Sept. 19
By Ann Mutschler - 19 Sep, 2017 - Comments: 0

Novel quantum computing architecture invented University of New South Wales researchers have invented what they say is a radical new architecture for quantum computing, based on ‘flip-flop qubits,’ that promises to make the large-scale manufacture of quantum chips dramatically easier. [caption id="attachment_319384" align="alignnone" width="300"] Artist's impression of flip-flop qubit e... » read more

DARPA CHIPS Program Pushes For Chiplets
By Ann Mutschler - 14 Sep, 2017 - Comments: 0

While the semiconductor industry plugs away at More Than Moore innovation, the U.S. government is guiding its own SoC development. A new program kicked off last year called ‘Common Heterogeneous Integration and IP Reuse Strategies’ or CHIPS to take its own approach the incredibly high cost of SoC design and manufacturing. DARPA said it recognizes that the explosive growth in mobile and t... » read more

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