Here is my list of electronics industry trends and predictions for 2016:
There was a huge set of mega mergers in electronics industry announced in 2015. In 2016 we will see less mergers and how well the existing mergers went. Not all of the major acquisitions will succeed. Probably the the biggest challenge in these mega-mergers is “creating merging cultures or–better yet–creating new ones”.
Makers and open hardware will boost innovation in 2016. Open source has worked well in the software community, and it is coming more to hardware side. Maker culture encourages people be creators of technology rather than just consumers of it. A combination of the maker movement and robotics is preparing children for a future in which innovation and creativity will be more important than ever: robotics is an effective way for children as young as four years old to get experience in the STEM fields of science, technology, engineering, mathematics as well as programming and computer science. The maker movement is inspiring children to tinker-to-learn. Popular DIY electronics platforms include Arduino, Lego Mindstorms, Raspberry Pi, Phiro and LittleBits. Some of those DIY electronics platforms like Arduino and Raspberry Pi are finding their ways into commercial products for example in 3D printing, industrial automation and Internet of Things application fields.
Open source processors core gains more traction in 2016. RISC-V is on the march as an open source alternative to ARM and Mips. Fifteen sponsors, including a handful of high tech giants, are queuing up to be the first members of its new trade group for RISC-V. Currently RISC-V runs Linux and NetBSD, but not Android, Windows or any major embedded RTOSes. Support for other operating systems is expected in 2016. For other open source processor designs, take a look at OpenCores.org, the world’s largest site/community for development of hardware IP cores as open source.
GaN will be more widely used and talked about in 2016. Gallium nitride (GaN) is a binary III/V direct bandgap semiconductor commonly used in bright light-emitting diodes since the 1990s. It has special properties for applications in optoelectronic, high-power and high-frequency devices. You will see more GaN power electronics components because GaN – in comparison to the best silicon alternative – will enable higher power density through the ability to switch at high frequencies. You can get GaN devices for example from GaN Systems, Infineon, Macom, and Texas Instruments. The emergence of GaN as the next leap forward in power transistors gives new life to Moore’s Law in power.
Power electronics is becoming more digital and connected in 2016. Software-defined power brings to bear critical need in modern power systems. Digital Power was the beginning of software-defined power using a microcontroller or a DSP. Software-defined power takes this to another level. Connectivity is the key to success for software-defined power and the PMBus will enable the efficient communication and connection between all power devices in computer systems. It seems that power architectures to become software defined, which will take advantage of digital power adaptability and introduce software control to manage the power continuously as operating conditions change. For example adaptive voltage scaling (AVS) is supported by the AVSBus is contained in the newest PMBus standard V 1.3. The use of power-optimization software algorithms and the concept of the Software Defined Power Architecture (SDPA) are all being seen as part of a brave new future for advanced board-power management.
Nanowires and new forms of memory like RRAM (resistive random access memory) and spintronics are also being researched, and could help scale down chips. Many “exotic” memory technologies are in the lab, and some are even in shipping product: Ferroelectric RAM (FRAM), Resistive RAM (ReRAM), Magnetoresistive RAM (MRAM), Nano-RAM (NRAM).
Nanotube research has been ongoing since 1991, but there has been long road to get practical nanotube transistor. It seems that we almost have the necessary parts of the puzzle in 2016. In 2015 IBM reported a successful auto-alligment method for placing them across the source and drain. Texas Instruments is now capable of growing wafer scale graphene and the Chinese have taken the lead in developing both graphene and nanotubes according to Lux Research.
While nanotubes provide the fastest channel material available today, III-V materials like gallium arsenide (GaAs) and indium gallium arsenide (InGaAs) are all being explored by IBM, Intel, Imec and Samsung as transistor channels on silicon substrates. Dozen of researchers worldwide are experimenting with black phosphorus as an alternative to nanotubes and graphene for the next generation of semiconductors. Black phosphorus has the advantage of having a bandgap and works well alongside silicon photonics device. 3-Molybdenum disulphide MoS2 is also a contender for the next generation of semiconductors, due to its novel stacking properties.
Graphene has many fantastic properties and there has been new finding in it. I think it would be a good idea to follow development around magnetized graphene. Researchers make graphene magnetic, clearing the way for faster everything. I don’t expect practical products in 2016, but maybe something in next few years.
Optical communications is integrating deep into chips finally. There are many new contenders on the horizon for the true “next-generation” of optical communications with promising technologies in development in labs and research departments around the world. Silicon photonics is the study and application of photonic systems which use silicon as an optical medium. Silicon photonic devices can be made using existing semiconductor fabrication. Now we start to have technology to build optoelectronic microprocessors built using existing chip manufacturing. Engineers demo first processor that uses light for ultrafast communications. Optical communication could also potentially reduce chips’ power consumption on inter-chip-links and enable easily longer very fast links between ICs where needed. Two-dimensional (2D) transition metal dichalcogenides (TMDCs), which may enable engineers to exceed the properties of silicon in terms of energy efficiency and speed, moving researchers toward 2D on-chip optoelectronics for high-performance applications in optical communications and computing. To build practical systems with those ICs, we need to figure out how make easily fiber-to-chip coupling or how to manufacture practical optical printed circuit board (O-PCB).
Look development at self-directed assembly.Researchers from the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) and IBM have discovered a trenching capability that could be harnessed for building devices through self-directed assembly. The capability could potentially be used to integrate lasers, sensors, wave guides and other optical components into so called “lab-on-a-chip” devices.
Smaller chip geometries are come to mainstream in 2016. Chip advancements and cost savings slowed down with the current 14-nanometer process, which is used to make its latest PC, server and mobile chips. Other manufacturers are catching to 14 nm and beyond. GlobalFoundries start producing a central processing chip as well as a graphics processing chip using 14nm technology. After a lapse, Intel looks to catch up with Moore’s Law again with with upcoming 10-nanometer and 7-nm processes. Samsung revealed that it will soon begin production of a 10nm FinFET node, and that the chip will be in full production by the end of 2016. This is expected to be at around the same time as rival TSMC. TSMC 10nm process will require triple patterning. For mass marker products it seems that 10nm node, is still at least a year away. Intel delayed plans for 10nm processors while TSMC is stepping on the gas, hoping to attract business from the likes of Apple. The first Intel 10-nm chips, code-named Cannonlake, will ship in 2017.
Looks like Moore’s Law has some life in it yet, though for IBM creating a 7nm chip required exotic techniques and materials. IBM Research showed in 2015 a 7nm chip will hold 20 billion transistors manufactured by perfecting EUV lithography and using silicon-germanium channels for its finned field-effect transistors (FinFETs). Also Intel revealed that the end of the road for Silicon is nearing as alternative materials will be required for the 7nm node and beyond. Scaling Silicon transistors down has become increasingly difficult and expensive and at around 7nm it will prove to be downright impossible. IBM development partner Samsung is in a race to catch up with Intel by 2018 when the first 7nm products are expected. Expect Silicon Alternatives Coming By 2020. One very promising short-term Silicon alternative is III-V semiconductor based on two compounds: Indium gallium arsenide ( InGaAs ) and indium phosphide (InP). Intel’s future mobile chips may have some components based on gallium nitride (GaN), which is also an exotic III-V material.
Silicon and traditional technologies continue to be still pushed forward in 2016 successfully. It seems that the extension of 193nm immersion to 7nm and beyond is possible, yet it would require octuple patterning and other steps that would increase production costs. IBM Research earlier this year beat Intel to the 7nm node by perfecting EUV lithography and using silicon-germanium channels for its finned field-effect transistors (FinFETs). Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (TSMC), the world’s largest foundry, said it has started work on a 5nm process to push ahead its most advanced technology. TSMC’s initial development work at 5nm may be yet another indication that EUV has been set back as an eventual replacement for immersion lithography.
It seems that 2016 could be the year for mass-adoption of 3D ICs and 3D memory. For over a decade, the terms 3D ICs and 3D memory have been used to refer to various technologies. 2016 could see some real advances and traction in the field as some truly 3D products are already shipping and more are promised to come soon. The most popular 3D category is that of 3D NAND flash memory: Samsung, Toshiba, Sandisk, Intel and Micron have all announced or started shipping flash that uses 3D silicon structure (we are currently seeing 128Gb-384Gb parts). Micron’s Hybrid Memory Cube (HMC) uses stacked DRAM die and through-silicon vias (TSVs) to create a high-bandwidth RAM subsystem with an abstracted interface (think DRAM with PCIe). Intel and Micron have announced production of a 3D crosspoint architecture high-endurance (1,000× NAND flash) nonvolatile memory.
The success of Apple’s portable computers, smartphones and tablets will lead to the fact that the company will buy as much as 25 per cent of world production of mobile DRAMs in 2016. In 2015 Apple bought 16.5 per cent of mobile DRAM.
