Integrity Problems For Edge Devices


Battery-powered edge devices need to save every picojoule of energy they can, which often means running at very low voltages. This can create signal and power integrity issues normally seen at the very latest technology nodes. But because these tend to be lower-volume, lower-cost devices, developers often cannot afford to perform the same level of analysis on these devices. Noise can come in... » read more

AI & IP In Edge Computing For Faster 5G And The IoT


Edge computing, which is the concept of processing and analyzing data in servers closer to the applications they serve, is growing in popularity and opening new markets for established telecom providers, semiconductor startups, and new software ecosystems. It’s brilliant how technology has come together over the last several decades to enable this new space starting with Big Data and the idea... » read more

New Data Format Boosts Test Analytics


Demand for more and better data for test is driving a major standards effort, paving the way for one of most significant changes in data formats in years. There is good reason for this shift. Data from device testing is becoming a critical element in test program decisions regarding limits and flows. This is true for everything from automotive and medical components to complex, heterogeneous... » read more

What’s Next For Semis?


It’s been a turbulent year in the semiconductor industry. 2020 was supposed to be a strong year. Then, the coronavirus outbreak hit. Suddenly, a large percentage of countries implemented various measures to mitigate the outbreak, such as stay-at-home orders as well as business and store closures. Economic turmoil and job losses soon followed, not to mention the human tragedy involved. M... » read more

Huawei: 5G Is About Capacity, Not Speed


Paul Scanlan, CTO of the Huawei Carrier Business Group in Huawei Technologies, sat down with Semiconductor Engineering to talk about 5G, which use cases are attractive and why, and how that compares with previous wireless technologies. SE: Where are you seeing 5G, and how do you see this rolling out both for sub-6GHz and millimeter wave? Scanlan: 5G is a platform for transformation. The f... » read more

A 10.5 μW Programmable SAR ADC Frontend With SC Preamplifier For Low-Power IoT Sensor Nodes


Massive deployment of wireless autonomous sensor nodes requires their lifetime extension and cost reduction. The analog frontend (AFE) plays a key role in this context. This paper presents a successive approximation register analog-to-digital converter (SAR ADC) with a switched-capacitor programmable gain switched preamplifier (SC PGSA), as a basic component of an integrated ultra-low power AFE... » read more

When You Can’t Afford To Scrimp On System Reliability


Failure happens, whether we like it or not. What’s important is to be prepared for failure to occur, which involves putting in place measures that allow us to quickly address or resolve the problem. But not all failures are created equally. For example, a laptop that you use daily might experience occasional glitches. If it’s well-designed, you can simply reset the machine to get it back to... » read more

Best Practices And Constraint Management Tools Speed RF Design For The IoT


By Jim Martens and David Zima The IoT has increased the demand for good radio frequency (RF) design practices from the mains, to wall outlet power, all the way to the antenna. With several IoT standards employed today, constraint management has become critical to ensuring that designs meet product performance and reliability. Even the simplest of IoT designs can benefit from constraint ma... » read more

Week In Review: Auto, Security, Pervasive Computing


GPU maker Nvidia may be interested in a purchasing Arm, Bloomberg reports, if current owner Softbank, the Japanese investment group run by billionaire Masayoshi Son, is even selling the company. Softbank may have approached Apple to gauge interest, but Apple reportedly said no. The British-based Arm’s instruction set architecture IP dominates the mobile market, especially with Apple is switch... » read more

Maximizing Value Post-Moore’s Law


When Moore's Law was in full swing, almost every market segment considered moving to the next available node as a primary way to maximize value. But today, each major market segment is looking at different strategies that are more closely aligned with its individual needs. This diversity will end up causing both pain and opportunities in the supply chain. Chip developers must do more with a ... » read more

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