Security Improvements Ahead


After nearly two years of talking about how security is one of the biggest problems facing the IoE, progress is being made on a number of fronts. The changes involve many companies, both individually and collaboratively through standards groups. And while none of this will stop the kind of high-profile breaches that affected Target or Home Depot or JPMorgan Chase or a long list of other gian... » read more

What China Is Planning


Over the years, China has unveiled several initiatives to advance its domestic semiconductor industry. China has made some progress at each turn, although every plan has fallen short of expectations. But now, the nation is embarking on several new and bold initiatives that could alter the IC landscape. China’s new initiatives address at least three key challenges for its IC industry: 1. C... » read more

The Week In Review: Manufacturing


Looking to propel the next wave of OLED displays, Applied Materials has rolled out two new systems. The tools enable the volume production of OLED displays for both mobile products and TVs. In addition, Applied Materials has shipped an Applied TopMet roll-to-roll metal deposition system to Jindal Poly Films, a leader in PET and BOPP films for flexible packaging and labeling applications. In... » read more

Analog Meets Power In Standards Groups


While the topic of language [getkc id="13" comment="Standards"] might be cringe-worthy for some, there is some noteworthy work underway in this area—particularly where power and analog meet paths. There are four main standards here: Verilog-A and Verilog-AMS VHDL-AMS SystemC-AMS SystemVerilog-AMS SystemVerilog-AMS is the newcomer, and while the standard won't be available for ... » read more

Think In Blocks


It always seems to come back to LEGOs, doesn’t it? Earlier this year I wrote about Google Project Ara, the so-called “LEGO” smart phone architecture unveiled in April. Project Ara uses the MIPI Alliance UniPro and M-PHY protocols as the backbone for a modular electronics architecture inside a smart phone “endoskeleton.” Using electro-permanent magnets (they don’t need a perma... » read more

The Week In Review: Manufacturing


Samsung Semiconductor unveiled its North American R&D Headquarters for its Device Solutions group in San Jose, Calif. The new campus is a 1.1 million-square-foot R&D, sales and marketing center. Is 5G the next big thing in wireless? Verizon–the first company to introduce 4G LTE–is once again poised to usher in a new era with an aggressive roadmap for fifth-generation, or 5G, wireless t... » read more

The Week In Review: Manufacturing


In case you missed it, Apple rolled out its latest iPhones and other products. The latest iPhone 6 is using chips based on finFETs. So, who won Apple’s application processor foundry business for the iPhone 7? “In our foundry checks, it appears Apple is likely splitting the 14/16nm business for the recent product launches between TSMC and Samsung. We suspect Samsung’s 14nm is used for the ... » read more

A Strategy For Designing For Power With FinFETs


Recently Qualcomm announced their new SnapDragon processor 820, which was designed using finFET technology. They showed some amazing results, such as 2X improvement in performance and 2X improvement in power compared to 28nm designs. Previously, when ARM announced their A72 processors in finFET, they too had claimed 3.5X improvement in power compared to 28nm designs. But can designers expect... » read more

The Week In Review: Manufacturing


NuFlare Technology wants to enter a new market. The e-beam giant and NGR are jointly collaborating on a development program for next-generation electron-beam wafer inspection and metrology. It’s unclear if NuFlare is developing a single- or multi-beam tool, however. Don’t look now, but a fab tool downturn could be on the horizon. This comes amid a slowdown in PCs, tablets and smartphone... » read more

Who’s Calling The Shots


As discussed in part one of this report, OEMs are making more of the decisions about what goes into a system design. A large part of this shift involves software, which falls on many plates throughout the ecosystem. Making sure all of the layers of software interoperate and integrate well together is no small feat, and it is growing in complexity at every turn as systems becomes more sophist... » read more

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