After COP21 climate change summit reaches deal in Paris environmental compliance 2016 will become stronger business driver. Increasingly, electronics OEMs are realizing that environmental compliance goes beyond being a good corporate citizen. On the agenda for these businesses: climate change, water safety, waste management, and environmental compliance. Keep in mindenvironmental compliance requirements that include the Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) directive, Restriction of Hazardous Substances Directive 2002/95/EC (RoHS 1), and Registration, Evaluation, Authorization and Restriction of Chemicals (REACH). It’s a legal situation: If you do not comply with regulatory aspects of business, you are out of business. Some companies are leading the parade toward environmental compliance or learning as they go.
Connectivity is proliferating everything from cars to homes, realigning diverse markets. It needs to be done easily for user, reliably, efficiently and securely.It is being reported that communications technologies are responsible for about 2-4% of all of carbon footprint generated by human activity. The needs for communications and faster speeds is increasing in this every day more and more connected world – penetration of smart devices there was a tremendous increase in the amount of mobile data traffic from 2010 to 2014.Wi-Fi has become so ubiquitous in homes in so many parts of the world that you can now really start tapping into that by having additional devices. When IoT is forecasted to be 50 billion connections by 2020, with the current technologies this would increase power consumption considerably. The coming explosion of the Internet of Things (IoT) will also need more efficient data centers that will be taxed to their limits.
The Internet of Things (IoT) is enabling increased automation on the factory floor and throughout the supply chain, 3D printing is changing how we think about making components, and the cloud and big data are enabling new applications that provide an end-to-end view from the factory floor to the retail store. With all of these technological options converging, it will be hard for CIOs, IT executives, and manufacturing leaders keep up. IoT will also be hard for R&D.Internet of Things (IoT) designs mesh together several design domains in order to successfully develop a product. Individually, these design domains are challenging. Bringing them all together to create an IoT product can place extreme pressure on design teams. It’s still pretty darn tedious to get all these things connected, and there’s all these standards battles coming on. The rise of the Internet of Things and Web services is driving new design principles as Web services from companies such as Amazon, Facebook and Uber are setting new standards for user experiences. Designers should think about building their products so they can learn more about their users and be flexible in creating new ways to satisfy them – but in such way that the user’s don’t feel that they are spied on what they do.
Subthreshold Transistors and MCUs will be hot in 2016 because Internet of Things will be hot in 2016 and it needs very low power chips. The technology is not new as cheap digital watches use FETs operating in the subthreshold region, but decades digital designers have ignored this operating region, because FETs are hard to characterize there. Now subthreshold has invaded the embedded space thanks to Ambiq’s new Apollo MCU. PsiKick Inc. has designed a proof-of-concept wireless sensor node system-chip using conventional EDA tools and a 130nm mixed-signal CMOS that operates with sub-threshold voltages and opening up the prospect of self-powering Internet of Things (IoT) systems. I expect also other sub-threshold designs to emerge. ARM Holdings plc (Cambridge, England) is also working at sub- and near-threshold operation of ICs. TSMC has developed a series of processes characterized down to near threshold voltages (ULP family for ultra low power are processes). Intel will focus on its IoT strategy and next-generation low voltage mobile processors.
FPGAs in various forms are coming to be more widely use use in 2016 in many applications. They are not no longer limited to high-end aerospace, defense, and high-end industrial applications. There are different ways people use FPGA. Barrier of entry to FPGA development have lowered so that even home makers can use easily FPGAs with cheap FPGA development boards, free tools and open IP cores. There was already lots of interest in 2015 for using FPGA for accelerating computations as the next step after GPU. Intel bought Altera in 2015 and plans in 2016 to begin selling products with a Xeon chip and an Altera FPGA in a single package – possibly available in early 2016. Examples of applications that would be well-suited for use of ARM-based FPGAs, including industrial robots, pumps for medical devices, electric motor controllers, imaging systems, and machine vision systems. Examples of ARM-based FPGAs are such as Xilinx’s Zynq-7000 and Altera’s Cyclone V intertwine. Some Internet of Things (IoT) application could start to test ARM-based field programmable gate array (FPGA) technology, enabling the hardware to be adaptable to market and consumer demands – software updates on such systems become hardware updates. Other potential benefits would be design re-use, code portability, and security.
The trend towards module consolidation is applicable in many industries as the complexity of communication, data rates, data exchanges and networks increases. Consolidating ECU in vehicles is has already been big trend for several years, but the concept in applicable to many markets including medical, industrial and aerospace.
It seems to be that AXIe nears the tipping point in 2016. AXIe is a modular instrument standard similar to PXI in many respects, but utilizing a larger board format that allows higher power instruments and greater rack density. It relies chiefly on the same PCI Express fabric for data communication as PXI. AXIe-1 is the uber high end modular standard and there is also compatible AXIe-0 that aims at being a low cost alternative. Popular measurement standard AXIe, IVI, LXI, PXI, and VXI have two things in common: They each manage standards for the test and measurement industry, and each of those standards is ruled by a private consortium. Why is this? Right or wrong, it comes down to speed of execution.
These days, a hardware emulator is a stylish, sleek box with fewer cables to manage. The “Big Three” EDA vendors offer hardware emulators in their product portfolios, each with a distinct architecture to give development teams more options. For some offerings emulation has become a datacenter resource through a transaction-based emulation mode or acceleration mode.
LED lighting is expected to become more intelligent, more beautiful, more affordable in 2016. Everyone agrees that the market for LED lighting will continue to enjoy dramatic year-on-year growth for at least the next few years. LED Lighting Market to Reach US$30.5 Billion in 2016 and Professional Lighting Markets to See Explosive Growth. Some companies will win on this growth, but there are also losers. Due currency fluctuations and price slide in 2015, end market demands in different countries have been much lower than expected, so smaller LED companies are facing financial loss pressures. The history of the solar industry to get a good sense of some of the challenges the LED industry will face. Next bankruptcy wave in the LED industry is possible. The LED incandescent replacement bulb market represents only a portion of a much larger market but, in many ways, it is the cutting edge of the industry, currently dealing with many of the challenges other market segments will have to face a few years from now. IoT features are coming to LED lighting, but it seem that one can only hope for interoperability
Other electronics trends articles to look:
Hot technologies: Looking ahead to 2016 (EDN)
CES Unveiled NY: What consumer electronics will 2016 bring?
Analysts Predict CES 2016 Trends
LEDinside: Top 10 LED Market Trends in 2016
961 Comments
Tomi Engdahl says:
Qualcomm-NXP: Another Testosterone-Driven Deal?
http://www.eetimes.com/author.asp?section_id=36&doc_id=1330664&
Hard questions are arising. It comes back to finding the justification for this deal. Does this deal really make sense for Qualcomm?
Acquisitions used to be closely guarded events held behind closed doors with severe penalties for any leakages to even news organizations. Not anymore.
The semiconductor industry has known for several weeks now that Qualcomm Inc. wants to buy Dutch chipmaker NXP Semiconductor N.V. A deal could be announced this week, turning Qualcomm overnight into the largest supplier of chips to the global automotive industry and the world’s third largest chip company behind Intel and Samsung.
Tomi Engdahl says:
DRAM Pushes Up Chip Forecast
http://www.eetimes.com/document.asp?doc_id=1330656&
The market for integrated circuits could eke out 1% revenue growth this year and 4% in 2017, thanks in part to a rebounding DRAM market, according to the latest report from IC Insights. The market watcher estimates unit sales will grow 6% this year, up from a previous forecast of 4% unit growth and a 2% decline in revenues.
The upbeat news comes four months after the Semiconductor Industry Association said it expected a 2.4% sales decline this year, following similar predictions from a handful or market researchers
After falling “quite a bit in the last 18 months,” DRAM prices are stabilizing as demand from smartphones and PCs rise and memory vendors cut back on capital spending, said Bill McClean, president of IC Insights.
Tomi Engdahl says:
New tools for driving GaN E-HEMT transistors
http://www.edn.com/electronics-products/electronic-product-reviews/other/4442906/New-tools-for-driving-GaN-E-HEMT-transistors?_mc=NL_EDN_EDT_EDN_productsandtools_20161024&cid=NL_EDN_EDT_EDN_productsandtools_20161024&elqTrackId=2a30663b922042babf91169653c65613&elq=0ee175e0841f4edf87c4c914f8b893a6&elqaid=34511&elqat=1&elqCampaignId=30111
The world already consumes too much energy. Globally, as the middle class grows, even more energy will be required. Government regulations and increasingly stringent emissions standards compound the need to conserve by using materials and energy more efficiently. Consequently, to meet customer demands and their desire to remain competitive, power supply designers and manufacturers are in an endless quest to develop solutions with both higher power density (W/mm3) and higher efficiency.
