Author's Latest Posts


The Interconnect Bottleneck


With communications playing a crucial role in the design and performance of multi-core SoCs, various interconnect structures have been proposed as promising solutions to simplify and optimize SoC design. However, sometimes things don’t go as planned and the interconnect becomes the bottleneck. “Under high utilization cases the DRAM will be over-constrained with requests from all the a... » read more

System Bits: May 26


Microfluidic cell-squeezing MIT researchers have shown it is possible to use a microfluidic cell-squeezing device to introduce specific antigens inside the immune system’s B cells, providing a new approach to developing and implementing antigen-presenting cell vaccines. These types of vaccines are created by reprogramming a patient’s own immune cells to fight invaders, and are believed ... » read more

How Hard Is FD-SOI Design?


Fully-depleted silicon-on-insulator ([getkc id="220" kc_name="FD-SOI"]) manufacturing technology reached of point of readiness for mass production at the end of March. Along with that, it’s now clear that while there are some impacts on the design flow, those impacts are not game changers. For one thing, the tools required are the same ones currently used for 28nm planar bulk CMOS. The onl... » read more

System Bits: May 19


Foundation for quantum computer In theory, quantum computers are capable of simulating the interactions of molecules at a level of detail far beyond the capabilities of even the largest supercomputers today, which are expected to revolutionize chemistry, biology and materials science. However, the development of quantum computers has been limited by the ability to increase the number of quantu... » read more

Power Management Verification Requires Holistic Approach


Semiconductor Engineering sat down to discuss power management [getkc id="10" kc_name="Verification"] issues with Arvind Shanmugavel, senior director, applications engineering at [getentity id="22021" e_name="Ansys-Apache"]; Guillaume Boillet, technical marketing manager at [getentity id="22026" e_name="Atrenta"]; Adam Sherer, verification product management director at [getentity id="22032" e_... » read more

Brain-Inspired Computing


Approaching power/performance tradeoffs from an architectural perspective is essential given the complexities of today’s SoCs. And beyond some traditional techniques that I discussed in a recent article, Bernard Murphy, CTO at Atrenta mentioned that there is currently a lot of buzz about using non-Von Neumann architectures — especially for recognition functions (voice, image and text). ... » read more

Capturing Performance


The challenge of working out the best performance for a given power budget is not a new one, but in many power-sensitive applications, the balance is tricky and requires sophisticated techniques. This is especially true in the media processor market where many systems companies are held back by power, energy and thermal issues. “It's really not a battery problem, it's a thermal problem... » read more

Power Management Verification Requires Holistic Approach


Semiconductor Engineering sat down to discuss power management [getkc id="10" kc_name="Verification"] issues with Arvind Shanmugavel, senior director, applications engineering at [getentity id="22021" e_name="Ansys-Apache"]; Guillaume Boillet, technical marketing manager at [getentity id="22026" e_name="Atrenta"]; Adam Sherer, verification product management director at [getentity id="22032" e_... » read more

System Bits: May 12


Optomechanical tuning A new method developed by Rice University researchers for tuning the light induced vibrations of nanoparticles through slight alterations to the surface to which the particles are attached could open doors for new applications of photonics from molecular sensing to wireless communications. The researchers at Rice’s Laboratory for Nanophotonics (LANP) collaborated wit... » read more

Overtaking The Black Hatters


I think the question on many minds today is whether the security features in hardware and software included in electronic systems today will be enough to keep the hackers out. The threats are real, the impact on businesses and personal lives is painful. Thankfully, it is clearly evident that there is an impressive upswell of activity in the security realm happening everywhere - from academic re... » read more

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