Sondrel is an interesting and unique company. They are a supplier of turnkey services from system to silicon supply. So far, not that unique as there are a lot of companies with this mission. What is unique is their focus on complex designs. The company takes on the design of chips that would need teams of engineers working for a year… Read More
Chip Channel Check- Semi Shortage Spreading- Beyond autos-Will impact earnings
– Semiconductor shortage is like toilet paper shortage in early Covid
– Panic buying, hoarding, double ordering will cause spike
– Could cause a year+ of dislocation in chip makers before ending
– Investors, Govt & Mgmt will get a wake up call from earnings hit
Auto industry is just a prominent tip … Read More
Digital Filters for Audio Equalizer Design
Equalizers were initially designed and developed for movie theaters and amphitheaters or outdoor areas but now they have become ubiquitous. Equalization is essential for creating professional sound and creating real life like sound effects. Equalizers are used for controlling the energy/loudness of a particular frequency… Read More
Webinar: Samtec Teams with Otava and Avnet to Tame mmWave Design
mmWave design has traditionally been a boutique technology used in satellite and defense applications. Lately that’s changing. It turns out the complex, high frequency capabilities of mmWave technology are a key enabler for the 5G wireless networks being deployed today. I discussed some of this backstory in a recent post about… Read More
CEO Interview: Dr. Shafy Eltoukhy of OpenFive
Dr. Shafy Eltoukhy has over 35 years of experience in the semiconductor industry. He served as VP and BU manager of the Analog Mixed Signal Group at Microsemi. He was the VP of Operations and Technology Development at Open-Silicon. He was the VP of Technology at Lightspeed Semiconductor where he joined the founding team that invented… Read More
Maximizing ASIC Performance through Post-GDSII Backend Services
ASICs by definition are designed to meet the respective applications’ requirements. ASIC engineers deploy various design techniques to maximize performance, minimize power and reduce chip size. But is there more that can be done after the GDSII is taped out? A recent press release from Alchip Technology dated Feb 4, 2021 claims… Read More
NetApp Enables Secure B2B Data Sharing for the Semiconductor Industry
Data sharing between semiconductor companies and EDA software companies has been critical to the advancement of the industry. But it’s had security issues and associated loss of trust along the way. For instance, there have been cases of customer designs shared as a testcase finding their way into a product demo without the … Read More
Semiconductor Shortage – No Quick Fix – Years of neglect & financial hills to climb
– Semi Situation Stems from long term systemic neglect
– Will require much more than money & time than thought
– Fundamental change is needed to offset the financial bias
– Auto industry is just the hint of a much larger problem
Like recognizing global warming when the water is up to your neck
The problem… Read More
CEO interview: Graham Curren of Sondrel
It has been my pleasure to interview Graham Curren, CEO of Sondrel. A veteran of the Electronics Design industry, he founded Sondrel in 2002 to provide digital ASIC designs.
How did you aim to differentiate Sondrel when you started?
My view of the market was that there were a lot of small design companies and also huge in-house design… Read More
Silicon Catalyst and mmTron are Helping to Make mmWave 5G a Reality
Everyone is talking about 5G these days. The buildout is beginning. The newest iPhone supports the new 3GPP standard. Excitement is building. But there is a back story to all this. Silicon Catalyst recently added a new company called mmTron to their incubator program. These folks are millimeter wave experts and that turns out to… Read More
Facing the Quantum Nature of EUV Lithography