Power electronics companies have switched from silicon transistors to gallium nitride (GaN) E-HEMT transistors because they allow much higher switching frequencies while maintaining or increasing efficiency. GaN transistors allow power designers to realize the benefits of these devices over their silicon predecessors by reducing system size and weight up to 5 times, by decreasing power losses up to 90%, and by lowering BOM cost.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Gaps In The Verification Flow
http://semiengineering.com/gaps-in-the-verification-flow-2/
Experts at the table, Part Two: Panelists look towards new coverage models, safety and security, and the hardware software interface.
Tomi Engdahl says:
The new card computer
SMARC is a compact, low-power, but performance PCs, the standard card, which has just been released 2.0 version. German Congatec was the first to launch SMARC 2.0 cards. Cards are based on the new Intel manufactured Lake Apollo Series 14-nanometer line width of the processor.
SMARC ( “Smart Mobility Architecture”) is a credit card-sized card format. Its physical dimensions are either 82 x 50 or 82 mils x 80 mils. The first Congatec SMARC 2.0 cards have been expressly SA5.
Processor options include the Apollo Lake developed a code name Atom, Cele and the Pentium, which Intel announced yesterday.
Despite its small size SMARC 2.0 cards may be a fair amount of performance.
Source: http://etn.fi/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=5290:uusi-korttitietokone-markkinoille&catid=13&Itemid=101
More: http://www.congatec.com/en/products/smarc/conga-sa5.html
Tomi Engdahl says:
Get ready for even smaller batteries
http://www.edn.com/electronics-blogs/power-points/4442914/Get-ready-for-even-smaller-batteries?_mc=NL_EDN_EDT_EDN_consumerelectronics_20161026&cid=NL_EDN_EDT_EDN_consumerelectronics_20161026&elqTrackId=28bbda322e964140baf84889f9017ad9&elq=5f122f6fa7ea48dbb9ef4ffd77b5759b&elqaid=34537&elqat=1&elqCampaignId=30131
Coin and button batteries (cells) have been around for many decades, and they are an indispensable item for the many products which need energy in a small form factor and can tolerate very limited energy capacity. They are used both for ongoing operation as in watches, and for power-outage/disconnect backup in devices such as energy monitors and meters. They are available in hundreds of variations, with many differing only in fractions of a millimeter of diameter or thickness, while differ in basic chemistry and voltage.
While these power sources have been a good thing, they can also be a headache: obtaining replacements for some of the less-common ones can be a real challenge. If you need a type 2032 or 357, you can probably get it at a local store, but others are much more obscure.
Among the latest, but certainly not the last, is the G-320A Pin Type Li-ion battery from Panasonic
This rechargeable power source has a nominal capacity 15.0 mAh with a diameter of 3.65 mm, a length of 20 mm, and a weight of 0.6 g. The nominal voltage range is 3.0 to 4.35V, with a stop-charging limit of 4.45V.
It will be interesting to see which pin-battery models become the most popular ones, and get stocked at the local stores.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Low-voltage tests uncover low-temperature IC problems
http://www.edn.com/design/test-and-measurement/4442884/Low-voltage-tests-uncover-low-temperature-IC-problems?_mc=NL_EDN_EDT_EDN_today_20161025&cid=NL_EDN_EDT_EDN_today_20161025&elqTrackId=05d9bb5f7a8a4e8fbcdbd667796fdbe2&elq=5ec81f8e6321430dbdad50748a7b2c74&elqaid=34524&elqat=1&elqCampaignId=30123
At the beginning of any chip design, engineers rarely discuss reliability and operation at the extremes of the device’s temperature range. If parts have not been properly characterized, failures can occur once the devices go into high-volume production. Your customers will start to see problem devices and RMAs (return material authorizations) will commence. Here’s how we can now screen NVM (non-volatile memory) failures that only occurred at subfreezing temperatures. We’ll explain how to use low power-supply voltages to temperature screen devices for cold temperatures, which lets us test at room temperature.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Atmel’s name disappears
PIC controllers known Microchip announced in January that the acquisition of traditional driver circuits manufacturer Atmel. confirmed in April, the trade also means that the Atmel SAM-known brand control is maintained. Instead, Atmel name will disappear, said Microchip’s CEO Ganesh Moorthy.
Microchip has approached the press release, in which it clarifies the rumors were born Atmel-commerce and enterprise integration around. In part, you want to release the feelings of Atmel’s customers that the product line will not be finishing up and the support of existing products will remain unchanged.
- Microchip is committed to continue to invest in the development of many product families, says Moorthy. For example, 32-bit drivers, this means that the investing and Microchip PIC32 circuits that Atmel SAM popular product line.
Microchip promises all the production Atmel chips production to continue.
Microchip has also acquired Micrel Semiconductor in the last year.
Source: http://etn.fi/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=5297:atmelin-nimi-katoaa&catid=13&Itemid=101
Tomi Engdahl says:
The long-rumored trade with the former Qualcomm Acquires Philips’ semiconductor group that is, NXP Semiconductors, is realized. The purchase price increased slightly advance the values and in the end amounted to $ 47 billion.
The acquisition of mobile phones first name becomes the largest manufacturer of automotive electronics components. In addition, Qualcomm will increase the world’s third largest semiconductor company right after Intel and Samsung.
NXP has been a clear market leader in automotive electronics components since last December, when it completed a $ 12 billion trade Freescale Semiconductor.
NXP is a gigantic company with 44 000 employees in more than 35 countries. NXP’s revenue last year was $ 9.7 billion and was the world’s seventh largest semiconductor manufacturer. Qualcomm was the same rank fourth dollar 16.5 billion in net sales. This year, the company now makes after the sale of nearly $ 30 billion in revenue.
Source: http://etn.fi/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=5303&via=n&datum=2016-10-27_14:41:28&mottagare=30929
Tomi Engdahl says:
Breaking through fab barriers
http://www.edn.com/electronics-blogs/ic-designer-s-corner/4442891/Breaking-fab-barriers?_mc=NL_EDN_EDT_EDN_today_20161027&cid=NL_EDN_EDT_EDN_today_20161027&elqTrackId=d16b66ef34ee4b2189734dbcf681ebd6&elq=72721386843d4547aea6d02a9f75ed81&elqaid=34558&elqat=1&elqCampaignId=30160
Fast track implementation of new wafer fab designs is already under way to meet complex specifications of the future. Through construction of two of the world’s leading-edge semiconductor research and development institutes at SUNY in Albany in the USA and IMEC in Leuven, Belgium, we have been at the forefront of the development of 450mm/EUV capable fab concepts in recent years.
Technological advancement in the semiconductor industry is growing at its fastest rate ever; in fact, it is expected to be worth $389 billion by 2019, according to the International Data Corporation. This has put a serious strain on account management for financial cleanroom operatives: they’re constantly faced with the challenge to plough funds into R&D whilst maintaining the profitability of a fab. This has pushed the boundaries and commenced consideration for new design projects altogether.
The size of the main ballroom cleanroom of 300mm wafer fabs has generally grown over the past two decades to beyond 20,000m²
The “2+1” fab is a common concept for 300mm fabs, which includes a classified subfab beneath the main cleanroom and a support level on the ground floor.
With the implementation of mini-environments and 200mm Standard Mechanical Inter Face (SMIF) or 300mm Front Opening Unified Pod (FOUP) carriers and interfaces, the cleanroom classification can be substantially relaxed
Tomi Engdahl says:
3D-Printed ‘Heart-on-a-Chip’ Offers Hope for End of Animal Testing
First ever entirely 3D-printed organ-on-a-chip collects data on how strongly the heart is beating.
http://europe.newsweek.com/3d-printed-heart-chip-offers-hope-end-animal-testing-513368?rm=eu
The first ever fully 3D-printed ‘heart-on-a-chip’ has been developed by researchers, offering a synthetic alternative for the living tissue that is currently used in animal testing.
Harvard scientists created the breakthrough device using printable inks that contain sensors designed to measure how the tissue responds to drugs and toxins.
“This new programmable approach to building organs-on-chips not only allows us to easily change and customize the design of the system by integrating sensing but also drastically simplifies data acquisition,”
Tomi Engdahl says:
Samsung Chips Offset Smartphone Disaster
http://www.eetimes.com/document.asp?doc_id=1330692&
Samsung Electronics, the world’s largest maker of smartphones and the second-largest chipmaker, said strength in its semiconductor business offset the impact to its mobile phone business caused by exploding batteries in its flagship Galaxy Note 7 products.
South Korea’s largest company said today in a press statement that operating profit for the third quarter this year was 5.20 trillion won ($4.6 billion), down 2.19 trillion won from the same period a year ago. Samsung originally forecast a 7.8 trillion won profit but cut its expectations to reflect losses from the cancelation of the Note 7 smartphones.
The company’s mobile product earnings plunged 98 percent from a year earlier to the lowest since the fourth quarter of 2008.
