Raising The IQ Of Your MEMS-Based IC Design Flow


By Nicolas Williams and Qi Jing Internet of Things (IoT) applications depend on smart objects that interact with the real world. So your IoT project is likely to contain ICs that integrate micro electro-mechanical systems (MEMS), such as accelerometers, pressure sensors, motors, and microphones that acquire data for analysis. These projects are finding their way into automobiles, phones, and... » read more

Inside The 5G Smartphone


Amid a slowdown in the cell phone business, the market is heating up for perhaps the next big thing in wireless—5th generation mobile networks or 5G. In fact, major carriers, chipmakers and telecom equipment vendors are all rushing to get a piece of the action in 5G, which is the follow-on to the current wireless standard known as 4G or long-term evolution (LTE). Intel, Samsung and Qualcom... » read more

MEMS Capacitance Extraction With Calibre xACT-3D Software


The growing use of MEMS in today's complex products requires new approaches to capacitance calculation to ensure companies can meet their time-to-market targets while producing products that meet performance and reliability expectations. Freescale Semiconductor and Mentor Graphics collaborated to demonstrate that Calibre xACT-3D software provides a robust method for extracting node-to-node capa... » read more

Challenges At Advanced Nodes


Semiconductor Engineering sat down to discuss finFETs, 22nm FD-SOI and how the how the market will segment over the next few years with Marie Semeria, CEO of [getentity id="22192" e_name="Leti"]; Patrick Soheili, vice president of product management and corporate development at [getentity id="22242" e_name="eSilicon"]; Paul Boudre, CEO of Soitec; and Subramani Kengeri, vice president of global ... » read more

5 Technologies To Watch


The industry is developing a dizzying array of new technologies. In fact, there are more new and innovative technologies than ever before. And the list is countless. At least from my vantage point, I have come up with my own list of the top five technologies to watch in 2015 and beyond. They are listed in alphabetical order. (See below). Obviously, there are more than just five technologi... » read more

Analog’s Day Of Reckoning


The numbers being touted by the semiconductor industry for IoT edge devices are staggering. How they are going to be used, who will make them, or indeed who will make money from them are much less certain. The industry seems to be clear about the content of these devices. A small processor, some flash memory or possibly even some of the new memory technologies that are coming along, a radio ... » read more

SITRI: Startup Funding And Support


Describing exactly what the Shanghai Industrial μTechnology Research Institute is like trying to read the fine print on a moving object. The organization is constantly in motion, shifting from one set of services to another, depending upon the recipient's needs, and redefining itself as it goes. The central theme is to promote and further the interest of startups working on "More Than Moore" a... » read more

A Low-Cost, Low Power Memory Solution For IoT Devices


The Internet of Things (IoT) connects everyday devices onto the Internet to gather information using sensors, embedded systems, and MEMS (micro-electrical mechanical systems). That information is then processed to increase efficiency or enable new services. With the proliferation of smartphones, tablets and laptops, industry estimates that there are currently more than five-billion devices ... » read more

Mentor Graphics Buys Tanner EDA


By Ed Sperling & Brian Bailey [getentity id="22017" e_name="Mentor Graphics"] has just purchased [getentity id="22561" e_name="Tanner EDA"] for an undisclosed sum, according to sources close to the deal. The acquisition moves Mentor squarely into the analog and mixed signal tools world, while positioning it to play a much bigger role in the Internet of Things market. Mentor isn't t... » read more

Low Power Everything


A decade ago, former International Rectifier CEO Alex Lidow pronounced that there were three main categories for saving energy on a mass scale—variable speed motors, fluorescent lighting, and more efficient servers. He was right at the time. Those weren't necessarily semiconductor-driven markets, but they were the place where the most power could be saved. In fact, at the time, the rough e... » read more

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