Moving chips from industrial to industrial IoT

Moving chips from industrial to industrial IoT
by Don Dingee on 05-27-2016 at 4:00 pm

IHS has put out its 1Q2016 Application Market Forecast predicting the highest growth rate segments for semiconductors over the next five years – and what was once old is new yet again. There it is, in the top right corner: industrial, projected to outpace even the automotive sector.… Read More


New Sensing Scheme for OTP Memories

New Sensing Scheme for OTP Memories
by Paul McLellan on 09-22-2015 at 7:00 am

Last week at TSMC’s OIP symposium, Jen-Tai Hsu, Kilopass’s VP R&D, presented A New Solution to Sensing Scheme Issues Revealed.

See also Jen-Tai Hsu Joins Kilopass and Looks to the Future of Memories

He started with giving some statistics about Kilopass:

  • 50+ employees
  • 10X growth 2008 to 1015
  • over 80 patents (including
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IoT Security: Your Refrigerator Attacks!

IoT Security: Your Refrigerator Attacks!
by Paul McLellan on 04-15-2015 at 7:00 am

Every time I see a presentation on IoT the forecast for the number of devices in 2020 seems to go up by a few billion. But behind the hype there are clearly going to be a large number of devices on (and even in) our bodies, our homes and cars. Not to mention in factories and workplaces. IoT devices cover a wide spectrum. Realtors like to expand… Read More


A Brief History of Kilopass

A Brief History of Kilopass
by Paul McLellan on 03-24-2015 at 7:00 am

Kilopass was founded back in 2001 by Jack Peng, whose background was in FPGAs with his most recent position being manager of technology development at Actel (now part of Microsemi). The idea was to build a company making one-time-programmable (OTP) memories using anti-fuse technology. Fuses in home-wiring (OK, I know, we all … Read More


Sidense NVM IP clears TSMC9000 at 28nm

Sidense NVM IP clears TSMC9000 at 28nm
by Don Dingee on 05-29-2014 at 7:00 pm

Maybe I’ve spent too many years whiffing solder flux fumes and absorbing doses of X-band radiation in anechoic chambers, but I’m a firm believer in the axiom: “Give me enough engineers, and I can get 10 of anything to work right, once.” We have to make this … fit into this … using only this stuff … is what legends are made of.… Read More


Sidense and TSMC Processes

Sidense and TSMC Processes
by Paul McLellan on 09-14-2013 at 2:21 pm

I’ve written before about the basic capabilities of Sidense’s single transistor one-time programmable memory products (1T-OTP). Just to summarize, it is an anti-fuse device that works by permanently rupturing the gate oxide under the bit-cells storage transistor, something that is obviously irreversible.… 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