Samsung’s chip division posted a 3.37 trillion won profit for the third quarter, its highest since the same period a year ago. Samsung’s semiconductor business grew on demand for memory chips in high-performance mobile and server products. Samsung said demand was strong for its 14nm foundry products as well as mid-to-low end SoCs and image sensors.
Tomi Engdahl says:
OSDN – On-chip Software Defined Network
http://semiengineering.com/osdn-on-chip-software-defined-network/
You must be mumbling to yourself, “Oh no, not another NoC article! The term NoC is used so loosely in the industry and everybody seem to be claiming they have one, so what more is there to say?”
First, let us try to take a step back to understand why the network-on-chip concept made its way into the on-chip interconnect. One of the crucial driving factors was the need for scalability in order to accommodate the rapid growth of SoCs both in terms of the number and the heterogeneity of the integrated IPs. To be very specific, increasing complexity of SoCs led to new challenges in terms of wiring congestion, physical timing closure, QoS/performance, traffic congestion, frequency of operation, inflexible rigid architecture, complex system dependencies, reliability, protocol agnostic, power management. Looking at the problem purely from an interconnect perspective and the need to manage data communication among multiple IPs, it is easy to see that this a familiar problem with a familiar solution. We need a true network solution, one that supports true packetization, deadlock avoidance, pipelining, virtual channels, multiple routes, physical awareness, and configurability.
Deadlock avoidance
Deadlocks can occur at different layers:
Protocol Layer – e.g., dependencies between AXI channels
Routing Layer – e.g., dependencies between routing paths
Transport Layer – e.g., dependencies due to shared resources
One hopes there are no deadlocks in a design, but when one occurs, it cannot be denied, and it is too late! And to make matters worse, it is almost impossible to find root cause.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Industry 4.0 And The Internet Of Manufacturing For PCB Assembly & Fabrication
http://semiengineering.com/industry-4-0-and-the-internet-of-manufacturing-for-pcb-assembly-fabrication/
Using the Open Manufacturing Language to make data accessible across the entire shop-floor.
For years, the PCB manufacturing industry has needed a robust real-time, comprehensive shop-floor communication standard that would include detailed, bidirectional, machine-to-machine communication, as well as shop-floor to IT computerization communication. Now, there is a solution: the Open Manufacturing Language (OML), an open communications specification managed through a community of industry members and designed to support the evolving Internet of Manufacturing. OML makes vendor/platform independent data accessible across the entire shop-floor, opening up the potential for Industry 4.0 and Smart Factory 1.0 solutions.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Embedded FPGAs Going Mainstream?
http://semiengineering.com/will-efpgas-go-mainstream/
Programmable devices are being adopted in more market segments, but they still haven’t been included in major SoCs. That could change.
Systems on chip have been made with many processing variants ranging from general-purpose CPUs to DSPs, GPUs, and custom processors that are highly optimized for certain tasks. When none of these options provide the necessary performance or consumes too much power, custom hardware takes over. But there is one type of processing element that has rarely been used in a major SoC— the FPGA.
Solutions implemented in FPGAs are often faster than any of the instruction-set processors, and in most cases they complete a computation with lower total energy consumption. However, their overall power consumption is higher, and performance is slower than custom hardware. In addition, they use a lot more silicon area because the FPGA is a fixed resource, so enough of it must be put onto a chip for what is believed to be the worst-case usage scenario.
The standalone FPGA market currently is dominated by two companies, Xilinx and Altera (Intel). Part of the reason for this is they do not just produce chips. FPGAs require a complex ecosystem to make them useable. This ecosystem is very similar to those required for supporting processors. The transformation from FPGA to eFPGA adds even more complexity to this ecosystem because it requires a customized toolchain for each IP core that is licensed.
Tomi Engdahl says:
MediaTek May Be Among First with 10nm SoCs
http://www.eetimes.com/document.asp?doc_id=1330704&
MediaTek, Qualcomm’s largest rival in the smartphone silicon business, said it aims to be among the chip industry’s first companies with 10nm products on the market starting in the second quarter next year.
The MediaTek product will be the X30, the next in the Helio line of smartphone processors. The company’s current Helio X20/X25, made on a 20nm process, was launched in the first half of 2016 with a tri-cluster CPU architecture and ten processing cores.
“The X30 is going to be our first product coming out on the 10nm process,” said MediaTek Chief Financial Officer David Ku on a conference call to announce the company’s third-quarter results. “We should be among the first to offer a 10nm product.”
The X30 will be targeted at Chinese makers of smartphones selling in the range of 2000 to 3000 yuan ($295-$443), according to Ku.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Rachel Courtland / IEEE Spectrum:
As Moore’s Law slows, leading chipmakers weigh adoption of EUV Lithography tech, which may be used to mass produce chips as soon as 2018
Leading Chipmakers Eye EUV Lithography to Save Moore’s Law
Intel, TSMC, and other chipmakers weigh extreme ultraviolet lithography, which may be ready by 2018
http://spectrum.ieee.org/semiconductors/devices/leading-chipmakers-eye-euv-lithography-to-save-moores-law
For the entirety of its existence, semiconductor lithography has been done with electromagnetic radiation that was more or less recognizable as light. But for the change chipmakers are now weighing, the radiation is something else altogether. It’s called extreme ultraviolet (EUV) radiation, but don’t let that name fool you. Unlike the ultraviolet light used in today’s scanners, EUV can’t travel in air, and it can’t be focused by lenses or conventional mirrors.
And it’s also difficult to produce; the process begins by firing laser light at a rapid-fire stream of tiny molten tin droplets. The hope is that scanners built to use the resulting 13.5-nanometer light—a wavelength that is less than a tenth of what is used in today’s most state-of-the-art machines—will save chipmakers money by allowing them to print in a single step layers that would otherwise require multiple exposures.
But creating EUV systems that are bright and reliable enough to operate in the fab—nearly 24 hours a day, 365 days a year—has proved to be a monumental engineering challenge. For many years, EUV faced significant skepticism and repeatedly failed to live up to predictions that it was almost ready for prime time.
Now, though, the technology really does seem to be turning a corner. The brightness of the EUV light source made by Dutch lithography-tool manufacturer ASML Holding seems to be closing in on a figure long targeted for commercial production.
The stakes are high. Moore’s Law is facing significant challenges, and no one is sure how the semiconductor industry—which grossed more than $330 billion last year—will navigate the next five or 10 years or what a post-Moore’s-Law semiconductor industry will look like. A decline in revenues might be inevitable.
Curves and Corners: EUV promises to create sharper shapes [right] than those that can be created through multiple patterning with today’s 193-nanometer light [left].
Tomi Engdahl says:
President Obama announces semiconductor industry working group to review U.S. competitiveness
http://venturebeat.com/2016/10/31/president-obama-announces-semiconductor-industry-working-group-to-review-u-s-electronics-competitiveness/
President Barack Obama’s Council of Advisors on Science & Technology (PCAST) today announced the launch of a new Semiconductor Working Group that will provide recommendations to address the rapid rise of semiconductor businesses abroad.
Chips are the heart of everything electronic, and they have become a $330 billion worldwide industry. U.S. companies have held the leading market share in the industry — which puts the “silicon” in Silicon Valley — for decades. The Semiconductor Working Group includes 11 experts on chips and the broader economy.
In a related development, Commerce Secretary Penny Pritzker will give a policy address on the importance and future of the U.S. semiconductor industry at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) this Wednesday at 1 p.m. EST. The semiconductor industry directly employs 250,000 workers, is the third-largest source of U.S. manufactured exports, and has the highest level of investment in research and development (R&D) as a percentage of sales of any major industry, according to a post by John Holdren and former Intel CEO Paul Otellini, who are co-chairs of the group.
To stay ahead in the tech, the U.S. needs a vibrant industry.
Tomi Engdahl says:
System design comes to Xpedition
http://www.edn.com/electronics-products/other/4442913/System-design-comes-to-Xpedition?_mc=NL_EDN_EDT_EDN_today_20161101&cid=NL_EDN_EDT_EDN_today_20161101&elqTrackId=ed8399ccfc144baca370e566b7ee4d14&elq=f80e341251a24a8eac879525b6d85d35&elqaid=34604&elqat=1&elqCampaignId=30200
Mentor’s new Xpedition release fully integrates many system design functions under one roof, including system definition, multi-PCB and cable design, system-level thermal and SI/PI simulation, and MCAD interface.
https://www.mentor.com/pcb/xpedition/systems-design/
Tomi Engdahl says:
FlexLogIC is actual printed electronics
http://www.edn.com/electronics-products/other/4442927/FlexLogIC-is-actual-printed-electronics?_mc=NL_EDN_EDT_EDN_productsandtools_20161031&cid=NL_EDN_EDT_EDN_productsandtools_20161031&elqTrackId=d8237d76b3c448ba92fdd59efd50d803&elq=1f65434cac9e49d88fef3701542ac0f6&elqaid=34596&elqat=1&elqCampaignId=30191
PragmatIC is a Cambridge, UK-based company that has been developing a technology for printing electronics – with all circuit elements, including transistors and other active devices – on flexible substrates, with the aim of producing very low cost devices for areas such as wearables, and “smart packaging”.
