category: Editor’s Note

category: IoT, Security & Automotive

It’s Time To Talk…
By Ed Sperling - 05 Dec, 2013 - Comments: 0

It’s bad enough that hardware engineers can’t explain what they do to other people outside of their world, but increasingly they can’t explain it outside of their narrow slice of an SoC. Engineers routinely introduce themselves as scientists, teachers, handymen, consultants, and occasionally even as arms dealers. The problem is that the tasks they handle are so complex and intertwined ... » read more

Putting Energy In Perspective
By Ed Sperling - 22 Nov, 2013 - Comments: 0

The resurgent interest in 2.5D stacked die, the introduction of ultra-low-power memory and the relentless focus on low power for the Internet of Things are rather predictable progressions to engineers working in the semiconductor industry. What’s less obvious is how these changes are filtering out into the rest of the market and where it needs to go next. While many people have been talkin... » read more

Notes From TechCon
By Ed Sperling - 01 Nov, 2013 - Comments: 0

ARM CEO Simon Segars put a different twist on the Internet of Things at this week’s TechCon 2013. He put it under the heading of the ‘mobile Internet,” which may prove to be a much more accurate description. This isn’t just about things talking to things. It’s about people and things interacting in ways never before possible, regardless of location. That sounds great in theory, but... » read more

Uncertainty, But Not Over Power
By Ed Sperling - 25 Oct, 2013 - Comments: 0

The semiconductor industry has reached a crossroads. Lithography has stalled out, NRE is rising, and chipmakers are torn between choices of when and whether to jump to the next process node—and even more daunting, the next one after that—or whether to take half steps with fan outs, 2.5D, or fully depleted SOI. While chips do continue to tape out, the number of critical choices that need... » read more

Where’s The Juice?
By Ed Sperling - 18 Oct, 2013 - Comments: 0

Driving to work in an electric car is cool. Finding an available plug these days is not. A year ago, before the surge (no pun intended) in electric vehicle popularity, it used to be relatively easy to find a parking spot and a plug at most high-tech companies. In fact, sometimes it was the only available spot. In recent months that’s changed. It’s getting harder and much more stressful. ... » read more

Critical Choices
By Ed Sperling - 10 Oct, 2013 - Comments: 0

There’s been a lot of talk about what’s good enough. Is 10 hours of battery life enough? If the tradeoff is between a smaller battery and extra hour of battery life, which is more important? Those kinds of discussions are at the heart of consumer electronics. Ultra-thin smart phones are more attractive than fat ones, and they’re easier to put in your pocket. But a new kind of discussio... » read more

Viable Choices Ahead
By Ed Sperling - 27 Sep, 2013 - Comments: 0

Two years ago—basically one process node back, wherever companies were on the Moore’s Law road map—there was confusion about what lies ahead and what is the best way to proceed. During that time, three very viable options have been proven to work. Some already are in silicon, while others are coming very soon. The first is the finFET. At the very leading edge of the road map, finFET... » read more

Rethinking The Data Center
By Ed Sperling - 27 Sep, 2013 - Comments: 0

Ever since the introduction of the PC, the biggest challenge in computing has been more about getting software to take advantage of multiple processors or cores than getting the chips to run faster. Ironically, this issue was solved decades ago inside of data centers. Enterprise applications, built on databases, have always been relatively easy to parse so that individual pieces can be run sepa... » read more

What Needs To Be Fixed
By Ed Sperling - 26 Sep, 2013 - Comments: 0

Some incredible engineering feats at the nano level—particularly below 40nm—are making their way into production chips. Even creating a sub-micron chip in the first place is a testament to the advances in semiconductor engineering. Turning off large sections of the chip and implementing techniques such as voltage and frequency scaling, power gating, multiple voltage rails and islands, multi... » read more

The Power Of Low Power
By Ed Sperling - 12 Sep, 2013 - Comments: 0

In the United States, new rules that cars will need to average 54.5 miles per gallon by the year 2025, and 35.5 mpg by 2016, suddenly seem very achievable. In fact, some cars in development are reporting close to an equivalent of nearly 100 mpg, and the numbers are likely to go well into the triple digits. The same kinds of results are showing up in handheld mobile devices, which now have th... » read more

← Older posts Newer posts →

  • Sponsors

About

Navigation

Connect With Us

Copyright ©2013-2025 SMG   |  Terms of Service  |  Privacy Policy