Power/Performance Bits: Feb. 10


Solar power technology progresses at a snappy pace and the diversity of approaches keeps expanding. In this edition, investigations in two aspects of solar energy design: understanding a potential solar cell material and a design to make those we use now more effective. Unravelling the peculiarities of nanocrystals Researchers at ETH Zurich conducted an extensive study of nanocrystal ... » read more

Manufacturing Bits: Feb. 10


Deadweight machines The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) is in the process of cleaning, restoring and recalibrating its 4.45-million Newton deadweight machine. NIST’s deadweight machine, the largest of its kind in the world, is equivalent to one million pounds-force. Built in 1965, the deadweight system consists of a stack of 20 stainless steel discs about three meter... » read more

System Bits: Feb. 10


Mapping temperature Given that overheating is a major problem for chips today a team of UCLA and USC scientists have made a breakthrough that they believe should enable engineers to design microprocessors that minimize that problem with a thermal imaging technique that can see how the temperature changes from point to point inside the smallest electronic circuits. The technique is called pl... » read more

Software-Driven Verification (Part 3)


[getkc id="10" comment="Functional Verification"] has been powered by tools that require hardware to look like the kinds of systems that were being designed two decades ago. Those limitations are putting chips at risk and a new approach to the problem is long overdue. Semiconductor Engineering sat down with Frank Schirrmeister, group director, product marketing for System Development Suite at [... » read more

ARM Buys Dutch IoT Security Company


ARM said today it purchased Offspark, a Dutch IoT security software company, expanding its reach into the embedded IoT world where security is emerging as one of the most pressing concerns. The deal expands ARM's focus on security, which until now has largely been focused on its TrustZone technology inside its processors. TrustZone is a hardware solution that allows compartmentalization betw... » read more

Plunify: FPGA Design Closure


The number of EDA startups has plummeted around the globe, and nowhere is this more evident than in Singapore. In fact, there is exactly one EDA startup in that country—[getentity id="22672" e_name="Plunify"]—and even that isn't so new. Plunify started life in 2009 as a cloud-based startup, whose mission was to provide public cloud compute services to companies developing FPGAs. While th... » read more

An Update On The IEEE 1801-2013 Unified Power Format Standard


It’s been almost six years since the first IEEE 1801 standard was officially published in March of 2009, but the standard can trace its roots back to years before that date. On May 30, 2013 the IEEE released a press announcement for the most recent version of the standard, IEEE 1801-2013 (a.k.a. UPF 2.1). This brought forward a standard for the industry that is finally backed by all of the ma... » read more

The Week In Review: Design/IoT


Mergers & Acquistions Silicon Labs acquired Bluegiga Technologies Oy, providers of short-range wireless connectivity solutions and software for the IoT based in Espoo, Finland. Intel signed a definitive agreement to acquire Lantiq, a supplier of broadband access and home networking technologies based in Munich, Germany. Tools Mentor Graphics announced the addition of Automotive ... » read more

The Week In Review: Manufacturing


IBM continues to cut jobs, according to IEEE Spectrum and an IBM employee organization. Meanwhile, IBM and SUNY Polytechnic Institute announced that more than 220 engineers and scientists who lead IBM's advanced chip R&D efforts at SUNY Poly's Albany Nanotech campus will become part of IBM Research. While military applications continue to experience strong growth in RF gallium-nitride (GaN)... » read more

Week 35: Automotive At DAC


With my adopted hometown preparing for the Portland Auto Show, I thought it an opportune time to revisit automotive at DAC. Scanning the news releases, it seems that here in Portland the focus will be on things like horsepower, handling and, of course, design — the usual fare for an auto show. In contrast at DAC, we’ll be talking about the rapid increase in content and complexity that has m... » read more

← Older posts Newer posts →