The company regards its technology as an enabler for the Internet of Things and will, according to Mike Muller, CTO of ARM, “open up a whole new world of computing”. It is built around a “planar nano-transistor” in which the conducting channel and gate structure are co-planar. Circuitry is laid down in layers that are of the order of 100 nm thick, with similar feature sizes. A type of self-alignment is inferred, and the company says this maintains critical spatial relationships even on substrates that bend and stretch. The process is capable of complexity of [at least] enough construct an RF or NFC tag. Among the company’s claims for its process are that it can be 1/10 the cost of silicon, producing a circuit for under 1¢ in many cases.
PragmatIC says, “FlexICs are difficult to make because they require a very tightly specified series of material deposition and patterning steps, with thickness and features sizes controlled to sub-micron accuracy. However PragmatIC’s pilot scale process overcomes these challenges. It has developed a ‘fab-in-a-box’ concept that allows PragmatIC to scale up production capacity dramatically, and specifically to do so with a very low capital cost and per-unit production cost, as well as automating the complete process to allow it to sell this equipment to supply chain partners.”
Tomi Engdahl says:
Automotive MOSFETs slash on-resistance
http://www.edn.com/electronics-products/other/4442946/Automotive-MOSFETs-slash-on-resistance?_mc=NL_EDN_EDT_EDN_productsandtools_20161031&cid=NL_EDN_EDT_EDN_productsandtools_20161031&elqTrackId=f4af883544774effa716792c795244c0&elq=1f65434cac9e49d88fef3701542ac0f6&elqaid=34596&elqat=1&elqCampaignId=30191
Two 40-V AEC-Q101 qualified MOSFETs, part of STMicroelectronics’ STripFET F7 series, furnish current ratings of 120 A. These N-channel devices employ an enhanced trench gate structure that results in very low on-state resistance per die area, while also reducing internal capacitance and gate charge for faster and more efficient switching.
The STL140N4F7AG provides an on-resistance of 2.1 mΩ typical, and the STL190N4F7AG provides an on-resistance of 1.68 mΩ typical
Tomi Engdahl says:
The Battle To Embed The FPGA
http://semiengineering.com/the-battle-to-embed-the-fpga/
It has always seemed like a good idea but nobody has managed to pull it off so far. Will one of the recent contenders be successful?
There have been many attempts to embed an FPGA into chips in the past, but the market has failed to materialize—or the solutions have failed to inspire. An early example was Triscend Corporation, founded in 1997 and acquired by Xilinx in 2004. It integrated a CPU—which varied from an ARM core to an 8051—memory and the programmable fabric into a microcontroller.
Another example was Stretch, which attempted to build extensions for Tensilica products.
“There is an impedance mismatch – you optimize architectures differently in an FPGA and an ASIC,” says Drew Wingard, chief technology officer at Sonics. “FPGAs tend to be frequency challenged, so you tend to go wider and slower and exploit parallelism. Typically, it means that it is difficult to tightly couple an FPGA in the execution path of a CPU.”
Geoffrey Tate, CEO of Flex Logix, adds a larger list of failed products: “Actel, IBM, Leopard Logix, LSI Logic, Tabula, Velogix, and probably more.”
Perhaps the most viable reason for the adoption of FPGAs in the past was when you were developing an ASIC that implemented a standard that wasn’t quite finished. Everyone was anxious to get the product out, but the spec was not yet finalized. So you could put part of it into an FPGA, and as the spec continued to evolve you could update the logic appropriately. This was then designed out in the next generation of the product to reduce cost.
Another reason was for bug fixing.
To date, solutions that deploy an external FPGA have been more successful than those that attempted to integrate it.
“In the early ’80s the chips were fairly small, low in performance, and used as TTL glue logic integration. They replaced multiple logic parts on the board. That brought the market to around $500M. In the next phase, FPGAs grew with Moore’s Law and got to be bigger, faster and cheaper. As the complexity grew, the main application that took them to $5B was associated with connectivity. I/O standards did not always connect well, so FPGAs were used to bridge the connectivity. FPGAs were used broadly in networking infrastructure equipment.”
Blake sees that we are entering a new phase. “They will start to get used as a co-processor. FPGAs are very good at building arbitrary width datapath engines. This means they can be used for datacenter exploration, adding significant flexibility to software-defined networks. And as 5G infrastructure rolls out, the FPGAs will be used heavily for the digital front end and for customization of different marketplaces.”
40nm and 28nm have large amounts of logic available making the overhead of the FPGA less of an issue.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Silicon Photonics Comes Into Focus
http://semiengineering.com/silicon-photonics-comes-into-focus/
Using light to move large quantities of data looks promising, but gaps remain and the adoption timeline will vary by application.
Silicon photonics is attracting growing attention and investment as a companion technology to copper wiring inside of data centers, raising new questions about what comes next and when.
Light has always been the ultimate standard for speed. It requires less energy to move large quantities of data, generates less heat than electricity, and it can work equally well over long or short distances. Moreover, many experts contend it will be harder to hack data delivered with photons than over a copper wire.
The long-term goal is to use photons to carry data across a chip, eventually replacing SerDes, traditional interconnects and maybe even conventional transistors. But that could take a decade or more. The short- and mid-term goals are more focused on the data center and within the network, where data is ballooning from video, various types of imaging (including embedded vision and virtual/augmented reality), and a proliferation of sensors with the Internet of Things. The first mass deployment of light-based communication began in the 1990s, using fiber optics to lay the backbone for the Internet. It has since expanded into data centers, where silicon photonics is used to communicate between racks of servers, and between those servers and storage. The next phase is expected to involve communications between chips within a package.
But there are a number of technical and business-related challenges that must be resolved to really propel this technology forward. Light sources based on materials such as gallium arsenide, indium arsenide (InAs) or indium gallium arsenide (InGaAs) need to be more tightly coupled into the manufacturing process to achieve economies of scale, which has been problematic in the past because these III-V materials are difficult to work with using conventional silicon processes.
“What’s needed now is to increase the lifetime of these lasers,” said Bower. “The goal is 4,000 hours. We’ve seen 2,100 hours, which is not sufficient for anyone’s laser.”
Letavic believes the first major impact of silicon photonics will be the re-architecting of the data center. Rather than one or two huge data centers, he said the current thinking is to set up many smaller data centers and connect them with silicon photonics. “Optical interconnects will replace copper and be used to augment microwave and millimeter wave. And with 5G, you will need a high-speed interconnect from the data center to small cells. You will need at least 1 gigabit per second to the edge node, and 16 to 25 gigabits per second between the small cell and the base station.”
Adaptation vs. reinvention
Despite some fundamental differences in the technology between photonics and silicon-based semiconductors, there also are some overlaps.
“Thirty mask layers are common, and there are more than 400 elements per chip,” said Bower. “What we need is a photonics version of Moore’s Law.”
There are other similarities, as well. “The most sensitive parameters like line width and edge roughness are already being dealt with in silicon,”
Tomi Engdahl says:
Dielectric Microstrip Lines Achieve Low Loss at THz Frequencies
http://mwrf.com/passive-components/dielectric-microstrip-lines-achieve-low-loss-thz-frequencies?NL=MWRF-001&Issue=MWRF-001_20161101_MWRF-001_575&sfvc4enews=42&cl=article_2_b&utm_rid=CPG05000002750211&utm_campaign=8286&utm_medium=email&elq2=0489ea84b88743199cd6d111fcd6160b
Microstrip is one of the most trusted and popular transmission-line technologies for microwave and even millimeter-wave printed-circuit boards (PCBs). Once frequencies climb above the millimeter-wave frequency range of about 30 to 300 GHz, into the terahertz (THz) frequency range, transmission lines are usually based on metallic waveguide structures.
Several students and researchers from the City University of Hong Kong (Kowloon Tong, Hong Kong) came up with a dielectric microstrip line (DML) integrated circuit (IC) based on silicon semiconductor technology.
They demonstrated the transmission-line technology by fabricating passive components operating at frequencies as high as 925 GHz on high-resistivity, silicon-on-insulator (SOI) wafers.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Supantha Mukherjee / Reuters:
Chipmaker Broadcom to buy network gear maker Brocade for $5.5B in cash, $12.75 a share, to expand its fiber channel and storage businesses — Chipmaker Broadcom Ltd (AVGO.O) said on Wednesday it would buy network gear maker Brocade Communications Systems Inc (BRCD.O) for $5.5 billion in cash …
Chipmaker Broadcom to buy network gear maker Brocade for $5.5 billion
http://www.reuters.com/article/us-brocade-commns-m-a-broadcom-idUSKBN12X1A8
Chipmaker Broadcom Ltd (AVGO.O) said on Wednesday it would buy network gear maker Brocade Communications Systems Inc (BRCD.O) for $5.5 billion to expand its fiber channel and data storage businesses, the latest in a flurry of chip sector deals.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Anticipating a More Virtual Moore’s Law
http://www.eetimes.com/document.asp?doc_id=1330750&
Nicky Lu, executive director of the Taiwan Semiconductor Industry Association, is looking forward to the coming era of a “virtual” Moore’s Law, leading to a resumption of growth and profitability in the chip industry.
