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A couple of misconceptions about FD-SOI

A couple of misconceptions about FD-SOI
by Eric Esteve on 09-03-2014 at 9:59 am

We have extensively discussed in Semiwiki about FD-SOI technology, explaining the main advantages (Faster, Cooler, Simpler), sometimes leading to very deep technical discussions, thanks to Semiwiki readers and their posts. I have recently found an article “Samsung & ST Team Up on 28nm FD-SOI. This article includes many… Read More


Quicklogic Delivers First Wearable Sensor Hub with Under 150uW Standby

Quicklogic Delivers First Wearable Sensor Hub with Under 150uW Standby
by Paul McLellan on 09-03-2014 at 9:00 am

I have talked before about how the Internet of Things (IoT) doesn’t require enormous power-hungry SoCs. We all accept, or at least put up with, having to recharge our phones daily. But smart pedometers (or whatever a good name for Fitbit-like products are) had better last for a week or two between charges.

Today, Quicklogic… Read More


Momentum Builds For 64-bit ARMv8-A

Momentum Builds For 64-bit ARMv8-A
by Eric Esteve on 09-03-2014 at 2:55 am

No doubt about it, the summer break has ended, it’s time for releasing big announcement, like this one from ARM “Momentum Builds For the Next Generation of ARM Processors”. In fact, the key information is about ARMv8-A market adoption. A total of 27 companies have signed agreements for the company’s ARMv8-A technology as… Read More


Google Glass with purpose, not just another smart wear

Google Glass with purpose, not just another smart wear
by Pawan Fangaria on 09-02-2014 at 4:00 pm

Last year or earlier (when it was in the making), when I first heard of Google Glass, I was of the opinion that it’s yet another device with a screen in front of your eyes, with wearable glasses through which you can see the virtual extension of reality you are interacting with (here is a demo); a technology called Augmented Reality (… Read More


Managing Stress in 3D

Managing Stress in 3D
by Beth Martin on 09-02-2014 at 1:32 pm

A new publication on mechanical stress in integrated circuits, co-edited by Valeriy Sukharev, Principal Engineer for Calibre R&D at Mentor Graphics, has just been released by AIP Publishing. “Stress-Induced Phenomena and Reliability in 3D Microelectronics” includes 14 key papers from four international workshops … Read More


Design Collaboration across Multiple Sites

Design Collaboration across Multiple Sites
by Pawan Fangaria on 09-02-2014 at 12:00 pm

Any SoC or IC design project, whether implemented at the same design site or multiple sites requires some data management tools to manage things such as a central data repository, revision management of files, etc., for effective co-ordination of work among different team members. Given the challenge of meeting the shrinking… Read More


MIPS 64 bit CPU Architecture

MIPS 64 bit CPU Architecture
by Eric Esteve on 09-02-2014 at 4:47 am

Imagination Technologies has just launched the 5[SUP]th[/SUP] generation of MIPS CPU core, the 64-bits Warrior, or I6400 family, offering a total compatibility with the 32-bit previous architecture. MIPS Warrior I-class processor cores offers 64-bit processing in applications including embedded, mobile, digital consumer,… Read More


How to detect weak nodes in a power-off analog circuit?

How to detect weak nodes in a power-off analog circuit?
by Jean-Francois Debroux on 09-01-2014 at 4:00 pm

Most analog cells have a power off mode intended to reduce power consumption. In this mode, all the circuit branches between the supply lines are set in a high impedance mode by driving MOS gates to a blocking voltage. This is a somewhat similar situation to that in tri-state digital circuits.

When a branch is set in that high impedance… Read More


September is Semiconductor Design Webinar Month!

September is Semiconductor Design Webinar Month!
by Daniel Nenni on 09-01-2014 at 9:00 am

The nice thing about webinars is that if you register for the live one and you can’t attend you will still get first notice when the replay goes up. The other nice thing is that you can read a blog review of a webinar or whitepaper on SemiWiki first to see if it is worth your time. If you do attend a webinar you can also post a review of… Read More


Power and Thermal Analysis of Data Center and Server ICs

Power and Thermal Analysis of Data Center and Server ICs
by Daniel Payne on 08-31-2014 at 4:00 pm

The server market is a diverse, yet standardized market. The ICs and components designed and manufactured in final assemblies must meet form factor requirements for rack mount and blades. The form factor enclosures and the component placement dictate the thermal-mechanical properties and hence the thermal cooling limits … Read More