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Power/Performance Bits: Nov. 23


Increasing lithium battery density Researchers at Columbia University developed a new method to increase the energy density of lithium batteries using a trilayer structure that is stable in ambient air. "When lithium batteries are charged the first time, they lose anywhere from 5-20% energy in that first cycle," said Yuan Yang, assistant professor of materials science and engineering at C... » read more

The Week In Review: Design


M&A Siemens plans to buy Mentor Graphics for $4.5 billion in cash. The move, if approved by regulators, would greatly expand Siemens’ capabilities in multi-physics design and embedded software for everything from semiconductors to automotive wiring harnesses. The transaction is expected to close in the second quarter of 2017. Tools Mentor Graphics uncorked a new product to measur... » read more

Blog Review: Nov. 16


Cadence's Paul McLellan highlights a talk from the recent Jasper User Group by ARM's Daryl Stewart on how the company saw the value of formal verification. Synopsys' Patrick Sheridan looks at the benefits of using SystemC TLM-2.0 AT for virtual prototype architecture modeling. Mentor's Jim Martens argues for the importance of a reliable power delivery network. A Lam Research staff writ... » read more

Power/Performance Bits: Nov. 15


Another record-breaking tandem perovskite solar cell University of California, Berkeley, and Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory scientists report a new design for perovskite solar cells that achieves an average steady-state efficiency of 18.4%, with a high of 21.7% and a peak efficiency of 26%. "This has a great potential to be the cheapest photovoltaic on the market, plugging into any... » read more

The Week In Review: Design


M&A Synopsys added to its software integrity and security business with the acquisition of services company Cigital and its 2015 spinout focused on tools, Codiscope. Cigital specializes in professional and managed services for identifying, remediating and preventing vulnerabilities in software applications. Terms of the deal were not disclosed. Tools Mentor Graphics rolled out a new pl... » read more

Blog Review: Nov. 9


Mentor's Andrew Patterson highlights two of the main debates around IoT: how to connect and how much security is enough. Cadence's Paul McLellan checks out one company's design for a dataflow processing unit to speed up deep learning networks. Prepare for USB to be everywhere in the autonomous car, says Synopsys' Eric Huang. Rambus' Aharon Etengoff argues that the end of Dennard Scalin... » read more

Power/Performance Bits: Nov. 8


Scrap metal batteries A research team at Vanderbilt University used scraps of steel and brass - two of the most commonly discarded materials - to create a steel-brass battery that can store energy at levels comparable to lead-acid batteries while charging and discharging at rates comparable to ultra-fast charging supercapacitors. The researchers found that when scraps of steel and brass a... » read more

The Week In Review: Design


M&A Lattice Semiconductor is set for a buyout by private equity fund Canyon Bridge at a price of $1.3 billion, or $8.30 per share. Lattice will operate as a standalone subsidiary and does not expect any changes in operations or management. The deal is expected to close in early 2017. Earlier this week, Lattice announced a low power, small form factor FPGA for 5G SERDES applications. The ... » read more

Blog Review: Nov. 2


Mentor's Harry Foster digs into the trends in ASIC/IC languages and libraries, in the latest installment of the Wilson Research Group Functional Verification Study. High power and voltage requirements mean that the USB Type-C Port controller and Power Delivery blocks do not belong in the SoC, says Synopsys' Michael Posner. Cadence's Paul McLellan digs into hypervisors and how virtualizati... » read more

Power/Performance Bits: Nov. 1


New approach to switches According to the National Resource Defense Council, Americans waste up to $19 billion annually in electricity costs due to always-on digital devices in the home that suck power even when they are turned off. With that in mind, a team from University of Utah devised a new kind of switch for electronic circuits that uses solid electrolytes such as copper sulfide to ... » read more

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