“There will be another 30 years of growth for the semiconductor industry,” Lu predicted in an interview with EE Times. “We are going to see ‘effective’ 1nm. Moore’s Law will become a ‘virtual’ Moore’s Law.
There is evidence that linear scaling has already reached its physical limits. “People say they are doing 10nm process modes, but you will not find any line widths at that level,” Lu says.
Departing Flatland
That’s why technology development has gone non-linear. In 2011, Intel announced its Tri-gate technology, leading the way from planar development of transistors on silicon into three dimensions. With 3D, even scaling by a factor of 0.85 results in a transistor density that is more like 0.5 scaling in two dimensions, Lu says.
Other companies have followed that trend. Toshiba built 3D NAND in 48 layers, and that memory has been used in Apple’s iPhone 7. Samsung has taken the idea a step further with the creation of a 64-layer flash memory device. The technology level was only 32nm, yet it was the virtual equivalent of 13nm, Lu notes.
Tomi Engdahl says:
U.S. Convenes Chip Study Group
White House explores China, Moore’s law
http://www.eetimes.com/document.asp?doc_id=1330731&
In the final weeks of his administration, President Obama has convened a group of semiconductor veterans to study the top issues affecting the chip industry in the U.S. The group is expected to submit a report to the next administration recommending significantly higher federal spending on semiconductor research.
A new working group under the well-established President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology (PCAST) will look at ways to strengthen the U.S. industry in the face of competition from China and the growing cost and complexity of pursuing Moore’s law.
“Some countries that are important in this domain are subsidizing their domestic semiconductor industry or requiring implicit transfer of technology and intellectual property in exchange for market access,” the White House said in a thinly veiled reference to China in a statement online announcing the new work group.
Indeed, China has prepared a $20 billion investment fund in semiconductors. It also helped organize a $100 billion private fund to spur increasingly active investments in chip M&A deals.
U.S. Needs Big Bet on Chips
Analysts support post-silicon research effort
http://www.eetimes.com/author.asp?section_id=36&doc_id=1330748&
The U.S. government should launch a new multi-billion national research effort to define a post-silicon semiconductor industry.
The working group of semiconductor veterans the White House recently convened should recommend the initiative in its report expected early next year. It could give the next U.S. president a rare opportunity to kickstart an engine for a new golden age in high tech.
While China promises to be a real threat to U.S. chip companies, the looming limits of today’s semiconductor technology are a much larger common enemy. The U.S. has an opportunity to pioneer a path beyond the 3-5nm process technologies companies see at the distant edge of their road maps.
Tomi Engdahl says:
10 Interesting Test & Measurement Products: Fall 2016
http://www.eetimes.com/author.asp?section_id=36&doc_id=1330747&
Oscilloscopes and PXI instruments headline this set of ten new test products.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Engineering Investigations
Best Source for Low-Cost High-Quality Cables?
http://www.eetimes.com/author.asp?section_id=30&doc_id=1330682&
Even if you are happy employing low-cost cables for your hobby projects, would you use them for a commercial product?
When I was growing up, my dear old dad always told me to never buy a tool just because it was cheap. Instead, he said, it was well-worth paying whatever it took to get a high-quality tool that would serve me well for a long time. Of course, you must be careful here, because you can end up spending an inordinate amount of money for a “named” tool that is no better — or only incrementally better — than a mid-priced tool from a lesser-known manufacturer.
In many respects, the same considerations apply to electronic cables.
young sales lad did his very best to persuade me to lay out something ridiculous like $120 for what he claimed to be the world’s best HDMI cable offering.
Once I’d stopped laughing, I purchased a much cheaper brand that served me just as well.
And don’t even get me started talking about USB cables. You can easily splash out $20 or more for a mediocre offering
where I can pick up a new USB cable for just a couple of dollars.
case of “You pays your money and you makes your choice,” as the old saying goes.
You also need to consider what you are using your cables for. In my case, all I wanted was a single 8″ HDMI extender for a non-critical application. If there’s ever a problem, I can simply stop using it. But if I were creating multiple systems to be deployed in hostile environments to control million-dollar drones, for example, then I would be a lot more rigorous in my cable selection process
Tomi Engdahl says:
Moore’s Law Debate Continues
http://semiengineering.com/moores-law-debate-continues/
As the industry speculates about 5nm and below, questions surrounding node shrinks remain.
Does shrinking devices still make sense from a cost and performance perspective? The answer isn’t so simple anymore.
Still, the discussion as to whether semiconductors are still on track with Moore’s Law occurs on a frequent enough basis to continue analyzing at least some of the dynamics at play. There is much speculation about what happens after 7nm, as well as ways to continue innovating in spite of Moore’s Law or Dennard scaling. Today, at least, there are still options at the device and materials levels to allow for continued power, performance and area improvements.
The debate about Moore’s Law even stretches into the mainstream media, said Greg Yeric, an ARM fellow, at last week’s TechCon conference. There are some who believe 28nm is the best node ever, and everything is done after that. There are others who believe that everything is fine from companies like Intel, and the foundries.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Analog Devices Acquires Industrial Ethernet Chip Maker
http://mwrf.com/systems/analog-devices-acquires-industrial-ethernet-chip-maker?NL=MWRF-001&Issue=MWRF-001_20161103_MWRF-001_948&sfvc4enews=42&cl=article_2_b&utm_rid=CPG05000002750211&utm_campaign=8322&utm_medium=email&elq2=67d6d88fc25944cb915503870617b99b
For years, Analog Devices has been shifting toward chips that manage power and condition sensors inside cars and factory equipment.
On Thursday, the company said that it had acquired Innovasic, a maker of Ethernet chips that act like tiny switchboards inside large networks of devices, such as factory robots or security cameras. The financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.
Innovasic, which was founded in 1992, started out making replacement chips for products no longer manufactured by companies like AMD and Intel. The New Mexico-based company focused on creating products with long lifetimes since industrial equipment is not typically updated as often as consumer electronics.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Electric car will be a big engine for growth of semiconductor technology. In fact, the car is clearly the semiconductor industry the fastest growing sector in the coming years. IC Insights, the integrated circuits increase in cars three times faster than PCs.
On average, middle-class car at the moment is semiconductors about 350 dollars. Is different from the third analog circuits, second to the third application processors and sensors, and the remaining discrete ICs.
In Luxury models semiconductors is of course more, even more than thousand dollars towards a new car. Hybrid and electric car semiconductors are needed also much more.
Source: http://etn.fi/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=5340:auto-pelastaa-elektroniikan&catid=13&Itemid=101
Tomi Engdahl says:
Cromwell Schubarth / Silicon Valley Business Journal:
Marvell Technology to cut about 900 jobs, nearly 17% of its workforce, and sell off non-core assets in an effort to reduce costs by about $190M a year — Marvell Technology Group said Wednesday that is will cut about 900 jobs and sell off non-core assets in an effort to bring its costs down by about $190 million a year.
Marvell slashing nearly 17% of jobs, selling assets, to cut costs
http://www.bizjournals.com/sanjose/news/2016/11/02/marvell-slashing-nearly-17-of-jobs-selling-assets.html?page=all
Marvell Technology Group said Wednesday that is will cut about 900 jobs and sell off non-core assets in an effort to bring its costs down by about $190 million a year.
The Santa Clara-based fabless chip company, which has about 5,300 employees, said it expects the moves to be completed by the end of October 2017.
The company said that job cuts will happen as it discontinues some R&D, streamlines engineering processes and consolidates R&D sites. It also expects “a significant reduction in legal and accounting costs.”
Tomi Engdahl says:
Supantha Mukherjee / Reuters:
Chipmaker Broadcom to buy network gear maker Brocade for $5.5B in cash, $12.75 a share, to expand its fiber channel and storage businesses
Chipmaker Broadcom to buy network gear maker Brocade for $5.5 billion
http://www.reuters.com/article/us-brocade-commns-m-a-broadcom-idUSKBN12X1A8
Tomi Engdahl says:
The new formal distribution agreement empowers the company to present customers with the latest products and manufacturer-aided support to help them comply with increasingly stringent eco-design efficiency targets that aim to save energy and reduce greenhouse gas emissions. These include tougher power-adapter specifications that have now reached Level VI in the US. The extended scope of the European Ecodesign Directive, and new US and international initiatives, means products such as uninterruptible power supplies, emerging categories including EV charging equipment, and networked appliances like IoT devices are all now covered by the regulations.
