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Ann Mutschler

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Ann Mutschler is senior executive editor at Semiconductor Engineering.

Author's Latest Posts

Securing The Car
By Ann Mutschler - 03 Sep, 2015 - Comments: 0

"The bigger and more high tech a company is, the easier it is to use the front door." --Nomi, Sense8 As the quote above — from the Netflix sci-fi show Sense8 — reminds, as technology as infiltrated our lives as never before, ‘bad guys’ will try to get access to places we don’t want them to, and once they figure out how, it can be easy to cause a lot of damage by using the very sy... » read more

System Bits: Sept.1
By Ann Mutschler - 01 Sep, 2015 - Comments: 0

The quantum description of nature In quantum mechanics, the underlying physical rules that govern the fundamental behavior of matter and light at the atomic scale state that nothing can quite be completely at rest, but now for the first time, a team of researchers from Caltech, McGill University, and the Max Planck Institute for the Science of Light has found a way to observe—and control—t... » read more

The Trouble With Abstractions
By Ann Mutschler - 27 Aug, 2015 - Comments: 0

Ask chip engineers about the value of abstractions and you're likely to get a spectrum of answers. While abstractions help in seeing the big picture on complex designs, the data for performance and power needs to be annotated from detailed information the engineering team may obtain later in the design flow. There is valuable information that can come from using abstractions correctly. And ... » read more

What Happened To ESL
By Ann Mutschler - 27 Aug, 2015 - Comments: 3

Electronic system level ([getkc id="48" kc_name="ESL"]) is a design methodology idea that gained steam in the last 20 years centered mainly around the idea of using higher levels of abstraction to define and implement an electronic design. It was defined and promoted by industry analyst Gary Smith, then at Gartner-Dataquest, and so much has been written on this topic over the years that ESL ... » read more

System Bits: Aug. 25
By Ann Mutschler - 25 Aug, 2015 - Comments: 0

Quantum computer building block In a finding that could ultimately be used to produce key components of quantum computers in the future, a team of researchers led by MIT have analyzed an exotic kind of magnetic behavior, driven by the mere proximity of two materials, using a technique called spin-polarized neutron reflectometry. This discovery could also be used to probe a variety of exotic... » read more

Who’s Calling The Shots
By Ann Mutschler - 24 Aug, 2015 - Comments: 1

As discussed in part one of this report, OEMs are making more of the decisions about what goes into a system design. A large part of this shift involves software, which falls on many plates throughout the ecosystem. Making sure all of the layers of software interoperate and integrate well together is no small feat, and it is growing in complexity at every turn as systems becomes more sophist... » read more

System Bits: Aug. 18
By Ann Mutschler - 18 Aug, 2015 - Comments: 0

Optical computing for big data Given the potential for optical electronics to be applied to big data processing tasks, alumni of the University of Cambridge, including from the Department of Engineering, have gone on to found Optalysys, a company with the goal of making computer processors that use light instead of electricity. The Cambridge spinout’s latest achievement is a functioning p... » read more

Thermal Issues Getting Worse
By Ann Mutschler - 14 Aug, 2015 - Comments: 2

Making sure that smartphone you’re holding doesn’t burn your face when you make a call requires a tremendous amount of engineering effort at all levels of the design - the case, the chips, the packaging. The developers of the IP subsystems in that smartphone must adhere to very strict power and energy thresholds so the OEM putting it all together can stick to some semblance of a product des... » read more

How Long Will FinFETs Last?
By Ann Mutschler - 13 Aug, 2015 - Comments: 0

Semiconductor Engineering sat down to discuss how long FinFETs will last and where we will we go next with Vassilios Gerousis, Distinguished Engineer at [getentity id="22032" e_name="Cadence"]; Juan Rey, Sr. Director of Engineering for Calibre R&D at [getentity id="22017" e_name="Mentor Graphics"]; Kelvin Low, Senior Director Foundry Marketing at [getentity id="22865" e_name="Samsung"]; and Vic... » read more

What To Do With Power Models
By Ann Mutschler - 13 Aug, 2015 - Comments: 0

Ask any design engineer if they want a power model, and you can guess the answer. As far as what they want to use it for, the answer will vary. When I asked Jem Davies, ARM Fellow, if OEM engineering teams want a comprehensive power model, he said, “Ideally, yes. Perfectly ideally, what they would like to have from us is a model of each individual block of our IP which plugs together in a ... » read more

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