LTE stands for Long Term Evolution, and that is exactly what is happening. At the Linley Mobile & Wearables Conference 2016 we received a preview of what is coming in the mobile and wearable markets. LTE is one of the biggest drivers in this entire domain. There was much discussion about the LTE Release 12 and how it increases bandwidth,… Read More




efabless SemiWiki FAQ
The first post on efabless generated some interesting questions that I will re-post here. Again, crowdsourcing is an iterative process so your help is greatly appreciated:
Please forgive me my ignorance, but what is the difference between efabless and ChipEstimate?… Read More
Burned again – can smartwatches recover?
With Intel’s Basis Peak smartwatch on intergalactic recall and Apple’s smartwatch sales falling faster than Skylab, designers now must face the real questions: 1) what is the right use case, and 2) what are the right chips to implement it?… Read More
Custom layout productivity requires unrelenting EDA vendor focus
The EDA tools industry relies upon ongoing productivity enhancements to existing products, to manage increasing SoC complexity and to address shrinking design schedules. The source of ideas for enhancements can come from a variety of sources – e.g., customer feedback, collaboration with the foundries, and features found … Read More
Radio Integration – the Benefits of Built-In
It’s always a pleasure when a vendor gives a really informative, vendor-independent presentation on what’s happening in some domain of the industry and wraps up with (by that point) a well-deserved summary of that vendor’ solutions in that space. Ron Lowman did just that at the Linley conference on Mobile and Wearables, where … Read More
Smarter Cities and How They Can Serve Humanity
Communications technology is progressing at a phenomenal rate, especially when it comes to wireless communications and the ever growing Internet of Things. While many observers and media outlets focus on the benefits of devices and how they will impact consumers, producers, and service providers, there are also huge benefits… Read More
Why using new DDR4 allow designing incredibly more efficient Server/Storage applications?
The old one-size-fits-all approach doesn’t work anymore for DDR4 memory controller IP, especially when addressing the enterprise segments, or application like servers, storage and networking. For mobile or high end consumer segments, we can easily identify two key factors: price (memory amount or controller footprint) … Read More
Linley Mobile and Wearable Conference Drills into Rapidly Evolving Markets
Last week the Linley conference on mobile and wearables started with an overview and keynote address by the event’s namesake Linley Gwennap. His talk offered a few surprises and was informative all around. As you have seen recently reported here on SemiWiki, he sees smartphone shipments continuing to rise, but with a declining… Read More
One transistor for the future of mmWave?
We’ve heard recently from several sources that millimeter wave radios, once the exclusive realm of defense and satellite use, are now finding homes in applications such as automotive radar and 5G networks. Therein lies a significant opportunity for digital design: moving frequency conversion and filtering from the analog … Read More
At What Point Does Transistor Gate Length Stop Getting Smaller?
When I started doing IC design back in 1978 we had 6,000 nm channel gate lengths, and today you can buy a smart phone with 16 nm or 14 nm technology, although the gate lengths in those phones are more like 34 nm. The International Technology Roadmap for Semiconductors (ITRS) makes predictions about emerging trends in our industry and… Read More
Weebit Nano Moves into the Mainstream with Customer Adoption