Source: http://www.electropages.com/2016/10/rs-components-global-distribution-agreement-boosts-support-power-supply-designers/
Tomi Engdahl says:
Manufacturing ultracapacitors
An Estonian firm gives electricity storage more oomph
http://www.economist.com/news/science-and-technology/21708656-estonian-firm-gives-electricity-storage-more-oomph-manufacturing
ALMOST every week seems to bring reports in scientific journals of new electricity-storage devices—batteries and capacitors—being invented in laboratories around the world. The journey from bench-top to assembly line, though, is fraught with hazard and few of these ideas end up as products able to withstand the rough and tumble of industrial and consumer use. Fewer still hail from beyond the laboratories of North America, western Europe and Japan. But one which does is Skeleton Technologies’ ultracapacitor, which was developed, and is now being manufactured, in Estonia.
Supercapacitors, and their upscale cousins ultracapacitors, attempt to bridge this gap by increasing the surface areas of their plates, and also by adding an electrolyte of the sort found in batteries.
Skeleton Technologies’ device, the company claims, does these things so well that it can deliver four times more power per kilogram than anything else on the market. Its secret is that its plates are coated with graphene, a form of carbon a single atom thick. Graphene has a surface area of more than 2,000 square metres per gram, and Skeleton’s graphene is also penetrated by pores that permit the passage of ions from the electrolyte.
Skeleton Technologies itself is the creation of Taavi Madiberk and Oliver Ahlberg, who set up their company in 2009 based on the work of a group of Estonian researchers. Initially, it produced a limited number of ultracapacitors for motor racing, where they are used in kinetic-energy recovery systems (KERS) that recycle energy which would otherwise be lost as heat during braking and turn it into electricity to assist acceleration.
Tomi Engdahl says:
RS-485 transceivers meet IEC surge standards
http://www.edn-europe.com/news/rs-485-transceivers-meet-iec-surge-standards
Analog Devices claims a first with its RS-485 transceivers, fully certified for Level 4 EMC surge protection, eliminating the need for external transient-voltage surge-suppression devices.
The galvanically isolated ADM2795E, using ADI’s iCoupler magnetic-isolation technology, and non-isolated ADM3095E, save space and component count and minimize regulatory compliance issues. The integrated fault protection offered by the devices prevents potentially destructive voltages from damaging the communication interface.
The ADM2795E and ADM3095E RS-485 transceivers meet IEC61000-4-5 Level 4 surge protection requirements, as well as industrial IEC immunity standards (radiated, conducted, and magnetic immunity) and EMC protection against ESD, electrical fast transient (EFT), and surge. Both devices are TIA/EIA RS-485/RS-422 compliant over their full supply range of 3 V to 5.5V.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Wearable Devices That Could Heal Themselves When They Break
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/11/03/science/printed-electronics-self-healing.html?smid=fb-nytscience&smtyp=cur&_r=0
Endless though the possibilities seem, most wearable electronics today are expensive and complicated to make, with multiple moving parts. One option for making cheaper components en masse is to print electronic devices, using a process that looks much like conventional printing, but with special, electrically functional inks. The promise of printed electronics is low-cost, flexible devices — including batteries and sensors, and wearable circuits that can be incorporated into smart clothing. But the multibillion-dollar industry has a major downfall: Printed electronics are fragile.
Joseph Wang’s nanoengineering lab at the University of California, San Diego, is now developing a solution: ink that includes magnetic particles. If a fabric or device printed with this magnetic ink breaks, the particles attract one another and close the gap. In a paper published today in Science Advances, Dr. Wang’s team reports that their self-healing ink can repair multiple cuts up to three millimeters long in just 50 milliseconds.
All-printed magnetically self-healing electrochemical devices
http://advances.sciencemag.org/content/2/11/e1601465
The present work demonstrates the synthesis and application of permanent magnetic Nd2Fe14B microparticle (NMP)–loaded graphitic inks for realizing rapidly self-healing inexpensive printed electrochemical devices. The incorporation of NMPs into the printable ink imparts impressive self-healing ability to the printed conducting trace, with rapid (~50 ms) recovery of repeated large (3 mm) damages at the same or different locations without any user intervention or external trigger. The permanent and surrounding-insensitive magnetic properties of the NMPs thus result in long-lasting ability to repair extreme levels of damage, independent of ambient conditions. This remarkable self-healing capability has not been reported for existing man-made self-healing systems and offers distinct advantages over common capsule and intrinsically self-healing systems.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Lattice Semiconductor to be bought by China-backed Canyon Bridge
http://www.reuters.com/article/us-lattice-us-m-a-canyon-bridge-idUSKBN12Y1K5
Programmable-chip maker Lattice Semiconductor Corp said it is being bought by Canyon Bridge Capital Partners, a newly formed private equity firm backed by Chinese funding for $1.3 billion, the latest deal in the consolidating chip sector.
Portland, Oregon-based Lattice makes programmable chips used in the fast-growing market for connected cars.
Canyon Bridge is based in Palo Alto, California. Its limited partners in the fund come predominately from the Beijing-based China Reform Fund
Chinese suitors have faced intense scrutiny from regulators in their pursuit of U.S. chip makers, resulting in some failed deals this year.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Probe, bus decoder add power measurements to oscilloscopes
http://www.edn.com/electronics-products/electronic-product-reviews/other/4442975/Probe–bus-decoder-add-power-measurements-to-oscilloscopes?_mc=NL_EDN_EDT_EDN_productsandtools_20161107&cid=NL_EDN_EDT_EDN_productsandtools_20161107&elqTrackId=64fda8c27c774aa883b5ce932754b570&elq=98986146868c4d3dbc1060889388a3d6&elqaid=34695&elqat=1&elqCampaignId=30283
Oscilloscopes are vital tools for understanding how well DC power rails deliver power to circuits. With so many digital circuits in today’s systems, power integrity can be compromised when circuits switch and need power quickly. The problem with seeing AC ripple and transients on power rails using standard probes is that you lose dynamic range because of the DC voltage.
The RP4030 ($2580) Active Voltage Rail Probe from Teledyne LeCroy lets you view and analyze transients for point-of-load supplies, low-dropout regulators, and other voltage sources. Its ±30 V offset lets you remove DC components, leaving the AC components behind for power-integrity viewing and analysis. With a 50 kΩ input impedance, the RP4030 minimizes loading that can cause an oscilloscope to alter measured signals. For circuits with 50 Ω impedance, the active probe has a 1.2x attenuation factor.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Printed Transistors Can Function for Years Battery-Free
http://www.designnews.com/author.asp?section_id=1386&doc_id=281983&cid=nl.x.dn14.edt.aud.dn.20161108.tst004c
Energy harvesting is not just becoming an attractive option for wearable technology, but also for the electronic components that comprise wearable and other devices themselves.
Some of the latest research in this area comes out of Cambridge University, where engineers have developed a new design for transistors that draws energy from its environment and could be the foundation for devices that can function for months or years without a battery.
Engineers design ultralow power transistors that could function for years without a battery
http://www.cam.ac.uk/research/news/engineers-design-ultralow-power-transistors-that-could-function-for-years-without-a-battery
A new design for transistors which operate on ‘scavenged’ energy from their environment could form the basis for devices which function for months or years without a battery, and could be used for wearable or implantable electronics.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Haptic dev kit lets you feel the vibe
http://www.electropages.com/2016/11/haptic-dev-kit-lets-you-feel-the-vibe/?utm_campaign=&utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_term=article&utm_content=Haptic+dev+kit+lets+you+feel+the+vibe
A haptic technology that uses ultrasound and provides users with a touch sensation to virtually “feel” switches, buttons and other controls in mid-air has been developed by haptic specialists, Ultrahaptics.
The UHDK5 TOUCH Development Kit provides a hardware and software package with an architecture that can be embedded in product designs, from prototypes through to volume production.
The company claims its self-contained plug-and-play UHDK5 kit works out of the box and provides demonstrations that require no technical knowledge from the user. For developers the Arm core and FPGA embeddable architecture eases integration and provides a production ready design that should help to reduce BOM cost. Similarly the provision of APIs code using C++
Ultrahaptics introduces a Development Kit for evaluation and prototyping of mid-air haptics in touchless gesture controls
http://www.ultrahaptics.com/ultrahaptics-introduces-development-kit-evaluation-prototyping-mid-air-haptics-touchless-gesture-controls/
Tomi Engdahl says:
PCB 3D-printing is soon working
Electronica – An Israeli Nano Dimension is the first company that is gaining market circuit card capable of 3D printing hardware. CEO Simon Fried, the first commercial installations delivered next year in the third quarter. – This is just the beginning, Fried enthuses.
Until now, the Nano Dimension has provided customers with two beta hardware: one Israeli defense technology company which develops and another 3D-printing competence center in San Francisco. None of the cheap jars is not the case.
