Antifuse is the New Foundation of NVM Below 16nm

Antifuse is the New Foundation of NVM Below 16nm
by Paul McLellan on 05-08-2015 at 7:00 am

Today the non-volatile memory (NVM) foundation is the eFuse. It is typically available for free from the foundry and is the default choice because, like Mount Everest, it is there. However, like Mount Everest it is big. It is also power hungry and slow. eFuse solutions blow the silicide on the poly line creating a change in resistance.… Read More


Closure: Kilopass v. Sidense

Closure: Kilopass v. Sidense
by Daniel Nenni on 03-19-2015 at 11:00 pm

The long running legal action between the top two NVM IP companies is now finished after close to five years of lawyering. By the way, I write about this stuff in hopes of limiting the future earning power of lawyers that prey on our R&D budgets. This one is significant because Kilopass was not successful in a patent infringement… Read More


Shorten Time to Market for NVM Express Based Storage Solution

Shorten Time to Market for NVM Express Based Storage Solution
by Daniel Nenni on 04-24-2014 at 11:00 am

A number of technical and business trends are converging to create a booming market for solid state drives (SSDs), with gigabytes of flash memory capacity along with the related control electronics packaged in the form factor of a 1.8”‐, 2.5”‐ or 3.5”. storage device. The first is the emergence of tablets and pervasiveness of smart… Read More


Care and trimming of MEMS sensors

Care and trimming of MEMS sensors
by Don Dingee on 03-28-2014 at 2:00 pm

My first job in electronic design circa 1981 was making analog autopilots and control devices for RPVs – the early form of what today we call UAVs. A couple of really delicate boxes with gyroscopes, accelerometers, and magnetometers, and several boards full of LM148 quad op-amps surrounded by a lot of resistors and capacitors made… Read More


Sidense Beats Kilopass in Court Again!

Sidense Beats Kilopass in Court Again!
by Daniel Nenni on 01-12-2014 at 12:00 am

The technology headlines in 2013 were often stolen by frivolous legal actions that made little or no sense to me at all. Patent Trolling is at an all-time high inside the fabless semiconductor ecosystem and as a result litigation reform is coming to Silicon Valley, believe it.

Currently working its way through the legislative process… Read More


Non-volatile Memory in the Internet of Things

Non-volatile Memory in the Internet of Things
by Paul McLellan on 08-06-2013 at 9:33 pm

You have probably heard of the Internet of Things or IoT. This is the future world in which not only are our computers and smartphones connected to the internet, but all sort of other things like thermostats, medical monitors, smart car-keys and soil analyzers. What these “things” have in common is that, unlike computers… Read More


What really means high reliability for OTP NVM?

What really means high reliability for OTP NVM?
by Eric Esteve on 04-02-2013 at 4:04 am

Normal operation range for a Semiconductor device is not made equal for systems… If you consider a CPU running inside an aircraft engine control system, this device should operate at temperature ranged between -55°C and +125°C, when an Application Processor for smartphone is only required to operate in the 0°C to +70°C range. … Read More


A Brief History of Sidense

A Brief History of Sidense
by Daniel Nenni on 01-24-2013 at 9:00 pm


Sidense Corp. is a leading developer of embedded non-volatile memory (NVM) intellectual property (IP) for the semiconductor IC market. The company is headquartered in Ottawa, Canada, and has a global presence with sales offices worldwide.

The company was founded in 2004 by CTO Wlodek Kurjanowicz, a MoSys fellow and co-founder… Read More


Novocell team finishes record-breaking year with record number of new customers

Novocell team finishes record-breaking year with record number of new customers
by Eric Esteve on 12-14-2012 at 8:10 am

In this pretty shaky NVM IP market, where articles frequently mention legal battles rather than product features, it seems interesting to take a look at this Newsletter from Novocell Semiconductor starting with these words: “As the Christmas carols and festive music floods the airwaves (and the shopping areas) here in western… Read More


ReRAM Cell Modeling and Kinetics

ReRAM Cell Modeling and Kinetics
by Ed McKernan on 10-16-2012 at 8:55 pm

Introducing the first ReRAM-Forum movie!! In part 2 of their recently published papers in the Transactions on Electron Devices of the IEEE, Professor Ielmini’s group describe the modeling of resistive switching in bipolar metal oxide ReRAM. Like part 1, the paper is collaboration with David Gilmer of Sematech who provided the… Read More