Rethinking The Sensor


Sensor technology is beginning to change on a fundamental level as companies begin looking beyond a human’s five senses, on which early sensors were modeled, to what can be done with those sensors for specific applications. In some cases, [getkc id="187" kc_name="sensors"] don’t have to be as accurate as the sight, smell, touch, taste and hearing of a person. In others, they can be a... » read more

The Week in Review: IoT


Deals Samsung said Tuesday that it will invest about $1.2 billion in Internet of Things startups in the U.S. over the next four years. Investments will be made through the Samsung Global Innovation Center in Silicon Valley and through other Samsung units. Samsung is partnering with Intel to establish the National IoT Strategy Initiative, which will take in academic and industry members and wil... » read more

The Week In Review: Manufacturing


Chipmakers Through a joint venture with the government of Chongqing, GlobalFoundries will take over an existing 200mm fab in China. Then, GlobalFoundries plans to retrofit the facility and turn it into a 300mm fab. The foundry vendor is transferring its 180nm and 130nm processes to the China fab. Meanwhile, TSMC, UMC and others are also building fabs in China. Samsung Electronics has begu... » read more

IC Industry Waking Up To Security


By Jeff Dorsch & Ed Sperling Many people pay lip service to the concept of security in Internet of Things devices, software, and networks. That oversight is beginning to fade away, however, as companies begin digging into one of the broadest and most complex problems in the IoT age. Unlike other technology issues, which have been solved in increments, security is all-inclusive. While ... » read more

The Mightier Microcontroller


Microcontrollers are becoming more complex, more powerful, and significantly more useful, but those improvements come with strings attached. While it's relatively straightforward to develop multi-core microcontroller (MCU) hardware with advanced power management features, it's much more difficult to write software for these chips because memory is limited. CPUs can use on-chip memory such as... » read more

Tech Talk: ADAS


Kurt Shuler, vice president of marketing at Arteris, explains what the Advanced Driver Assistance Systems standard is, where the problems are, and why this is becoming so important in automotive semiconductor design. » read more

3D Construction Ahead


One of the interesting features of Photonics West is that it covers the full spectrum, from academic research to industrial research to new products in the commercial exhibits. This range of interrelated ideas was on show in 3D fabrication. At one extreme, the latest research in scanning multi-spot three-photon patterning showed 3D structures 100μm thick with 50nm features. Researchers als... » read more

System Bits: Feb. 9


Securing RFID chips Researchers at MIT and Texas Instruments have developed a new type of radio frequency identification (RFID) chip that they say is virtually impossible to hack, and which could secure credit cards, key cards, and pallets of goods in warehouses. The researchers reminded that if such chips were widely adopted, it could mean that an identity thief couldn’t steal your credi... » read more

Top 5 Reasons The SoC Interconnect Matters


The on-chip interconnect is the one area of SoC design that still does not receive the priority that it deserves. It’s like Rodney Dangerfield: It gets no respect. However, that is changing because of rising chip complexity, smaller process dimensions, and acknowledgement of the fact that in a world where design teams commercially license most of the chip’s critical semiconductor IP (like C... » read more

China’s Fab Tool Biz Heats Up


For years, China has been a steady growth market for suppliers of semiconductor equipment. Internally, though, the country is comprised of trailing-edge fabs and IC-assembly houses, which means equipment vendors sell relatively mature tools and compete on price. That’s about to change, however. Today, the IC equipment business is heating up in China as the nation begins to upgrade and pour... » read more

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