- We have not yet put their future prices of the lock devices, but talk about a few hundred thousand dollars.
In general, 3D printing is considered as a slow quick modeling
- If you commission a prototype circuit board somewhere, it will take several days. We need the same to the printer takes only a few hours or overnight.
Gerber output file to the 3D printer can understand. And, of course, ink that can not only print the conductor, the insulation surrounding it.
- If the printed substrate from the thin, must be flexible to flex card. Rigid-type of solution will be when printed on a thicker base
3D Printing is obviously not suitable for rapid mass production and print just the densest high-end cards. If you talk about the prototype card, which led to and are spaced about 100 microns in width, the FireFly is ideal for the production of fine.
Source: http://etn.fi/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=5376:piirikorttien-3d-tulostaminen-on-pian-arkipaivaa&catid=13&Itemid=101
Tomi Engdahl says:
Trump Win Could Mean Big Questions for Manufacturing
http://www.designnews.com/author.asp?section_id=1386&doc_id=282043&cid=nl.x.dn14.edt.aud.dn.20161110.tst004c
In an upset that stunned the US and the world, Donald Trump crossed over to 289 electoral votes late last night, making him the 45th President of the United States. The news shook markets around the world, with the Dow Jones futures taking an 800-point drop before recovering about half the fall.
The stunning victory leaves a ton of questions about the future of manufacturing in the US. While Trump vowed to keep American manufacturing jobs, he offered little in the way of stated policy other than the promise to punish companies that sent manufacturing job outside the US.
Trump’s win prompts questions about trade that could directly affect US manufacturing. He promised to tear up trade deals, including the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), calling it “the worst trade agreement ever” during one of the debates. How that plays out is a big unknown.
Tomi Engdahl says:
What’s The Real Benefit Of High-Level Synthesis?
http://semiengineering.com/whats-the-real-benefit-of-high-level-synthesis/
Once upon a time, “behavioral synthesis,” the precursor to high-level synthesis, hung its hat on design productivity as its sole value. By that, I mean, if a behavioral synthesis tool provides a high enough productivity benefit, designers or design managers will boil the ocean to move to it. There was little methodology around it. In fact, even the design entry language was unfamiliar. Yes, it was Verilog or VHDL, but it was “behavioral” Verilog or VHDL—something unfamiliar to most engineers at the time.
Today, the “unfamiliar language” issue has been solved by using IEEE 1666 SystemC and C++ as the design language of choice when using high-level design and verification.
That removes a giant barrier to realizing the productivity promise of HLS, but productivity alone does not explain why most of the top semiconductor companies in the world are using HLS. As Brian Bailey aptly noted last year, “At the end of the day, the users have spoken and most of the top semiconductor companies are using HLS. They pushed the EDA vendors into the C, C++, SystemC camp, and they are using HLS to create chips that are making them money.” See Brian’s original post at http://semiengineering.com/tale-of-two-hls-viewpoints/.
So, if it’s it not all about productivity, why are these companies using HLS?
Design and verification productivity
Ok, I admit it. Raw productivity is still a major driver for HLS. I’d be lying if I said otherwise. Actually, productivity is the most common reason why companies come in the door asking about HLS. HLS does indeed provide a fast, high-quality path to RTL.
Engineers focus on design work; HLS handles the implementation details.
Broader IP reuse
If productivity is why new HLS users come in the door, IP reuse is why they stay.
When designing with HLS, the IP you are designing is written in high-level SystemC/C++. “High-level” means that the functionality and macro-architecture are coded in your IP, but the implementation decisions are not. Specifically, the finite state machine, datapath components, multiplexors, pipeline registers, and other such details are not written in your SystemC IP model. Instead, those implementation decisions are determined automatically by the HLS tool by giving it your technology library and synthesis constraints such as clock period(s) and maximum latency in clock cycles.
One behavioral IP description supports multiple implementations.
Additionally, by having the IP source code at a higher level of abstraction, you can make more substantial functional changes to the design than you feasibly could when writing RTL by hand. For example, you can change the SystemC or C++ behavior to implement a spec change or even to use a different algorithm. In either case, HLS will then generate modified RTL automatically. Typically, this new (modified) piece of IP will then be added to the behavioral IP library for reuse on a future project.
Improved Quality of Results
HLS would not be in the silicon in your pocket, car, and home if it didn’t produce high quality of results (QoR).
Some of the QoR benefit is due to the advanced optimizations automatically performed by HLS.
Higher level of abstraction
The common thread, and root cause of all of these benefits, is working at a higher level of abstraction. It’s the higher level of abstraction—working with design decisions vs. implementation details—that makes HLS a more effective way to create hardware.
Tale Of Two HLS Viewpoints
http://semiengineering.com/tale-of-two-hls-viewpoints/
Was high-level synthesis misguided and has the industry adopted a solution that was ineffective, ill-defined and ill-conceived? The answer depends on your perspective.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Need Emulation Now? You’ve Got It
http://semiengineering.com/need-emulation-now-youve-got-it/
Did you know that the way companies use hardware emulation has changed?
Until recently, companies had no choice but to house their emulators in a lab and hard wire them (using lots of wires) to other supporting hardware and workstations dedicated to a single project at a time. The emulator and its set up was accessible to users at only that location and switching between projects was difficult and time consuming.
For these reasons, an emulator often sat idle. Any project scheduling of an emulator was done manually by allocating fixed time slots to project teams. This was an inherently inflexible and inefficient way to manage a very valuable resource, especially for global teams. And as the use models for emulators expanded, the demand for a simpler, more flexible way to make emulation widely available throughout a company at all times became more acute.
The initial response was to manage an emulator as a corporate-wide shared resource in a datacenter. This is how most emulators are utilized today. Unfortunately, standard job management software, such as LSF and Sun Grid, does not allow companies to take full advantage of emulator resources and capabilities.
To satisfy the high demand for greater utilization of emulation resources, Mentor developed the Veloce Enterprise Server App, a fully-integrated solution for complete, transparent access to emulation resources for concurrent projects worldwide.
Tomi Engdahl says:
The Time Dimension Of Power
http://semiengineering.com/the-time-dimension-of-power/
Power is a complex multi-dimensional, multi-disciplinary problem. Does your flow address all of the issues?
Power is the flow of energy over time. While both aspects of that equation are important, they are important to different people in different ways.
Energy that moves too quickly can cause significant damage. Too much energy moving over time can mean a non-competitive product, from battery-powered devices to a wide array of locations such as the datacenter. When the industry talks about power analysis it can cover the entire spectrum. In addition, what you may do to reduce or mitigate consumption is very different between reducing total energy consumed and what you might do to protect your device against electrostatic discharge.
At one extreme of the timescale, the total energy consumed performing a function is the most important. An implanted medical device means a surgery every time the battery needs to be replaced. If U.S. datacenters were considered to be a country, it would be one of the most power-hungry countries of the world.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Many companies were at the Electronica fair for the last time
Today ending Electronica was congested. At least the feel of the exhibition halls in the corridors was like that. However, many companies, the event will be the last.
Messe München Electronica 2016 trade fair attracted about 73,000 guests over four days. At the fair companies had in 2913 a total of more than 50 countries.
Source: http://etn.fi/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=5387:moni-yritys-oli-messuilla-viimeista-kertaa&catid=13&Itemid=101
Tomi Engdahl says:
Finnish electronics industry has experienced in recent years, hard. First, set off mass production in China and the Baltic countries, then disappeared Nokia mobile phone production. – However, during the last three months has been a visible clearly better, says Rutronikin Country Manager Juha Ahonen.
- It appears that many customers have gone a little better in recent times. In particular, wireless has been a pick-up, he says.
According to Ahonen’s new move to explain the old Nokia soles. – Former Nokia employees to set up and apply for Startup modules products. And these companies leave immediately pursue global markets.
Source: http://etn.fi/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=5386:elektroniikka-kaantynyt-lievaan-nousuun&catid=13&Itemid=101
Tomi Engdahl says:
Hardware designer is a disappearing resource
lectronica – Finland has a long tradition as hardware, system and circuit design. In the future, this knowledge must need less and less. – It is becoming less and less relevant in what format the device is used, the Nordic countries, says Aho Titus sale of Avnet Embedded.
Just extinction Aho not iron the designer would like to declare that it would lead to the company’s difficulties. – It would be dangerous if no one would be able to specify products at hardware levels, says Aho.
The software is thus the King, also embedded applications. Card Computers are standard products and are found mainly in the choice of different card formats. Cards suppliers sequestered primarily in terms of service and support.
Embedded development changing more and more of encoding is also a bit of a problem for Finland. We do have would be a lot of talented designers, but many of them are more or less device designers. – It is not easy to leap to move to the software developer. Yes, it requires its own education
Source: http://etn.fi/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=5385:rautasuunnittelija-on-katoava-luonnonvara&catid=13&Itemid=101